How to Import and Export a Database with phpMyAdmin in cPanel

phpMyAdmin is a web tool for working with MySQL databases. The two jobs most people need it for are exporting a database to a .sql file (for a backup or to move a site) and importing a .sql file into a database on your cPanel Hosting account.

Open phpMyAdmin

1. Log in to your FimuroHost client area at https://app.fimurohost.com.
2. Go to Services and select your cPanel Hosting plan.
3. Click Login to cPanel. cPanel opens in a new tab, already signed in.
4. In the Databases section, click phpMyAdmin. It opens in a new tab and signs you in automatically.
5. Your databases are listed on the left. Click one to select it.

Export a database

1. Select the database on the left, then click the Export tab.
2. Export method: Quick is fine for most sites. Choose Custom if you want to compress the file (choose gzipped under Output) or pick specific tables.
3. Format: SQL.
4. Click Export (or Go). The file downloads to your computer.

For a quick backup of just the database, you can also use Files » Backup » Partial Backups » Databases in cPanel, which downloads a compressed .sql.gz file.

Import a database

Before you start

• Create an empty database and user first with the Database Wizard.
• If the database already has tables, importing may fail with “table already exists”, or overwrite data. Export a backup first, then drop the old tables if you are replacing them (select all tables in the Structure tab, choose Drop).
• Open the .sql file in a text editor and remove any CREATE DATABASE or USE lines naming a different database. They cause “Access denied” errors, because on cPanel your user can only use databases with your prefix.

Step by step

1. In phpMyAdmin, click the target database on the left.
2. Click the Import tab.
3. Click Choose File (or Browse) and select your .sql, .sql.gz or .zip file. The maximum upload size is shown next to the button.
4. Leave Character set of the file as utf-8 and Format as SQL.
5. Click Import (or Go) at the bottom and wait. A green message confirms how many queries ran.

Files that are too large

• Compress the .sql file to .sql.gz or .zip first; SQL text compresses very well, often to a tenth of its size.
• If your plan includes SSH access, import from the command line, which has no upload limit:

  mysql -u username_dbuser -p username_dbname < backup.sql
  
                          
                      

• Otherwise, upload the file to your home directory with FTP and open a ticket; we can check whether the import can be run for you.

Common errors

After importing a WordPress database

If the site moved to a different domain, update the site address in the wp_options table (siteurl and home) or use a search-and-replace tool so links point to the new domain. Make sure wp-config.php has the new database name, user and password.

Need help?

If anything in this guide does not match what you see, or you get stuck, open a support ticket (choose the Support department) or message us on WhatsApp at 01818160926. Tell us your domain name and what you have tried so far, and never send your password in a ticket or chat.