Business Websites are now almost always dynamically generated which means that as the website grows the database holding all of this information grows in size, so what started off as a ten page website could, in theory, become a website of a few hundred pages. The manhours to grow the website to this extent represents potentially hundreds of hours of work in gathering the content, refining it and incorporating it within the database.

Now imagine waking up one morning to find that your database has gone, it has errors or it's corrupted.

If you are like many business owners you won't have a backup, if you're a website designer you'll most likely have the original database but not the latest version, so all those hundreds of hours of work gathering and adding content to the database are lost.

We were recently asked to review Auto Backup for MySQL Pro which provides a pain-free way to backup MySQL databases, tables and views to SQL, PHP files, or to another server or database. All newly-created databases and tables on the MySQL server can be backed up automatically, even when you are not around, simply by setting the time interval for automatic backups in the scheduler.

Another nice touch in Auto Backup for MySQL Pro is that it works as a stand-alone utility and doesn't require any additional software. Besides, it's not necessary to have MySQL installed on the local computer to run backups and restores. The program can even be run as a Windows Service so that you won't need to log in to Windows for it to begin processing.

The program can compress backups to GZIP files and then restore the database from GZIP files as well, saving more disk space. The size of the database is not limited because the program can back up databases exceeding 4 GB. But to speed up a backup task, Auto Backup for MySQL Pro uses buffer mode where each file may contain all databases or a selected database or a selected table. When a new backup is made, the older backup is automatically overwritten based on dates or the number of backups.

Currently Auto Backup for MySQL Pro supports all MySQL character sets, including UTF8, UCS2, LATIN1 and more. It supports all MySQL storage engines and table types, including InnoDB, MyISAM, BDB and more, and supports all MySQL field types, including BLOB, VARCHAR, DECIMAL and more.

"Auto Backup for MySQL Professional Edition is designed to copy everything from your MySQL databases and ensure the copy is identical to the original, "says William Lee, SwordSky's CEO. "It makes backups without the user needing to know nothing more than how to run the program."

Sooner or later, your MySQL database will experience problems and heaven help you if you didn't make a backup. It's a hard lesson to learn. But with Auto Backup for MySQL Pro in place, you can now make MySQL backups easily and quickly. This is one utility application that every database admin should have in their possession.

Having used this software for a few weeks now, I must say that it makes backing up a single MySQL database or in our case many MySQL databases extremely easy. We have set the schedule to back-up our databases every few hours. Having now set it, and by having the software auto-load on windows start-up, we can simply forget about backing up our MySql server as this automatically happens every few hours and I must say it is extremely easy to use, the help files contains answers to any potential problems.

I would personally recommend this software to anyone that uses a MySQL database, the cost isn't much when you consider how much money this software could save you.

Auto Backup for MySQL Professional Edition 2.1 runs under Windows NT4 / 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista and supports MySQL 3.23 and upwards. The program works with MySQL Server running on Windows, Mac OS, UNIX/Linux, and all supported OS. The Pro edition costs $99.95 (US). Users, who don't require high-speed backup, file compression, the ability to run as a Windows Service, or would like to work under Windows 95/98/Me, can purchase the Standard Edition for $59.95. Licensed customers get lifetime technical support and free upgrades for 12 months from the date of purchase. More information on the product is available from www.swordsky.com.