Exporting and backing up a database

Regular database backups protect your site's content - posts, orders, customers and settings. To export a database:

1. Open phpMyAdmin from the DirhamHost panel.
2. Click the database you want to back up in the left column.
3. Go to the Export tab.
4. Choose Quick for a full copy, or Custom to select tables and enable compression.
5. Set format to SQL and click Export. The file downloads to your computer.

Tips:

• For large databases, choose Custom and set Compression: gzipped to get a smaller .sql.gz file.
• Name your backups with the date, e.g. shop-2026-08-30.sql.
• Store copies off the server (your computer or cloud storage) so you are covered even if the account is affected.

Your Dirham A Day plan also includes server backups, but keeping your own export before major changes - a theme update, a plugin change, a migration - is always wise. You can automate exports with a cron job that runs mysqldump if you have SSH access. Questions about backup retention? Contact support@dirhamaday.ae.