Does Mysqldump include grants?

In most cases where the intention is a basic backup, full read access privileges should suffice. Next launch a terminal where you will issue the command to backup tables in a database. The command to backup tables is shown below:

mysqldump [options] your_db_name [tbl_name ...]

In the command above, [options] is to be replaced by a list of valid option names or flags, the most common of which is -u and -p for the user and password respectively. [tbl_name …] is to be replaced with table names separated by spaces. Below is a full example for backing up the tables orders and products for a database named store.

mysqldump -u your_username -p store orders products > name_of_file.sql

The terminal will prompt you to put in the password associated with the database user as it is not passed with the -p flag. The > character is the output redirection used to create the dump file. 

b) Steps to Export Database

The steps to export a database are similar to those of exporting tables with a little change in the command semantics. Once again, make sure you are on the appropriate server and you have valid credentials. The command to export databases is shown below:

mysqldump -u your_username -p --databases db_name1 db_name2 db_name3 > name_of_file.sql

In the command above, the database to be exported is supplied after the –databases option. If multiple databases are to be exported, they are separated by spaces.

c) Steps to Export MySQL Server

To export an entire MySQL server, you can issue the command below from a terminal:

mysqldump -u your_username -p --all-databases

There are some important options that you should be aware of such as the –compatible option, which is used when you want the export to be compatible with other database systems or older MySQL servers.

If you are using PowerShell on Windows, you should use the –result-file option, for example, –result-file=name_of_file.sql to specify the file name so that the output file is in ASCII format so it can load correctly subsequently.

mysqldump What Does the –quick flag Do?

Copying data from one place to another requires RAM, as it acts as temporary storage or buffer memory for some time. mysqldump also retrieves data and dump it in the table contents row by row. It takes up the entire dataset that needs to be moved in the buffer memory or RAM in a computer.

Exporting large datasets cause problem because RAM cannot load a large amount of data in a single go. To avoid errors and system failures –quick flag helps to read data from tables using a method that doesn’t require RAM to fit large tables in memory

mysqldump When Using Lock Tables?

Let’s examine the backup file to see what’s inside it once it’s been successfully made. Double-click the “sakila 20200424.sql” file in the backup directory.

The backup file, as seen in the image above, contains the numerous T-SQL statements that can be used to recreate the objects.

How to mysqldump Backup Large Database?

In this section, you will learn different methods that you can use to backup large datasets using mysqldump.

Method 1: How to Compress mysqldump Output?

1. One can use the file compression method to compress the database backup into gzip format to reduce the size of data to be backup. You can do the same by running the following command given below:

mysqldump -u root -ppassword wpdb | gzip > wpdb_backup.sql.gz

1. Here, 2 commands are executed together. One is dumping the database name wpdb and another command is to compress the dumped database into gzip format.

Method 2: How to Import the General MySQL Database?

1. Log in to your SQL shell using the command given below.

mysql -u root -p

1. Now, set the network buffer length to a large size as given in the code below.

mysqldump [options] your_db_name [tbl_name ...]

1. Set the maximum allowed packet size to a large byte number as given in the code below.

mysqldump [options] your_db_name [tbl_name ...]

1. To avoid any delays or errors, disable the foreign key checking by the following command given below.

mysqldump [options] your_db_name [tbl_name ...]

1. Now, import your dump file with the command given below.

mysqldump [options] your_db_name [tbl_name ...]

1. After this don’t forget to enable the foreign key checking with the given command given below.

mysqldump [options] your_db_name [tbl_name ...]

Method 3: Separate Databases Into Separate Data Files

1. In this method, one can slit the database backup into separate data files.
2. You can create a new file with a list of all databases using the following command given below.

mysqldump [options] your_db_name [tbl_name ...]

1. Now you can create a loop in which all the databases will dump one by one by using mysqldump command given below.

mysqldump [options] your_db_name [tbl_name ...]

How to Use mysqldump Without Password?

MySQL always asks for username and password when you back up the database with mysqldump command. To avoid repeated prompts and interruptions in backup one can follow this method. 

1. You have to create a file in your home directory with SQL credentials. Use the given command to create a file.

mysqldump [options] your_db_name [tbl_name ...]

1. Now add your MySQL credentials as given below.

mysqldump [options] your_db_name [tbl_name ...]

1. Save and close the file and every time you can provide a file in place of credentials like in the code given below.

mysqldump [options] your_db_name [tbl_name ...]

Conclusion

Through this article, you have been able to understand the benefits of performing regular backups of data. You have also been introduced to the mysqldump tool and you used it to export tables, databases, and an entire MySQL server.

Although this is unarguably a good start as the mysqldump tool is flexible and easy to use, it is not meant to be a fast and scalable backup solution. This is because while backup may take a reasonable time, it typically takes a longer period to restore data, especially in cases where the data size is massive as is often the case with enterprises. To fill this void, MySQL provides MySQL Enterprise Backup which is a paid solution.

Learning about other methods to export a MySQL database is the next step ahead.

An even simpler approach will be to leverage an online managed solution like the Hevo platform to transfer your data seamlessly to a data warehouse in real-time.

Sign Up for a 14-day free trial and experience the feature-rich Hevo suite first hand. You may also have a look at the amazing price, which will assist you in selecting the best plan for your requirements.

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