As one of the leading freely available databases, MySQL is a popular choice for many web applications. Since your application is exposed to the Internet, it is exposed to malicious attacks. If your server is compromised, at best you will have to reinstall the application; at worst, you may lose your data. Furthermore, you may find yourself in a situation where you need to migrate a database from one server to another.
Backup MySQL database using mysqldump (from command line)
The mysqldump tool has you covered for both the server compromise and migration situations. Its basic function is to take a MySQL database and dump it as a text file. But not just any text file; the file is a set of SQL statements. These statements, when executed, reconstruct the database to the exact state it was in when the dump was performed.
Use mysqldump to create exports of a database as backups, or when moving the database to a new host. In either case, the text file is imported back into a MySQL database server. It executes all the SQL statements in the file, rebuilding the database to its original state. This part does not use the mysqldump command, but it would not be possible without it.
The MySQL documentation provides other methods for making backups, but they have drawbacks:
