MySQL major problems - can't export

Hello everyone :)

I am experiencing massive problems. I cannot backup my Simple Machines database - either through the Admin interface or phpMyAdmin. When I attempt through those two, all that happens is the site hangs (i.e. it just continues loading).

I then attempted a backup through shell, and got this error:

In reply to:

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mysqldump: Got error: 2002: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2) when trying to connect

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The MySQL site says this about it:

In reply to:

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The error (2002) Can't connect to ... normally means that there is no MySQL server running on the system or that you are using an incorrect Unix socket filename or TCP/IP port number when trying to connect to the server.

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Does anyone have any light to shed on this?

Many thanks,
David

Is your website working (i.e. connecting to the database)?

That dump error makes it look plain as day there's no database server there, so that's why I ask. I'd think you're trying to connect to the wrong hostname.

-Scott

Thanks for the reply, Scott.

Strangely, the website is working.

I'm basically 100% sure that I'm connecting to the correct hostname. Do you think there is some other solution to this problem?

Many thanks,
David