Best way to back up mysql database

[Gavin Spomer]

>>> John Almberg <jalmberg at identry.com> 09/30/08 3:18 PM >>>
First, I wanted to say how great this list is. I'm a newbie FreeBSD 
admin and, besides the Handbook and "Absolute FreeBSD" (which never 
seems to leave my desk), this list is the best resource I have.

I just had a huge scare today... One of the websites on my server 
uses a large Mysql database. Somehow, one of the tables got corrupted 
today.

I have been blithely backing up mysql with a simple cron script that 
ran mysqldump every night. Simple, reliable, and I've never needed it.

Today, when I realized the database was corrupted, I scrambled for my 
backup, and realized that if I hadn't caught the problem today, 
tomorrow my backup would have been overwritten, and I would have 
been... well, not a happy camper.

Again, I have run into a problem which is stupidly obvious to 
experienced admins, I'm sure. I want to slap myself, but don't have 
time. I'll do that after I have a better backup system in place.

I am just about to dive into Google in search of a solution, but 
thought I would fire off a quick request, in case there is an obvious 
solution that everyone uses. If there is, a name or URL will do. I'll 
figure out the rest.

Any hints much appreciated. Not going home until this is fixed...

-- John

Off the top of my head, (someone else probably has a better solution,
they always do ;) ) why don't you keep more than one backup and rotate
them like logs and not overwrite yesterdays backup every day? Hope my 1¢
at least gives you an idea or two. :D