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The following shell script will dump the mysql database and will save the .sql file on a remote location using Ftp. This script will create a backup file including the current date so you can have multiple copies of the backups of the same database under one directory.

Create a file called mysqlbkup.sh

# vi /root/mysqlbkup.sh

and paste the following code in the file as it is.

##############START OF THE SCRIPT##############

#!/bin/bash

# Specify the temporary backup directory.
BKUPDIR="/tmp"

# Specify Database Name
dbname="dbname_here"

# Save the current date
date=`date '+%Y-%m-%d'`

# Specify Ftp details of the remote server.
ftpserver="FtpServerIP"
ftpuser="your ftp user"
ftppass="your ftp password"

# Dump the mysql database with the current date and compress it.
# Save the mysql password in a file and specify the password file
# path in the below command.

/usr/bin/mysqldump -uroot -p`cat /path/to/pass/file` $dbname\
 | gzip > $BKUPDIR/$date.$dbname.sql.gz

# Change directory to the backup directory.
cd $BKUPDIR

# Upload the backup
ftp -n $ftpserver <<!EOF!
user $ftpuser $ftppass
binary
prompt
mput *.sql.gz
quit
!EOF!

# Remove the local backup file.
/bin/rm -f /$BKUPDIR/$date.$dbname.sql.gz

##############END OF THE SCRIPT##############

Make sure to specify your db_name, ftpserver, ftpuser and ftppass values in the script.

Save the file and schedule a cronjob to execute the file on daily basis, say during night hours at 1.00AM. Edit the cron file

# crontab -e

and set the following cronjob

0 1 * * * /bin/sh /root/mysqlbkup.sh

save the file and restart the crond service

# service crond service

The script will work on a Linux/Plesk server as well. You just have to replace the mysqldump line in the script with the following

/usr/bin/mysqldump -uadmin -p`cat /etc/psa/.psa.shadow` $dbname\
 | gzip > $BKUPDIR/$date.$dbname.sql.gz

Note: Leave a comment if you have any suggestions, questions OR have received any error message using this script.