SMF Back up will not run

[Fat Rat]

I have converted from phpBB3 to SMF 2 and other than a few teething problems all has seemed OK. I have tried to run a backup and get the following error

The webpage at http://www.v-strom.co.uk/smf/index.php?action=admin;area=maintain;sa=database;activity=backup might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address

[Illori]

the backup in the admin panel is not good to use, it is known for doing a partial backup. for the error you should contact your host and ask them to disable mod_security that may fix it.

to do a backup take a look at http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Backup

[Fat Rat]

Thanks,

I run a couple of other SMF sites on the same host and the back ups run fine 

[a10]

http://www.mysqldumper.net/ (somone evalute if it should be mentionned in the wiki?)

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I run a couple of other SMF sites on the same host and the back ups run fine

The problem with admin backup is it always appears to run fine, but when you actually need the backup, you may find it's incomplete.  Same thing can happen when exporting a db with phpmyadmin, the dump can timeout and fail without error, leaving you with a partial backup.  Whichever method you use, always run it 2-3 times and confirm that the backup files are same size.

http://www.mysqldumper.net/ (somone evalute if it should be mentionned in the wiki?)

Have used it on various forums, and recommended it several times in support topics, but it's not very simple to set up and use, and doesn't work on some server configurations.  It's also not real obvious that you have to password protect the installation, it will work without password and create a significant security risk.

[Fat Rat]

Update: if I switch off the Compress to Gzip option then back up runs?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Yes, it may run, but there's no guarantee the backup is complete.

[Fat Rat]

Why would Gzip be a problem? It's a pretty large site

[Sir Osis of Liver]

The recommendation here is to not use the admin backup.  It's problematic, and has been removed from 2.1.

[Illori]

the issue is the size of the site and limits in place in php. trust us the backup in the admin panel will not work correctly and should not be relied on.

[Fat Rat]

 Ok, thanks for the advice