Expected difference between SpBackupRestore and Specify 7?

[Heryk]

Hi @Grant,
Quick question — is it expected that the database backup SQL isn’t identical when comparing the output from the SpBackupRestore utility versus the Specify 7 UI backup function? Should I be concerned about the differences?

Here are a couple of examples (See images below: left side: SP7 UI SQL, Right side: SpBackupRestore utility SQL).

If you’d like, I can also send you copies of both backup files for review.

Thanks!
#1

#2

#3

#4

[Grant]

Hi Héryk,

It is normal for the SQL dumps to differ between the Specify 7 UI and SpBackupRestore standalone app due to different locking strategies (Specify 7 avoids locking tables to keep the site active), underlying database versions, and different operating systems.

---

SpBackupRestore

The SpBackupRestore application tries to run mysqldump on your host machine without any additional flags (beyond database username, password, hostname, port, and database name).

It does not do any health checks to verify the backup is complete.

---

Specify 7

Specify 7 attempts to make a backup first with mysqldump before falling back to mariadb-dump on the host, then it uses a streamed, single transaction to produce the SQL file with additional flags. This usually happens within a Docker container running Ubuntu.

Build command flags in Specify 7’s backup utility:

• --max_allowed_packet=2G: avoid failures on large rows/blobs during dump
• --single-transaction: snapshot without locking tables as to not interrupt users
• --quick: stream rows as they are read (lower memory, faster start)
• --skip-triggers: exclude triggers to keep dump clean

During and after the backup process, it performs several health checks:

• Verifies the dump tool is available
• Monitors the dump process to make sure no errors have occurred
• Validates the dump integrity by checking for a -- Dump completed footer

Once this is done, it compresses the database automatically.

---

These structural differences are expected and do not indicate an issue with your data; however, if you would like us to verify the integrity of the backups to be sure, you can send us both copies and we’ll take a look!