TinyMUX 2.6:  BACKUPS
Last Update:  December 2006

The importance of good backups:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Experienced TinyMUX users will tell you that having a good, recent backup of
your database, configuration files, text files, mail db and comsys db is the
best defense against data loss.  In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to deal
with random accidents or malicious attacks that wipe out data, but there are
an unfortunate number of cases where these events occur and entire games have
disappeared forever because of it.

Making a backup:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In pre-2.0 versions of TinyMUX, the way to make backups was to use
db_unload to create a flatfile of the database.  Making a backup by this
method is detailed in several places, including NOTES under the heading
'Changes to dbconvert'.

The other method, which has been provided with TinyMUX 2.0, is the use of the
included Backup script, which is located in the mux2.0/game directory.  This
runs the db_unload script for you, collects copies of text files,
configuration files, mail and comsystem databases, and then then creates a
dated tar.gz file. The ./Backup script assumes that the server is not
currently running.

Storing your backups:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Depending on how much disk space your provider allows you, we recommend
that you keep a number of the most recent backups on the machine for ready
access.  Having to wait while someone ftps the files back to the machine
is a tedious process for the person who feels any pressure to restore the
game.  Be kind to your site admin--give them something to work with.

No matter how reliable or redundantly backups are performed on the machine
that your game runs on, it is critical that you also store copies of your
most recent backups at an off-site location.  Again, we cannot stress this
enough.

When you ftp any file that ends in .gz, you must make sure that the file
is moved in 'binary' or 'raw data' mode.  Desktop clients vary drastically,
but many will move them in binary format automatically.  Where you keep
them on your own computer is up to you, but it is always a good idea to put
them where you can readily access them and move them back to the game
machine is best.
