There are two main ways to back up or restore a MySQL database on our servers: via SSH Telnet access or the phpMyAdmin interface.

If you need SSH Telnet access, just send us an email with your request to be enabled for it, and if you'd like more information about how to connect to our servers with it, just visit our SSH Telnet support page. To access the phpMyAdmin interface, click on the "mySQL" button in your account control panel.

How to back up a mySQL database using SSH Telnet:
Log into your account on our server and issue the following command:

[This is all one command line!]
/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqldump $databasename -u $user -p$password > /home/$user/file.dump

$ indicates a variable, so instead of entering $user, you'll enter your actual user name for your account. Your mySQL username and password are usually the same as the ones that you use to access your control panel.

For example, your actual command might look like this:
/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqldump joescars_com -u frankie -p18circ > /home/joe/joesbackup.sql

How to restore a mySQL database using SSH Telnet:
Log into your account on our server and issue the following command:

[This is all one command line!]
/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql $databasename -u $user -p$password < /home/$user/file.dump

How to back up a mySQL database using phpMyAdmin:
Click on your database name shown on the upper left.

Go to the section called "View dump (schema) of database" and choose options for backing up structure only, structure and data, or adding drop tables. To view what your backup file will look like, click on the "Go" button. When you're ready to send your back up to a file, check the send box and click "Go", then follow the prompts for how to name the file and where to send it.

How to restore a mySQL database using phpMyAdmin:
Click on your database name shown on the upper left.

Locate your back up file for the database that you want to restore. Open it and copy the entire contents.

Paste into the field called "Run SQL query/queries on database yourdomain_com" and click the "Go" button.