Overview
The following explains how to restore a database in the panel.
DreamHost's daily backups
All DreamHost MySQL databases are backed up daily. The backups start at midnight and complete after every single database has been backed up. In general, there are five days of backups available.
It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you create your own offsite backups of all of your databases to supplement the short-term backups DreamHost creates. DreamHost makes no guarantee that backups are available.
Suspended/closed/disabled accounts
DreamHost cannot guarantee that any data will be retained on inactive (suspended/closed/disabled) accounts for longer than two weeks following the account's status change. See the following articles for more information on how you can back up your account or make a payment:
Restoring a database
To restore a database:
- Navigate to the MySQL Databases page.
- Click the Restore DB button to the right of your database.
- Choose what you would like restored:
- Restore which backup? — Choose any available backup from the dropdown menu
- Tables to restore — If you want the entire database restored, leave this as *
- When restoring — You have 4 options for how your tables are restored:
-
Option Selection Description 1 My restored tables should be named tablename__Timestamp and the tables there now should be untouched. Options 1 and 2 restore your tables but the names are changed. This way, the restored files do NOT replace the current files. You'll either need to manually change the table names or adjust your site's config file to view the restored database 2 My restored tables should be named Timestamp__tablename and the tables there now should be untouched. 3 My restored tables should be named tablename and the tables there now should be renamed tablename__Timestamp. Options 3 and 4 immediately replace your database tables. The current tables are renamed. You most often want one of the two last options 4 My restored tables should be named tablename and the tables there now should be renamed Timestamp__tablename.
WordPress sites
When restoring a WordPress site database, it's strongly recommended that you select Option 4. This allows you to easily revert the site to the previous version of your database if there are any issues with the restored data.
You can quickly revert to the old version by updating the prefix value in your wp-config.php file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH and open the wp-config.php file (this is in your site's directory). You’ll see the following line:
$table_prefix = 'wp_';
Replace the value with the new timestamp of the backup you created. For example:
$table_prefix = '20240329_141233_wp_'; - Click the Restore my backup now! button.
A success message appears notifying you that your database will be restored within 10 minutes.
Managing MySQL database disk usage
DreamHost encourages its customers to develop as small and efficient databases as possible. For specifics on what size databases are allowed on a specific DreamHost MySQL server, please review the Unlimited Policy and contact support if you have further questions.