mysqldump and wamp

Question

I am running a wamp server and trying to use mysqldump to backup a mysql database I have. The following is the PHP code I am using to run mysqldump.

exec("mysqldump backup -u$user -p$pass > $sql_file");

When I run the script the page just loads inifnately and the backup is not created.

A blank file is being created so I know something is happening.

Extra info:

• exec() is not disabled
• PHP is not running in safe mode

Any ideas??

Win XP, WAMP, MYSQL 5.0.51b

Answer 1

1) In WampServer, default user is "root" and default password is empty. So $pass == "", and your command line make mysqldump prompt for a password. You may check if $pass is empty, and if true, don't use -p parameter.

2) Using "mysqldump backup", mysqldump tries do backup the database named "backup". You should replace "backup" with your database name.

3) Is mysqldump.exe found? If not, you will have to specify its path.

A quick method to check output of a command :

exec("mysqldump", $output=array());
foreach ($output as $line) {
    echo $line;
}

Answer 2

1. try adding full path for mysqldump.exe
2. ini_set('max_execution_time', 0); in your php file (be really careful because it can eat lot of resources
3. if doesnt work, try dumping a smaller db (even empty one)

Answer 3

Try with a

mysqldump dbname -u root -p=blabla

Instead of

michael@web01:/$ mysqldump cms -u root -p blabla

The latter will ask for a password, and let you wait for a long time.

Hope this helps.