mysqldump
MySQL dump
mysqldump is the logical backup utility included by default in every MySQL and MariaDB installation. It produces an SQL file containing all the statements (CREATE TABLE, INSERT) needed to fully rebuild a database’s schema and data.
How it works #
mysqldump connects to the MySQL server and reads tables one at a time, generating the corresponding SQL statements as output. The operation is strictly single-threaded: one table after another, one row after another. The output file can be compressed externally (gzip, zstd) but the tool itself offers no native compression.
With the --single-transaction option, the dump runs within a transaction at REPEATABLE READ isolation level, which guarantees a consistent snapshot on InnoDB tables without acquiring write locks.
What it’s for #
mysqldump is the standard tool for:
- Logical backup of small to medium databases
- Migrations between different MySQL versions
- Exporting individual tables or databases for transfer between environments
- Creating human-readable, inspectable dumps
When it becomes a problem #
On databases over 10-15 GB, the single-threaded dump becomes a bottleneck. A 60 GB database can require 3-4 hours for the dump and as many for the restore. The lack of parallelism is the structural limitation: there’s no way to speed up the process other than switching to tools like mydumper.