How to backup another database using codeigniter "dbutil" class?

Question

I can easily backup my codeigniter app database using dbutil class as per codeigniter documentation. Now I want to backup another database that is not using by the codeigniter app but that has in same server. I searched in google as well as stackoverflow but did not get any answer.

Is there any alternative ci class to backup any database or I can use build in dbutil class?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

I haven't used the dbutil class before, but can't you just add the new database in your config/database file and load it? ie.

$db['new_db_name']['hostname'] = "localhost"; // localhost if same server
$db['new_db_name']['username'] = "un"; // your db username
$db['new_db_name']['password'] = 'pass'; // your db password
$db['new_db_name']['database'] = "new_db_name"; // your db name
$db['new_db_name']['dbdriver'] = "mysql";
$db['new_db_name']['dbprefix'] = "";
$db['new_db_name']['pconnect'] = TRUE;
$db['new_db_name']['db_debug'] = TRUE;
$db['new_db_name']['cache_on'] = FALSE;
$db['new_db_name']['cachedir'] = "";
$db['new_db_name']['char_set'] = "utf8";
$db['new_db_name']['dbcollat'] = "utf8_general_ci";

Then $this->load->database('new_db_name');

//whatever dbutil functions...

EDIT: I just tested this and it seems the dbutil class uses the $this->db object. So if you set the result of $this->load->database('new_db_name', TRUE) to $this->db (second 'TRUE' parameter to return db object) then it works, ie:

$this->db = $this->load->database('new_db_name', TRUE);
$this->load->dbutil();
// do whatever

Answer 2

You can also pass another database object to the DB Utility loader, in case the database you want to manage isn’t the default one: $this->myutil = $this->load->dbutil($this->other_db, TRUE);

Example :

$this->other_db = $this->load->database('other_db', TRUE);       
 $this->myutil = $this->load->dbutil($this->other_db, TRUE);
            $prefs = array(
                'format' => 'zip',
                'filename' => $file_name . '.sql'
            );
            $backup = $this->myutil->backup($prefs);
            $db_name = 'backup-on-' . date("Y-m-d-H-i-s") . '.zip';
            $save = './assets/backups/' . $folder . '/' . $db_name;

            $this->load->helper('file');
            write_file($save, $backup);
            echo 'Done...';

Answer 3

Try this Code

<?php 

 class Backup extends CI_Controller
{
   public function __construct()
{
       parent::__construct();

           $this->load->database();   // Loads the database setting 

    }

   public function backup_db()
   {
             /* Store All Table name in an Array */


     $return="";
     $allTables = array();
             $result = mysql_query('SHOW TABLES');
            while($row = mysql_fetch_row($result))
            {
                                                     $allTables[] = $row[0];
                            }

            foreach($allTables as $table)
            {
                $result = mysql_query('SELECT * FROM '.$table);

                $num_fields = mysql_num_fields($result);

                $return.= 'DROP TABLE IF EXISTS '.$table.';';

                $row2 = mysql_fetch_row(mysql_query('SHOW CREATE TABLE '.$table));

                $return.= "\n\n".$row2[1].";\n\n";

                for ($i = 0; $i < $num_fields; $i++) 

                    {
                            while($row = mysql_fetch_row($result))
                            {
                                $return.= 'INSERT INTO '.$table.' VALUES(';
                                    for($j=0; $j<$num_fields; $j++)
                                        {
                                            $row[$j] = addslashes($row[$j]);
                                                $row[$j] = str_replace("\n","\\n",$row[$j]);

                                                if (isset($row[$j])) { $return.= '"'.$row[$j].'"' ; } 
                                                else { $return.= '""'; }

                                                if ($j<($num_fields-1)) { $return.= ','; }
                                        }
                                $return.= ");\n";
                            }
                    }
$return.="\n\n";
}// Create Backup Folder

         $folder = 'Database_Backup/';

         if (!is_dir($folder))

            mkdir($folder, 0755, true);
            chmod($folder, 0755);

            $date = date('m-d-Y-H-i-s', time()); 
            $filename = $folder."Medi_Hospi-".$date; 

            $handle = fopen($filename.'.sql','w+');

        fwrite($handle,$return);
            fclose($handle);

       echo "Backup of Database Taken";

 }
}    ?>