There is no command in MySQL to copy a database. One method to copy a database is as follows;

1. Create a new empty database.
2. Export the source database using mysqldump.
3. Import the database to the new empty database created in step 1 above.

(See Linux CLI: MySQL Database Backup & Restore article for mysqldump usage).

Alternatively, phpMyAdmin can be used for small databases. More often-than-not, databases exceed size limits imposed by phpMyAdmin forcing CLI use or another method.

An annoying little thing. When connecting via SSH to another machine for the first time SSH always prompts;

---
The authenticity of host 'xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is ..............
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?
---

Typing "yes' each time can be pain in the butt. There is a way to change that behavior but, some believe it exposes you to a Man-in-the-middle attack.You've been advised!

I've changed settings in most of my /etc/ssh/ssh_config files to stop the machine from begging for a "yes" response, to just automatically adding the new host to the known_hosts file. I did that by changing the parameter value of StrictHostKeyChecking to "no" and restarting the SSH service.

Note: This does not stop SSH from checking that the host exists in the known_hosts file. It simply adds new hosts to the file without prompting.

Here's a handy script to run rsync from the command-line that prompts for source and destination paths;

#! /usr/bin/php

<?php
## Control CLI parameters
if (($argv[1]=="") OR ($argv[2]=="")) {
echo "Options not specified.\r\n";
echo "Program Usage: ";
echo $argv[0]." <i.e.: /source/path> <i.e.: /destination/path>\r\n\r\n";
exit;
}else{
$srcpath=$argv[1];
$dstpath=$argv[2];
}

$starttime=date('G:i:s', strtotime('now'));

echo "Starting rsync...\r\n";
$retval=system("sudo rsync -avrl --delete ".$srcpath." ".$dstpath, $retval);
if (!$retval==false) {
echo "Backup from ".$srcpath." to ".$dstpath." is complete!\r\n\r\n";
}else{
echo "Backup from ".$srcpath." to ".$dstpath." FAILED!\r\n\r\n";
}

$endtime=date('G:i:s',strtotime('now'));


echo "\r\nStart time - ".$starttime."\r\n";
echo "End time - ".$endtime."\r\n\r\n";
echo "Script complete!\r\n";

?>

Note:

• The sudo command in the system call allows the script to be used to sync root user files. This can be removed if that behavior is not desired.
• The script also utilizes the --delete feature of rsync to remove files in the destination that do not exist in the source. Evaluate that behavior for your application as well.

I had to snag this one for posterity from http://www.ducea.com/2006/08/07/how-to-change-the-hostname-of-a-linux-system/

Permanent hostname change on Debian based systems

Debian based systems use the file /etc/hostname to read the hostname of the system at boot time and set it up using the init script /etc/init.d/hostname.sh

/etc/hostname
server

So on a Debian based system we can edit the file /etc/hostname and change the name of the system and then run:

/etc/init.d/hostname.sh start

to make the change active. The hostname saved in this file (/etc/hostname) will be preserved on system reboot (and will be set using the same script we used hostname.sh).

I ran across the need to copy a large directory structure to a remote machine this week. I just needed the directory structure, not the files. There is a way to do this locally using the cp command with the --parent switch, though I haven't tried it yet.

Doing it remotely requires rsync;

rsync -av --include '*/' --exclude '*' source-dir dest-dir