Do JetBackup incremental backups succesfully back up MySQL databases?

T1531

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Feb 20, 2019
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I'm looking to change my backing-up process, mostly because the default cPanel system creates compressed files that are getting too big for my server's disk. If I understand correctly, incremental backups don't cause this issue because they don't compress everything into one file during the backup process. I was looking at JetBackup. How do the MySQL (technically I'm using MariaDB) backups work with it?

I see that some backup systems have issues with database backups because there are ongoing processes happening while the backup is happening. How does JetBackup account for this?

Also, would it be possible to restore a backed-up database to a new database on the server? For example, let's say one table in my database accidentally has all of its rows deleted. Could I restore a backup to a new database, copy the one table over as needed, and then delete that new database?
 

cPRex

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Hey there! Traditional MySQL databases in general, are not backed up well in an incremental fashion, and JetBackup is no exception to this. From their documentation here, they state that they are still dumped in entirety:


Code:
 * In case of an incremental job, all files included in this job are backed up incrementally with the exception of databases. Databases are regenerated and synced to the destination. Each job run will add the disk usage of each database dump file to the backup.
So yes, they will be backed up, but the database itself will not be incremental like the rest of the backup.
 

T1531

Active Member
Feb 20, 2019
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Hey there! Traditional MySQL databases in general, are not backed up well in an incremental fashion, and JetBackup is no exception to this. From their documentation here, they state that they are still dumped in entirety:


Code:
 * In case of an incremental job, all files included in this job are backed up incrementally with the exception of databases. Databases are regenerated and synced to the destination. Each job run will add the disk usage of each database dump file to the backup.
So yes, they will be backed up, but the database itself will not be incremental like the rest of the backup.
Thanks. Is that also how cPanel's backup configuration backs up databases? I forgot incremental was an option with the regular cPanel backups, although I would have to stop using S3.
 

cPAdminsMichael

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Dec 19, 2016
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Correct - cPanel's backup is also based on mysqldumpts.
In newest version of JetBackup 5.3 they have included new "semi-incremental" MySQL backup feature which compares tables and does only backup of changes tables. I don't have much experience with it though...
For customers who NEEDED incremental backup, we have developed a backup script to utilize mariabackup, which only supports MariaDB, but does support incremental backups and then using cPanel backup or JetBackup to backup the incremental backups from mariabackup.

 
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