Backup & Restore Databases

Updated 19 Oct 2026 Published

Backup & Restore Databases

There are three ways to make a copy of a database in VinzaPanel. Pick the one that fits the job.

You want to…	Use	Engines
Download a dump right now, or load one in	Export / Import on the database page	MySQL, MariaDB
Keep regular copies on the server, restore with one click	Backups (Only Database or Website and DB)	MySQL, MariaDB
Back up a PostgreSQL database	The PostgreSQL app (`pg_dump` / `pg_restore`)	PostgreSQL

Quick export and import

Open Databases and click the database.
In Backup / Restore, choose Export as .sql or .sql.gz and click Export to download it.
To load a dump, drop a .sql or .sql.gz file (max 50 MB) on Import.

Backup / Restore tab of a MariaDB database, with Export as .sql or .sql.gz and an Import drop zone

Warning

Import executes every statement in the file against the database, so existing data may be overwritten.

Backups of a database

Go to Backups (/backups/) and click Create Backup.
Choose Only Database and the database, then Start Backup. The panel makes a consistent mysqldump, gzip-compressed, in the background.
To include the site files too, choose Website and DB instead: the archive holds the website's files plus every MySQL/MariaDB database linked to that website.

Archives are stored in the owner's home under /home/<user>/backups/databases/<database>/ as <database>_<YYYYmmdd-HHMMSS>.sql.gz. For daily or weekly copies, create an automatic backup on the same page.

Restore

Click Restore on a finished backup. Each table in the archive replaces the current one; tables created since the backup stay. The database must still exist in the panel and the panel must know its password (set it on the database page if it was adopted by Reconcile).

See Backups for schedules, retention and restore details, and Off-site Backups to keep copies away from the server.

PostgreSQL databases

The built-in backups and the Export / Import card handle MySQL and MariaDB only; PostgreSQL databases linked to a website are skipped in a Website and DB archive. Use the PostgreSQL app instead (Databases → PostgreSQL, /apps/postgresql/):

Backup runs pg_dump -Fc into a compressed custom-format archive (default folder /var/backups/postgresql).
Restore runs pg_restore into a target database, which is created if it does not exist; you can choose to drop existing objects first (--clean --if-exists).

PostgreSQL app Databases tab listing databases with the pg_dump backup and pg_restore buttons in each row