best way to backup data

[Alejandro Cavallo]

Hello everyone,
I was concerned about how to do a full database backup by using mysqldump as a part of a bash script.
Basically the idea is run mysqldump as following:
"mysqldump --no-create-db --add-drop-table --add-locks --allow-keywords --comments --create-options --debug-info --extended-insert --flush-logs --force --log-error=/backups/databases/dump_${DATE}.log --routines --set-charset --dump-date --triggers --tz-utc --single-transaction -u XXXX -pYYYYY -h localhost --databases ${DATABASES} > backup_${DATE}.sql"

After that check if mysqldump has returned an error or not:
if [ "$?" -eq 0 ]; then
echo "Success"
else
echo "error"
//alert admins about this situation, etc
fi

If everything is OK, it will be compressed in a tarball file, then tested by using "tar -tzf <filename>". And if it is ok, the compressed file will be copied to an external server (by using Evault) which checks file integrity.

My question is, is that enough or should I restore the backup to another database and check if it is OK?
Does mysqldump fails if a table is having troubles?
What other things should I be aware of?

Thanks!