[request] Helpful, quick utilities?

Mary · 2009-02-12 05:57:41

I’m thinking of making a plugin that can handle doing various small database jobs, both for non-technical folks as well as shortcuts for the more knowledgeable. Yes, Rob’s db manager plugin/phpmyAdmin can do this, but it also does a lot more you might not want or need.

Repair table(s). Checks to see if tables need repairing, and if so allows you to try repairing them.
Clear Visitor Logs, either all or filtered.

Anything else anyone can think of?

Last edited by Mary (2009-02-12 15:10:07)

colak · 2009-02-12 07:19:36

Hi Mary,

I agree that Rob’s plugin is great but also an overkill for most users…

This is what I use it for

Repair individual tables
Repair all tables
Backup table
backup db

If you offer a function to clear anything I would think that the visitor logs would be the only one which would be safe to do.

Txp currently has a gap regarding these maintenance functionalities especially for those who design sites for clients.

gomedia · 2009-02-12 12:13:40

Hi Mary,

I’ve only really ever used the backup & restore functions, but for clients just the backup function would be sufficient.

What about scheduled backups? Or maybe, backup & email/ftp the backup file.

redbot · 2009-02-12 12:15:27

gomedia wrote:

…What about scheduled backups? Or maybe, backup & email/ftp the backup file.

+1

wet · 2009-02-12 12:17:44

gomedia wrote:

What about scheduled backups?

Spoiler: AutoMySQLBackup

Mary · 2009-02-12 12:36:25

A simple cron snippet is the best way to schedule backups. It’s not difficult and far more reliable.

As I understand it, Steve was beginning to work on his own version of Rob’s plugin, which would let you disable the drop and run sql portions, but he’s leaving…?

If that’s the case I could start work on two sep plugins: a remake of Rob’s plugin and then this one which you can let your user’s have at?

wet · 2009-02-12 12:39:19

Mary wrote:

If that’s the case I could start work on two sep plugins: a remake of Rob’s plugin and then this one which you can let your user’s have at?

Lovely…

maniqui · 2009-02-12 13:03:16

DB backup functionality on Rob’s plugin didn’t work properly on some hostings, many people reported.
While other functionalities worked as expected, the DB backup usually thrown enigmatic errors, like “Error 127” or “Error 2”. I will have to check Rob’s plug-in thread to find some posts reporting this issue (and some posts proposing solutions which worked for a few, but not for everyone).

I hope this issue can be addressed on a new version.

BTW, nice to see you back, and see you are inspired enough to write new plugins, Mary!
Have you think about adopting one of those poor little orphaned plugins Steve has left? :D
(If anyone hasn’t noticed it yet, I’m desperately thinking about the future of MLP… it can’t become abandonware… I/we should do something…)

colak · 2009-02-12 13:37:18

maniqui wrote:

DB backup functionality on Rob’s plugin didn’t work properly on some hostings, many people reported.
While other functionalities worked as expected, the DB backup usually thrown enigmatic errors, like “Error 127” or “Error 2”. I will have to check Rob’s plug-in thread to find some posts reporting this issue (and some posts proposing solutions which worked for a few, but not for everyone).

True. In one of my sites Rob’s plugin refuses to back up the db. I do have a cron job going but I need to connect via ftp when I want access to the copy. Not that it is a huge problem but I like browsers better:)

Mary · 2009-02-12 14:08:53

Error 127 is mentioned in the comments here multiple times. Depending on how the plugin is written, you can try and soften the impact.

Some sites it just will not work on, either because the PHP functions the plugin can use are disabled and/or because safemode is enabled and the mysqldump function is not within the allowed executables directory. But the plugin could try and detect these things as much as possible and let you know what to look for.

Ah, Julián, one thing at a time. :D

Bloke · 2009-02-12 14:45:34

A client-friendly version of the bits of Rob’s plugin that a client might need would be most welcome, thanks. Steve’s was good but was still a bit techie for your average site admin who wants to a) backup every now and again when their conscience tells them their disks might die, b) repair stuff if the site breaks, c) get rid of web crawler hits from the log table and leave the “real”(ish) customer impacts alone. Perhaps a rudimentary filter on the clearing of log files might be useful? (essentially doing where ip like '%blah%' or where date < '2008-10-01')

And fwiw, I’ve had times when Rob’s plugin didn’t work too. Like Mary says, the host environment plays a big part, but other times it has worked better than phpMyAdmin’s export feature! In a recent migration, the phpMyAdmin import choked on umlauts and truncated the file, even with a UTF-8 text file. But ex/importing the tables via Rob’s plugin worked flawlessly. Go figure.

Last edited by Bloke (2009-02-12 14:46:47)

Mary · 2009-02-12 15:09:07

Good idea Stef, I’ll add that to the list. (And related, I’ve asked for a log plugin callback so we could prevent unwanted logging in the first place.)

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#1 2009-02-12 05:57:41

[request] Helpful, quick utilities?

#2 2009-02-12 07:19:36

Re: [request] Helpful, quick utilities?

#3 2009-02-12 12:13:40

Re: [request] Helpful, quick utilities?

#4 2009-02-12 12:15:27

Re: [request] Helpful, quick utilities?

#5 2009-02-12 12:17:44

Re: [request] Helpful, quick utilities?

#6 2009-02-12 12:36:25

Re: [request] Helpful, quick utilities?

#7 2009-02-12 12:39:19

Re: [request] Helpful, quick utilities?

#8 2009-02-12 13:03:16

Re: [request] Helpful, quick utilities?

#9 2009-02-12 13:37:18

Re: [request] Helpful, quick utilities?

#10 2009-02-12 14:08:53

Re: [request] Helpful, quick utilities?

#11 2009-02-12 14:45:34

Re: [request] Helpful, quick utilities?

#12 2009-02-12 15:09:07

Re: [request] Helpful, quick utilities?

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