Backing up and Restoring MySQL with mysqldump

| devops | databases |

I backup and restore databases across servers every few months, but each time I have to resort to reading this very verbose documentation. The steps below are a no fuss way to do this each time.

Backup Server

SSH into the server with the database that you wish to backup run the following command.
mysqldump -u root -p $DB_NAME > $DB_NAME.sql

Copy the File to Destination Server

Using scp, we can securely transfer the backup
scp $DB_NAME.sql $USER@$SERVER:

Restore on Destination Server

SSH into the server with the database that you wish to restore. From the the previous step the backup file should now be located in the root directory.
  1. Create new database
    mysql -u root -p -e 'CREATE DATABASE $DB_NAME'
    
  2. Restore your backup
    mysql -u root -p $DB_NAME < $DB_NAME.sql

Thank you for reading! Share your thoughts with me on bluesky, mastodon, or via email.

Check out some more stuff to read down below.

Most popular posts this month

Recent Favorite Blog Posts

This is a collection of the last 8 posts that I bookmarked.

Articles from blogs I follow around the net

“From digital mischief to outright destruction”

The 1980s and 1990s PC viruses were a special breed. The MS-DOS operating system wasn’t particularly secure – few home computer operating systems were back then – so viruses could spread quickly, and many did. Some of the viruses focused more on actually w...

via Unsung November 11, 2026

The villa of Ormen

As a child, I was never a fan of any actor or singer. David Bowie is the closest thing to a “music idol” I’ve ever had. I never had a poster of him on my wall, or a T-shirt with his face on it, but he was a constant presence in my playlists, to the point w...

via Personal Site of Andrei N. Ciobanu November 11, 2026

Candidate Statement for the 2026 W3C TAG Election

Group photo of the W3C TAG in July 2022 with me to the left of Sir Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the Web and TAG chair emeritus). Photo credit: Dan Appelquist I had the great honor of being elected to the TAG by the W3C membership in 2020 and again in 2022,...

via Lea Verou’s blog November 11, 2026

Generated by openring