This tutorial will help you to create a MySQL dump file of a database. It utilizes the capabilities of phpMyAdmin which can be found in your Control Panel. A MySQL dump file is a plain text file that contains all the necessary queries needed to rebuild a database.

Log into your Control Panel and click on the MySQL Database link.

Scroll down to the bottom and click on the phpMyAdmin link.

On the screen you will see a drop down list at the top left (Databases) .... Clicking on this will cause a list of all the databases you have created in your hosting account to display. Click on the name of the database you want to backup.

After you have selected a database, the frame on the right will change to display the list of tables in this database. New tabs will also appear at the top. One of these tabs is labeled Export. Click on Export to bring up the next screen.

A list of the tables in the database is displayed. You may select an individual table to backup, or to back up the entire database click the Select All link that is below the combo area to select all the tables.

Most of the correct options should be checked by default:

• Structure
• Enclose table and field names with backquotes
• Data
• SQL
• Save as file

Scroll down to a section entitled Save as File. There will be a textbox beside File name template. Enter the name of the file you want the MySQL dump to be called. This is usually just the database name, but can be anything. Avoid using spaces in the filename.

Scroll down to the Go button and click. You will be prompted to save a file. This is the MySQL dump file for your database.

Repeat these steps for any additional databases you have. The above steps only back up the database you selected. You can also use an archiving program such as Winzip to further compress the dump. Making and keeping regular back ups of your databases is a good policy.

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