How can I back up My Word Press database

Hello,

I'd like to backup my blog but I've little idea how. Do I need to use phpmyadmin? How do I log into this? I'm a complete beginner at this. I know how to upload files using Dreamweaver but little more. I hope someone can help.

Thanks

Chris

Look at your web panel you should find a link for mysql under goodies and on that page you will see a link for all of your databases.
Silk

Thanks for the reply, I've been to the page you describe but see nothing there about how to backup the database.

Chris

I haven't tried it, but if you log into the admin area and go to the plug-ins section, there is a "Backup Wordpress Database" plug-in that you can activate.

If you don't have it installed (not sure if it came with all versions of WP), here's a link to the plug-in site:
http://www.skippy.net/blog/category/wordpress/plugins/wp-db-backup/

Thanks, I have a problem, when I try to log-in to my blog I get an error message which begins:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: user_can_access_admin_page

I wanted to upgrade to version 2.01 in the hope that I would then be able to get into the admin area. I want to backup the database before upgrading. I thin using phpmyadmin is what I should do but I've no idea how to do that.

Chris

This page in the wiki will walk you thorough getting a backup of your database from phpmyadmin.



-Matttail

Thanks for the link, but I don't know how to log into phpMyAdmin. I'm stuck at the beginning.

Chris

To log into phpmyadmin all that you need to do is navigate to the host name for your database - such as mysql.example.com and log in with the database user/pass. Yo can view your host name and the user in the panel > goodies > mysql.



-Matttail

Sorry for being dense, but navigate using what? I tried using Firefox and received a server not found message. If the database files were included where my domain files are stored then it would be simple to use Dreamweaver. But I understand Dreamhost has databases on another server? I feel I'm missing something obvious but I don't know what it is.

Thanks,

Chris

Ya, Firefox or whatever should work. make sure you've got the hostname typed in correctly. You can find a link in the panel > goodies > mysql area.



-Matttail

Hey, I had the same problem as you, no idea on where to start. I found the answer in this thread:

http://discussion.dreamhost.com/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=forum_troubleshooting&Number=37094&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1#Post37094

Basicly go to firefox and type in DBHostname.yourdomain.com

Where DBHostname is what hostname you gave your database and youdomain.com is your url. If you don't have what name you gave your DBHostname, I'm not sure how to find it. I also could not find it under goodies/MySQL. Hope this helps.

pope

To find your host name if you don't know it, is very easy to find. Log into the Panel > Goodies > Mysql

Now you'll see a list of the databases that you have. across the top of each database's bax there's the database_name@host.example.com. You'll notice that the host.example.com is in very lage print, blue in color, and underlined. This is your host name, as well as a link to take you directly there.



-Matttail

Mattail-

Thanks for the response. I think perhaps the reason there is some confusion for me and the OP is that when I go to goodies/MySQL I do not see any of my existing databases. I only see a screeen to create a new one. This may be because I am not the original owner of the account, I am setup as user under someone else's account. I have my own domains and can control everything with my accounts, but maybe I can't see my exiting databases. Could that be possible?

Here is a link to what I see when I go to goodies --> MySQL

Click Here

I get no options to view existing databases.

Thanks
pope

Thanks everyone! I was finally able to get in, do a backup and I've upgraded Word Press to the latest version. The backup was not needed.

I'm impressed by the patient and useful replies.

Cheers,

Chris

Wordpress 2 has a builtin backup plugin, for others who want to backup their database.