Thanks to MySQL’s built-in command line utilities, making backups of your MySQL database is easy. By using the mysqldump command available with your MySQL installation (located in the bin directory), you can easily dump a MySQL Database to a SQL file by following these three simple steps:

1. First, log in to your server using root user
2. Now, use the following command to make a copy of your MySQL database using the mysqldump utility.

   mysqldump –u[username] –p[password] [database_name] > [dump_file].sql

   *Note: you will need to replace the names in the command above with those specific to you. Of course, “username” and “password” will need to be replaced with your MySQL username and password. You’ll also need to replace “database_name” with the name of the specific database you wish to copy and “dump_file” with the name you’d like to give the .sql file you are creating.

   

3. Lastly, to make sure the command was executed and the backup file was created, on the same path use the command:

   ls –l

   You should see the database backup file listed now.

   

In addition to making a backup of an entire database, mysqldump can be used to make a copy of a specific table within a database as well. To copy a specific table, use the following command:

mysqldump –u[username] –p[password] [database] [table_name] > [dump_file].sql

*Note: same as above, you will need to replace “table_name” with the name of the specific table you are trying to copy.