Scheduling MySQL backups with Laravel

To manually dump the database you can run the following one-liner code

mysqldump -u[user] -p[pass] [db] > [file_path]

But what if you want to automate the process? Listing down the steps one by one:

1. Setup cron entry to your server

   * * * * * php /path-to-your-project/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

2. Create a command BackupDatabase by running the following code:

   php artisan make:command BackupDatabase

3. Navigate to app/Console/Commands/BackupDatabase.php and replace the code the following:

   <?php
   
   namespace App\Console\Commands;
   
   use Illuminate\Console\Command;
   use Symfony\Component\Process\Process;
   use Symfony\Component\Process\Exception\ProcessFailedException;
   
   class BackupDatabase extends Command
   {
       protected $signature = 'db:backup';
   
       protected $description = 'Backup the database';
   
       protected $process;
   
       public function __construct()
       {
           parent::__construct();
   
           $this->process = new Process(sprintf(
               'mysqldump -u%s -p%s %s > %s',
               config('database.connections.mysql.username'),
               config('database.connections.mysql.password'),
               config('database.connections.mysql.database'),
               storage_path('app/backups/backup-' . time() . '.sql')
           ));
       }
   
       public function handle()
       {
           try {
               $this->process->mustRun();
   
               $this->info('The backup has been proceed successfully.');
           } catch (ProcessFailedException $exception) {
               $this->error('The backup process has been failed.');
           }
       }
   }

4. Schedule the backup task, navigate to app/Console/Kernel.php and append the following line of code inside schedule method to run database backups every Saturday at 11PM. You can set the frequency as per your requirements

   $schedule->command('db:backup')->saturdays()->at('23:00');

5. Create backups directory inside storage/app directory and place a .gitignore file inside backups directory with the following code

   *
   !.gitignore

That’s it you’ve now enabled weekly automated database backups
For more information and credits: https://pineco.de/scheduling-mysql-backups-with-laravel/