they say her configuration is ok... :-(

http://faq.1and1.com/dedicated_servers/managed_server/10.html

is it possible to backup the old db (mysql4) via shell?
than I would not change the old mysql4 db and make my backups via shell.
on mysql4 i have "localhost".

my reason for the db change: 1&1 is changing php to 5.4 and that does not accept mysql 4 db. And now im looking for a way to make backups. in the past i did it with a php script (mysql-bumper)...