Add Your Database

Now that you've set up your Pantheon Dev environment, you need to import your database by creating a .sql dump file.

The Database import requires a single .sql dump that contains the site's content and configurations.

1. Create a .sql dump using the mysqldump utility. To reduce the size for a faster transfer, compress the resulting archive with gzip:

   mysqldump -uUSERNAME -pPASSWORD DATABASENAME > ~/db.sql
   gzip ~/db.sql

   • Replace USERNAME with a MySQL user with permissions to access your site's database.

   • Replace PASSWORD with the MySQL user's password. You can also move -p to the end of the command to leave it blank if you want to be prompted for your password. This prevents your MySQL password from being visible on your terminal.

   • Replace DATABASE with the name of your site database within MySQL.

   • ~/db.sql defines the output target to a file named db.sql in your user's home directory. Adjust to match your desired location.

   The resulting file will be named db.sql.gz. You can use the Pantheon Dashboard or a MySQL client to add your site's database.

2. Navigate to the Site Dashboard and select the Dev environment.

3. Select Database / Files.

4. Click Import and add your archive (based on file size):

   Up to 100MBs

   Up to 500MBs

   Over 500MBs

   Up to 100MBs

   If your archive is under 100MB, you can upload the file directly:

   1. Click File in the MySQL database field > Choose File.

   2. Select your local archive file and click Import.

      

   Note: If you recently imported the database and need to re-import, refresh the page and use a new filename for the database file.

   Up to 500MBs

   Over 500MBs