Standard rails database.yml with additional definition of live database

database.yml

development:
  adapter: mysql2 # must =~ /mysql/
  database: adamDb # required
  username: your_user
  password: keep_secret

live:
  ssh_user: # optional, use if live system user differs from your dev user
  host: example.com # required, can be IP
  adapter: mysql2 # must =~ /mysql/
  database: database_name # required
  username: your_user
  password: keep_secret

load_live_data.rake

namespace :db do
  def command_args(config)
    abort "Missing database name" if config['database'].blank?

    args = ''
    args << "-u #{config['username']} " if config['username'].present?
    args << "-p#{config['password']} " if config['password'].present?
    args << config['database']
  end

  task :load_live_data do
    config = Rails.application.config.database_configuration

    abort "Missing live db config" if config['live'].blank?

    dev  = config['development']
    live = config['live']

    abort "Dev db is not mysql" unless dev['adapter'] =~ /mysql/
    abort "Live db is not mysql" unless live['adapter'] =~ /mysql/
    abort "Missing ssh host" if live['host'].blank?

    cmd  = "ssh -C "
    cmd << "#{live['ssh_user']}@" if live['ssh_user'].present?
    cmd << "#{live['host']} mysqldump #{command_args(live)} | "
    cmd << "mysql #{command_args(dev)}"

    `#{cmd}`
  end
end