MySQL backups

[Ben Scott]

On 10/15/07, Thomas Charron <twaffle at gmail.com> wrote:
> These backups are taking place on a Windows 2003 Server running
> under VMWare.

  Ah.  Then the OFA will likely be useful for the scenario I described.

> I was more curiouse as to if binary backup of the file done while it was
> locked would be bad, which I believed it was, do to past experience.

  The fact the something is locked does not inherently mean a backup
of it at that time will be invalid.  If all files are consistent on
disk, then the backup is okay.  Like my Excel example.  The thing is,
a "hot" database is not likely to be consistent on disk.

  There's another, similar problem in that if the backup software
locks the file during backup (and file locks are the rule, rather than
the exception, on Windows), and then the application needs the file
during the backup, you have an upset application.  The OFA should
handle that, too.

> Yes, but if they hose my server while doing their backups I'm going
> to be pissed.
> ... my concern is them affecting the operation of my machine.

  Well, I don't have any recent experience with ARCServe (my past
experience was enough for several lifetimes), but assuming their OFA
works properly (this is a big assumption), it should not cause your
system to fail during the backup.  The backup it creates might not be
useful, but it shouldn't hurt the running system.

On 10/15/07, Thomas Charron <twaffle at gmail.com> wrote:
>   Sometimes, I hate IT geeks..  :-D

  Incompetent ones do suck a lot.  And, unfortunately, Sturgeon's Law applies.

-- Ben