How to back up / restore a system database in Plesk

Kuzma Ivanov

Updated May 05, 2026 06:45

Plesk for Windows Plesk for Linux ABT: Group A kb: auxiliary

Applicable to:

To back up/restore a database, connect to your Plesk server via SSH (Linux) / RDP (Windows Server) and follow the instructions below:

Note: To restore Plesk system databases from a Plesk daily / pre-upgrade dump, visit this KB article.

Plesk for Linux

Creating a database dump

# plesk db dump <database_name> > /path/to/<dump_name>.sql

Example
The following command creates a database dump of the Plesk 'psa' database in the /root directory with today's timestamp:

# plesk db dump psa > /root/psa_dump.sql

The following database dump will be created:

# ls /root/psa_dump.sql
psa_dump.sql
Restoring a database from a database dump

# plesk db < /path/to/<dump_name>.sql

Example
The following command restores the Plesk psa database from the database dump 'psa_dump.sql' located in the /root directory:

# plesk db < /root/psa_dump.sql

Plesk for Windows Server

Creating a database dump

C:\> plesk db dump <database_name> > C:\path\to\<dump_name>.sql

Example
The following command creates a database dump of the Plesk 'psa' database on C:\ drive:

C:\> plesk db dump psa > C:\psa_dump.sql
Restoring a database from a database dump

Use this command:

C:\> plesk db < C:\path\to\<dump_name>.sql

Example
The following command restores the Plesk 'psa' database from the database dump psa_dump.sql located on C:\ drive:

C:\> plesk db < C:\psa_dump.sql

C:\> cd %plesk_dir%Mysql\Backup