In this post, I am sharing different types of options to copy your MySQL Database from one server to another server.

The migration of data, objects or database is a ubiquitous task for any DBA so as a blogger I can’t skip this kind of topics.

Common and General option:

Server 1: Take the backup in .sql file
– -databases option adds the CREATE DATABASE in dump file, so that you can restore same backup in any other server without creating a blank database.

my-shell> mysqldump --databases db_name > mydump.sql

Next, copy mydump.sql file from Server 1 to Server 2.

Server 2: Restore the backup

my-shell> mysql < mydump.sql

My favourite option:

Use pipe and copy the database from one server to another, without taking or moving the physical file.

mysqldump -uuser -ppassword db_name | mysql -hremoteserver -uremoteuser -premoteserverpassword

For all database:

mysqldump --all-databases -uuser -ppassword | mysql -hremoteserver -uremoteuser -premoteserverpassword

In the previous article, I shared few mysqldump options to take the table only backup or ignore few tables from the full database backup.

In addition to the previous post, here I am sharing other relevant options to take the backup of table structure or take the backup of table data only.

Why we need this kind of choices? Because sometimes we need to create a database with empty tables in a new server and in that newly created database we might require to insert data from another server.

So there are few requirements for table structure and table data which require loading from different servers.

Take a backup of table structure only:

mysqldump -u user_name -p --no-data db_name > db_backup.sql

Take a backup of table data only:

mysqldump -u user_name -p --no-create-info db_name > db_backup.sql

In this post, I am sharing a solution to take an only table or few tables backup in MySQL and also sharing solution like, How you can ignore few tables while taking a backup of MySQL Database.

In last year, I shared a basic article on how to take a backup of the database in MySQL, which also you can access here.

MySQL: Backup and Restore Database using mysqldump

The copying data from one server to another, data migration, the backup requirement for specific data or object or stored procedure, data versioning – These all are part of DBA’s day to day activity, and N number combinations are there.

There are many options available for mysqldump utility, so I am using few options to play for table backup only. Let me explore few options related to table backup in MySQL.

Take a backup of a single table:

mysqldump -u  -p db_name table_name > table_name_backup.sql

Take a backup of multiple tables:

mysqldump -u <db_username> -p db_name table_name_1 table_name_2 table_name_3 > tables_backup.sql

Ignore a table from full database backup:

mysqldump -u <db_username> -p db_name --ignore-table=db_name.table_name_1 > db_backup.sql

In this post, I am sharing a script for performing Backup and restoring of MySQL Database using Mysqldump.

Mysqldump is an important tool for MySQL Server, and it creates a *.sql file with database structure and data. It also includes all possible table lock and objects existence script.

I am sharing different syntax and scripts for performing the Backup and Restore of a single database or multiple databases.

Syntax and Command to take the backup of Single Database:

-- Syntax
mysqldump -u root -p[root_password] [database_name] > dumpMyFileName.sql

-- Example
mysqldump -u root -pTestPass MyDatabase > MyDBBackup.sql

Syntax and Command for restoring of Single Database:
The new blank database requires being created before any restore operation.

-- Syntax
mysqldump -u root -p[root_password] [database_name] < dumpMyFileName.sql

-- Example
mysqldump -u root -pTestPass NewDatabase < MyDBBackup.sql

Command to take backup of multiple databases:

mysqldump -u root -pTestPass --databases MyDB1 MyDB2 > MultipleDB.sql

Command to take backup of all databases:

mysqldump -u root -pTestPass --all-databases > All.sql