How to backup Koha library management software via the commandline

Backup up your entire database

1. Open the terminal

2. Type the following commandline:

mysqldump -u #username -p --all-databases > #any-name-for-your-backup.sql

where:

• #username is the username for your MySQL database. Unless you changed this, it is usually root.
• #any-name-for-your-backup.sql is the name for your backup. You can choose any name for this, just make sure you add the .sql extension.

You will be prompted to enter your password. Use the following command to verify your backup is there

 ls

You should see #any-name-for-your-backup.sql in your folder. You can also use the following command to see the size of your backup

du -h #any-name-for-your-backup.sql

Backup a Single Koha Instance Database

First, you need to see what your Koha instance database is called.

1. Log in to MySQL 

mysql -u #username -p

where #username is the username for your MySQL database. This is usually root.

mysql> show databases;

All the databases in MySQL will be listed. Make note of the one(s) you want to backup. The Koha databases will have a “koha_” prefix. If your Koha instance is called “library” for example, you should see the entry “koha_library” in the output. Exit MySQL as follows

mysql> quit;

2. Now backup your desired Koha database

mysqldump -u #username -p koha_library > library.sql

• where:
  #username is your MySQL admin/root username
• koha_library is the name of your Koha database
• library.sql is whatever name you choose to give to your backup. Make sure to include the “.sql” extension.

You will be prompted for your MySQL password.
Verify that the SQL file exists

ls

You can view its size using the following command

du -h #name-of-database.sql

You can proceed to download your backup or save it to a service like DropBox or GoogleDrive. If you have a large backup file you can compress it to save space.