Our servers use MySQL as the database engine (or more precisely, the compatible and even faster MariaDB, but for marketing and recognition reasons we use the name MySQL). Databases are needed for fast storage and retrieval of data for software running on the server. For example, the world's most popular content management system WordPress is made with the PHP programming language and uses MySQL databases to store data content (including website text content and product information). In this guide, we go through the most common database operations performed on the server.
With our modern server systems, installing, transferring, or modifying most common applications does not require handling databases separately, as the server control panel tools take care of these operations automatically. So if you are installing a WordPress application on our server, for example, check out the
WordPress Toolkit guide, which allows installation with a couple of mouse clicks without manually creating databases.
You only need to handle databases in situations where you are programming your own
PHP application or need to transfer a ready-made application to the server whose transfer has not been successful with
transfer tools.
Creating a MySQL database
Before you can use a MySQL database, you must create a database and a database user on the server and define a password for the database user. If you have multiple web hosting subscriptions with the same Plesk account, make sure before starting the installation that you have selected the primary domain under which the subdomain is to be created from the 'Subscription' dropdown menu in the upper right corner of the control panel.
Then click 'Databases' -> 'Add Database' from the main menu:
On the page that opens, complete the database name suffix and database user name suffix. The prefix is defined based on your customer account username and together these form the database name and database user name. Also enter a password for the database user in the fields reserved for it twice and press OK to create the database:
A database is created on the server with the information you entered and you will access the following management view:
In this view, you can manage the database you created as follows:
- From phpMyAdmin you can open the pre-installed application with which you can manage the database content: browse, edit, add and delete tables and cells
- By clicking Connection Info you can quickly see the server name (localhost), database name and database user name. (Makes it easier to copy usernames manually to different software configuration files, for example).
- With the Copy button you can easily create a copy of the database (with content or just duplicating the table structure)
- With the Export Dump button you export the database content to your own computer or web hosting disk space (i.e., take a database dump). Use this when you need to export database content elsewhere from this server.
- With the Import Dump button you import database content to the server from your own computer or web hosting disk space. (You can use this to import a .sql or .sql.zip format database dump to the server, for example, in a situation where you are manually importing database content from another server)
- With the Check and Repair function you can run the necessary check and repair operations on your database if you suspect it has been corrupted for one reason or another.
- With the Move to Subscription button you can set the database under only a specific web hosting (requires that the account has multiple web hostings).
- With the Remove button you delete the database. Use this carefully, or your website may break if you inadvertently delete the database they use.
NOTE! Never delete the database of an application installed with e.g. WordPress Toolkit from here. If you want to remove WordPress, do it through the WordPress Toolkit function so that the removal process happens correctly and the database is also removed properly.
