Easy way restoring a database

is there a painless way to do it?

[rady]

I was wondering if there are people here who know about restoring databases, in an easy way.
For example, i have a forum database which has to be restored, but it can't be done all the sql file at once, i have to break it into dozen of pieces, and it takes a lot of time

How do you restore your database?

[larryhatch]

This may sound dumb, and possibly is, but my first thought is:
BACK UP EVERYTHING, multiple times, and do that first.
The rest is details. -Larry

[rady]

oh, no no no :) this is not what i meant :)
I know the steps, i did many restores by now, i just want to know if there is any easy way to be done. Any specific tools to be used. For example, all of you use the phpMyAdmin interface for restores?

[mack]

If you have a backup in sql format you can just use the "sql" tab in phpmyadmin and paste your sql in there. It will then populate the database for you with the existing data.

Try this on another database first so you can test the data before using it on a live database.

Mack.

[rady]

problem is that the sql is file very big and it doesn't work this way. is the backup of a phpbb with ~ 25,000 posts

[mack]

Ahh yea there is a limit on file size within phpmyadmin.

You might be able to use mysql administrator. It's a free download from the mysql website.

If that fails you might want to have a look into "mysql dump".

Mack.

[maccas]

[webmasterworld.com...] the big dump script works a treat.

[physics]

If you know how to SSH in with, for example, putty you can do (to back it up):

$mysqldump -uname -ppass --opt dbname > dbname.sql
then you can zip it, scp it to your home computer, whatever.

Then to restore:
$mysql dbname < dbname.sql

There is no limit on file size with this method (unless you're approaching the 2GB limit of some linux operating systems).