Unable to create a database in Plesk: A database with the name example_db already exists

Kuzma Ivanov

Updated January 13, 2026 19:07

Plesk for Linux kb: technical

Applicable to:

When creating a database in Plesk at Domains > example.com > Databases, the operation fails with the error message:

PLESK_ERROR: A database with the name db_example already exists.
The database is not listed in Plesk at Tools & Settings > Database Servers > MySQL/MariaDB (under databases).

The database already exists in MySQL:

# plesk db -ne"show databases" | grep db_example
db_example

Remove the existing database from MySQL/MariaDB

If the database is not needed, remove it from MySQL/MariaDB:

Connect to the Plesk server via SSH.
Just in case, create a database dump:

# plesk db dump db_example > db_example.sql
Connect to MySQL/MariaDB server:

# plesk db
Drop the existing database:

MYSQL_LIN: MariaDB> DROP DATABASE db_example;