Safe way to copy the Zimbra MySQL database?

[NathanL]

I'm curious if there's a safe way to grab a copy of the Zimbra MySQL database while zimbra is online. mysql-dump locks the database while its in progress, correct? That seems like a bad thing to do on a live database. What other methods are there?

Thanks!

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by NathanL

I'm curious if there's a safe way to grab a copy of the Zimbra MySQL database while zimbra is online. mysql-dump locks the database while its in progress, correct? That seems like a bad thing to do on a live database. What other methods are there?

To ensure the consistency of your Zimbra server (assuming it's the OS version) then you'll need to stop Zimbra and perform a backup. There are several articles in the wiki and threads in the forums covering backup strategies.

[NathanL]

The goal of the dump is to get me a copy of the database, which i could then use for some fact-finding. Not for use as a backup.

My reading on mysqldump suggests that the --single-transaction option may get me what i want, without locking the database. Can anyone confirm that?

Thanks!