Exporting Structure and Data (Backup) - Mastering phpMyAdmin 3.4 for Effective MySQL Management - page 120

Before starting an export, we must have a clear picture of the intended goal of the
export. The following questions may be of help:
• Do we need the complete database or just some tables?
• Do we need just the structure, just the data, or both?
• Which utility will be used to import back the data?
• Do we want only a subset of the data?
• What is the size of the intended export, and what is the link speed between
us and the server?
Scope of the export
When we click an Export link from phpMyAdmin, we can be in one of these views or
contexts— Database view, Table view, or Server view (more on this later in Chapter
19 ). According to the current context, the resulting export's scope will be a complete
database, a single table, or even a multi-database as in the case of Server view. We
will first explain database exports and all the relevant export types. Then we will go
on with table and multi-database exports, underlining the difference for these modes
of exporting.
Exporting a database
In the Database view, click on the Export link. Since version 3.4.0, the default export
panel appears as shown in the following screenshot: