UBB.Developers Forums UBB.threads 7 Development How Do I? Cron backups

I'd like to schedule a nightly backup of my database. Does anyone have an example of the cron/mysqldump which would create a new backup with the date in the name (or unique name) so I can keep a weeks worth?

#!/bin/sh
date=`date -I`
/usr/bin/mysqldump --opt -h localhost -uuser -ppass database > /home/sites/backups/forums-$date.sql

This is the command I have that creates a complete backup. Just curious is anyone is doing anything special (like locking the database) ot anything else?

I wrote an Apache module which "disables" the web server if a certain file exists. By disabling the web server, I mean that any HTTP requests are responded to with a simple "down for maintenance" page. My cron table entry creates that file, does the backup, and then deletes the file.

That may be overkill, but I couldn't think of another method.

I found a backup script at http://worldcommunity.com/opensource/utilities/mysql_backup.html
It creates a file with the date as part of the name.
Also deletes the backups over x number of days old.

Greg