php exec, passthru function work arounds when disabled on the host.

Question

My site is php based and the host disabled exec() and passthru() and system(). I have a script that needs these functions. Is there any work arounds?

The commands my script to run is simple mysqldump to backup my database. If there's no work arounds to use those functions. Is there another way to do the backup without the need to use them ?

Answer 1

No, they were made disableable to prevent security leaks. Being able to circumvent these undermines the whole purpous of disabling them

Answer 2

I think your host does not disabled exec() without a reason. If you find a way to do it, they'll likely do their best to close it, and/or close your account.

Answer 3

A naive solution for backing up MySQL DBs is to use SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE and LOAD DATA INFILE .... They won't solve all your problems, but it's a shortcut when you can't run shell commands.