3 Best Methods to Export MySQL Database

Introduction

At times, you may need to export your database in MySQL in order to transfer it to another destination such as a data warehouse. This may be required to integrate data from other sources for carrying out a more comprehensive and holistic analysis. In this post, you will learn different methods to export the MySQL database. Before that, let’s take a short look at the basics of the MySQL database to understand the context better. This will also help you to understand the importance of exporting MySQL databases.

You would also love to read our article about how to replicate MySQL database.

Table of Contents

• What is a MySQL Database?
• What are the Functions of a MySQL Database?
• Method 1: Using phpMyAdmin 
• Method 2: Using the mysqldump Program
• Method 3: Using Hevo Data

What is a MySQL Database?

MySQL is an open-source relational database management system. It works under the terms of the GNU General public license. It is a component of the LAMP web application software stack.

It is used by many popular websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube. It was declared DBMS of the year 2019 from the DB-engines ranking.

It is offered under two different editions:

• The open-source MySQL community server. 
• The proprietary Enterprise server.

What are the Functions of a MySQL Database?

As mentioned earlier, the MySQL database was declared DBMS of the year 2019, so it must have some useful functions and features.

Some of the major features available in MySQL 5.6 are:

• Cross-platform support.
• A broad subset of ANSI SQL 99 and its extensions.
• Stored procedures.
• Triggers.
• Updatable views.
• Cursors.
• Information schema.
• A set of SQL mode options that control runtime behaviour, that include a strict mode to better adhere to SQL standards.
• Online data definition language (DDL) when using the InnoDB storage engine.
• Transactions with savepoints when using the InnoDB storage engine.
• NDB Cluster storage engine that supports transactions.
• SSL supports.
• Query coaching.
• Full-text indexing and searching.
• Unicode support.

Now, let’s dive into different methods to export your MySQL database.

Method 1: Using phpMyAdmin 

Before heading to the steps, you need to understand what phpMyAdmin is and how it works.

PhpMyAdmin is a free administration tool that is used for MySQL and MariaDB. It has become one of the most used and popular MySQL management tools because it is a convenient web application that is written in PHP.

Important Features of phpMyAdmin

• MySQL and MariaDB database management.
• Import data from CSV and SQL.
• Export data to various formats such as CSV, SQL, XML, PDF, WORD, EXCEL, etc.
• Renovate stored data into different formats with the help of a set of predefined functions. For example, it displays BLOB-data as image.
• It makes complex SQL easier to work with.

Steps to Export your MySQL Database Using phpMyAdmin

Using the phpMyAdmin web interface, you can export a MySQL database. Below are the steps to do so:

• Log in to cPanel.

Click phpMyAdmin in the database section of the cPanel home screen.

• In the left pane of the phpMyAdmin page, click on the database that you want to export.

• Click the Export tab.

• Under the Export method, you can proceed in two ways:

i) Select ‘Quick’: This option helps in letting you download the SQL file immediately.

Or

ii) Select ‘Custom’: This provides you with more control over the data.

Note: You may be using an older version of phpMyAdmin and it will not have the ‘Quick’ option. In this case, click “Select All” in the ‘Export’ section and select the ‘Save as File’ checkbox and click on “Go”.

• Confirm that SQL is selected under format.
• Click “Go”.
• Type the file name and select the directory where your exported database is to be saved in the ‘Save File’ dialogue box on your local computer.
• Click “Save” and the process of exporting will start.

Method 2: Using the mysqldump Program

Mysqldump is a database backup program. It is used to do logical backups, generating a set of SQL statements that can be executed to regenerate the main/original database. It can also produce output in CSV, other limited text, or XML format.

Important Features of mysqldump Program

Some of the main features that mysqldump program provides are:

• Option syntax.
• Invocation syntax.
• Option file-options.
• Debug options.
• DDL options.
• Format options.
• Internationalization options.
• Replication options.

These features make mysqldump a very good choice for exporting MySQL database to another platform.

Steps to Export your MySQL Database using mysqldump

Using this program you can export a MySQL database from the command line. Following are the steps to do this:

• Access the command line on the computer where the database is stored. It means that if your required database is on another web hosting account, log in to that account. Or, if you have physical availability to that computer you can open a DOS or terminal window to access.
• Type the following command, and click on enter.

mysqldump -u username -p dbname > dbexport.sql

• Replace ‘username’ with your username and ‘dbname’ with your database name.
• Enter your password in the “Enter Password” column.

mysqldump -u [user name] –p [password] [options] [database_name] [tablename] > [dumpfilename.sql]

This way you will be able to export MySQL database using the mysqldump program.

Method 3: Using Hevo Data

Hevo Data is a new and modern way to export MySQL database to another platform or data warehouse. But before heading to the steps of exporting MySQL database using Hevo Data, let’s take a quick look at what it actually does.

Hevo Data, a No-code Data Pipeline, is a fully-managed data integration solution that lets you migrate data from multiple sources like databases and cloud applications to your data warehouse. It has some beneficial features that make it one of the best ways to export the MySQL database to any other platform. Hevo provides you with amazing features at a reasonable price.

Important Features of Hevo Data

• Easy setup and Intuitive User Interface: It has a minimal learning curve and the user can set it up in a few minutes. 
• Fully Managed: You do not require either coding or pipeline maintenance.
• Data Transformation: It provides you with a simple interface to perfect, modify, and enrich the data you want to export. 
• Automatic Schema Mapping: Hevo Data has metadata mapping which maps the schema from the source automatically.
• Real-time Data Transfer: Hevo Data works on the batch as well as real-time data. It can also resume the pipeline in case of failures.
• Out-of-the-box Integrations: Hevo can provide connectivity to numerous cloud-based and on-site assets. Check out the complete list here.

Sign up here for a 14-day free trial!

Steps to Export MySQL Database using Hevo Data

Now, let’s move to the steps of exporting MySQL database to a data warehouse, let’s say Snowflake. 

The way to export MySQL database using Hevo data involves 2 simple steps:

• Connect to your MySQL database using Hevo platform and configure it as a source.
• Configure your data warehouse (such as Redshift, Snowflake etc.) as a destination and start moving data instantly.

For any information on the comparative study of PostgreSQL vs MySQL, you can visit the former link.

visit our website to explore hevo

Give Hevo a try and sign up for smooth data extraction and migration.

Have you used any of the methods described here to export MySQL database? What is your preferred way to do this? Let us know in the comments below.