Automated Database Backups

Why Automated Backups Matter#

A corrupted database or accidental deletion can wipe out your entire subscriber list and campaign history. Automated daily backups take minutes to set up and can save hours of recovery work.

The Backup Script#

Create /home/vbrand/scripts/backup-db.sh:

#!/bin/bash
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
BACKUP_DIR="/home/vbrand/backups/db"
DB_NAME="acellemail"
DB_USER="vbrand"
DB_PASS="yourpassword"
KEEP_DAYS=14

mkdir -p "\$BACKUP_DIR"

mysqldump -u"\$DB_USER" -p"\$DB_PASS" "\$DB_NAME" \
  --single-transaction --quick --lock-tables=false \
  | gzip > "\$BACKUP_DIR/\$DB_NAME_\$DATE.sql.gz"

# Remove backups older than KEEP_DAYS
find "\$BACKUP_DIR" -name "*.sql.gz" -mtime +\$KEEP_DAYS -delete

echo "Backup complete: \$BACKUP_DIR/\$DB_NAME_\$DATE.sql.gz"

chmod +x /home/vbrand/scripts/backup-db.sh

Schedule with Cron#

crontab -e

Add:

0 2 * * * /home/vbrand/scripts/backup-db.sh >> /home/vbrand/logs/backup.log 2>&1

This runs at 2:00 AM daily.

Offsite Backup#

For safety, copy backups to an S3 bucket:

aws s3 sync /home/vbrand/backups/db s3://your-bucket/acellemail-backups/

Restoring from Backup#

gunzip < /home/vbrand/backups/db/acellemail_20260301_020000.sql.gz \
  | mysql -uvbrand -p acellemail