How to monitor MySQL mysqldump jobs

A scheduled database dump can silently create an empty file on failure. Check the dump process result.

Report success and failure

Create a check and set PING_URL to its private URL. Replace the example command with your actual task. These examples preserve command failure and do not let a failed reporting request turn a successful job into a failure.

#!/bin/sh
# PING_URL is the private URL copied from your check.
: "${PING_URL:?Set PING_URL first}"
rid="$(date +%s)-$$"
report() { curl -fsS -m 10 --retry 3 "$PING_URL/$1?rid=$rid" >/dev/null 2>&1 || :; }
trap 'code=$?; report "$code"; exit "$code"' EXIT
report start
sleep 1
mysqldump --defaults-extra-file=/etc/mysql/backup.cnf --single-transaction app > /backups/latest.sql

Connect it to MySQL mysqldump

Run the wrapper with a writable backup directory and an appropriately scoped database user.

0 2 * * * /bin/sh /opt/monitored-job.sh

These are integration fragments for an existing project, not a full application. Set the URL in the job’s environment, keep credentials private and ensure the runtime has the dependencies shown.

Things to watch

Restrict the credentials file. --single-transaction is suitable for transactional tables; test restores separately.

The shell examples wait one second between start and work to respect the per-check rate guard. For very short tasks, completion-only pings avoid that delay. A killed process may never send a failure ping; the completion deadline catches the missing run instead.

Test the setup

  1. Run a successful task and confirm the check turns up.
  2. Force a nonzero exit or exception and verify the check turns down.
  3. Stop the scheduler after one success and wait for the expected run plus grace.

Set the schedule to your task’s completion cadence, allowing for runtime and queue delay. Use the cron helper to review your calendar schedule.

Questions about MySQL mysqldump

Where should the heartbeat run?
Inside the completed task, after the important work. A scheduled database dump can silently create an empty file on failure. Check the dump process result.
Which grace period should I use?
Allow for job runtime and scheduler startup delay. CronPulse evaluates deadlines once a minute, so alerts generally follow within about 1–2 minutes after grace ends.
Does this test the result of my work?
No. A success ping proves your command reached the reporting step. Validate output and, for backups, test restoration. Missing completion pings catch stopped or killed jobs.

Platform reference: official MySQL mysqldump documentation. Adapt fragments to your installed version.

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