Re: [PLUG] Accessing databases in rescue mode

On Thu, Jun 27, 2013 at 2:29 PM, Michael Lazin <microlaser@gmail.com> wrote:

Recently I have been quite often faced with the task of locking rooted servers in linux rescue mode, much to the dismay of said server customers. The linux rescue system is a live system, it's debian, it allows you to ssh in with the password to the rescue system, mount the filesystem, and back up your files via scp. I am often asked how to get the databases by the customers, and I don't know the answer. I know where Plesk puts the dumps, but often these are customers who have never backed up anything ever nor have they ever updated things ever. For my own personal knowledge and betterment, I would like to know how to get a backup of a database from a rescue system so I can pass this knowledge on and hopefully help people a little bit.

Depends on your database and LInux distro. If it's MySQL, I'd start looking in /var/lib/mysql/. If the mysqld process isn't actually running at that point, then making a tarball of that entire directory should be perfectly safe.

That said, a personal opinion: if customers aren't backing up their data or don't understand the concept of backups, they probably shouldn't be managing their own systems in the first place.

-- Doug

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