I would like to know the command to perform a mysqldump of a database without the prompt for the password.
REASON: I would like to run a cron job, which takes a mysqldump of the database once everyday. Therefore, I won't be able to insert the password when prompted.
How could I solve this?
Since you are using Ubuntu, all you need to do is just to add a file in your home directory and it will disable the mysqldump password prompting. This is done by creating the file ~/.my.cnf (permissions need to be 600).
Add this to the .my.cnf file
[mysqldump]
user=mysqluser
password=secret
This lets you connect as a MySQL user who requires a password without having to actually enter the password. You don't even need the -p or --password.
Very handy for scripting mysql & mysqldump commands.
The steps to achieve this can be found in this link.
Alternatively, you could use the following command:
mysqldump -u [user name] -p[password] [database name] > [dump file]
but be aware that it is inherently insecure, as the entire command (including password) can be viewed by any other user on the system while the dump is running, with a simple ps ax command.
--defaults-file. Like ` mysqldump --defaults-file=my_other.cnf --print-defaults`
~/.my.cnf. See stackoverflow.com/a/14653239/470749. MySql expected mine to be at c:\wamp\bin\mysql\mysql5.5.24\my.cnf. So I created a file there. Restarting Mysql wasn't necessary; it worked immediately for my next mysqldump.
.my.cnf is set to 0400 for security reasons
GRANT LOCK TABLES, SELECT ON *.* TO 'BACKUPUSER'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'PASSWORD';
Adding to @Frankline's answer:
The -p option must be excluded from the command in order to use the password in the config file.
Correct:
mysqldump –u my_username my_db > my_db.sql
Wrong:
mysqldump –u my_username -p my_db > my_db.sql
.my.cnf can omit the username.
[mysqldump]
password=my_password
If your .my.cnf file is not in a default location and mysqldump doesn't see it, specify it using --defaults-file.
mysqldump --defaults-file=/path-to-file/.my.cnf –u my_username my_db > my_db.sql
A few answers mention putting the password in a configuration file.
Alternatively, from your script you can export MYSQL_PWD=yourverysecretpassword.
The upside of this method over using a configuration file is that you do not need a separate configuration file to keep in sync with your script. You only have the script to maintain.
There is no downside to this method.
The password is not visible to other users on the system (it would be visible if it is on the command line). The environment variables are only visible to the user running the mysql command, and root.
The password will also be visible to anyone who can read the script itself, so make sure the script itself is protected. This is in no way different than protecting a configuration file. You can still source the password from a separate file if you want to have the script publicly readable (export MYSQL_PWD=$(cat /root/mysql_password) for example). It is still easier to export a variable than to build a configuration file.
E.g.,
$ export MYSQL_PWD=$(>&2 read -s -p "Input password (will not echo): "; echo "$REPLY")
$ mysqldump -u root mysql | head
-- MySQL dump 10.13 Distrib 5.6.23, for Linux (x86_64)
--
-- Host: localhost Database: mysql
-- ------------------------------------------------------
-- Server version 5.6.23
/*!40101 SET @OLD_CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT=@@CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT */;
/*!40101 SET @OLD_CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS=@@CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS */;
/*!40101 SET @OLD_COLLATION_CONNECTION=@@COLLATION_CONNECTION */;
/*!40101 SET NAMES utf8 */;
MariaDB documents the use of MYSQL_PWD as:
Default password when connecting to mysqld. It is strongly recommended to use a more secure method of sending the password to the server.
The page has no mentions of what a "more secure" method may be, though I have put my interpretation in the "Final thoughts" at the end.
This method is still supported in the latest documented version of MySQL: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/environment-variables.html though it comes with the following warning:
Use of
MYSQL_PWDto specify a MySQL password must be considered extremely insecure and should not be used. Some versions of ps include an option to display the environment of running processes. On some systems, if you setMYSQL_PWD, your password is exposed to any other user who runs ps. Even on systems without such a version of ps, it is unwise to assume that there are no other methods by which users can examine process environments.
The security of environment variables is covered in much details at https://security.stackexchange.com/a/14009/10002 and this answer also addresses the concerns mentioned in the comments. TL;DR Irrelevant for over a decade.
Having said that, the MySQL documentation also warns:
MYSQL_PWDis deprecated as of MySQL 8.0; expect it to be removed in a future version of MySQL.
To which I'll leave you with maxschlepzig's comment from below:
funny though how Oracle doesn't deprecate passing the password on the command line which in fact is extremely insecure
Connecting to a system using a single factor of authentication (password) is indeed insecure. If you are worried about security, you can consider adding mutual TLS on top of the regular connection so both the server and the client are properly identified as being authorized.
MYSQL_PWD=xoF3mafn5Batxasdfuo mysqldump -u root mysql No export needed. That should do the trick?
Commented
Oct 2, 2017 at 15:19
export MYSQL_PWD=... does not show up in the process list. Not even for a split second. This is because the export command is (and has to be) a shell builtin. Thus the shell doesn't fork/exec a process with the command's argument if you execute it in your shell.
Commented
Oct 26, 2019 at 8:41
You can store the credentials in a file and then utilize that in your scripts.
MySQL will automatically search the current users home directory for a file named .my.cnf
mysqldump [database] > [desiredoutput].sql
If you don't want to utilize the default location/filename of ~/.my.cnf then you can use
--defaults-extra-file
mysqldump --defaults-extra-file=/path/.sqlpwd [database] > [desiredoutput].sql
Note: .sqlpwd is just an example filename.
Required Permission
sudo chmod 600 /path/.sqlpwd
Recommended Ownership
sudo chown $USER:nogroup /path/.sqlpwd
.sqlpwd/.my.cnf contents:
[mysqldump]
user=username
password=password
You can also add credentials for other MySQL utilities as below:
[mysql]
user=username
password=password
[mysqldiff]
user=username
password=password
[client]
user=username
password=password
If you wanted to log into a database automatically, you would need the [mysql] entry for instance.
You could now make an alias that auto connects you to DB
alias whateveryouwant="mysql --defaults-extra-file=/path/.sqlpwd [database]"
For completeness sake I will state you can do the following, but is extremely insecure and should never be used in a production environment:
mysqldump -u [user_name] -p[password] [database] > [desiredoutput].sql
Note: There is NO SPACE between -p and the password.
Eg -pPassWord is correct while -p Password is incorrect.
Yeah it is very easy .... just in one magical command line no more
mysqldump --user='myusername' --password='mypassword' -h MyUrlOrIPAddress databasename > myfile.sql
and done :)
You can achieve this in 4 easy steps
Below are the detailed steps
Step 1
create a directory on your home directory using sudo mkdir ~/backup
Step 2
In your home directory run sudo nano ~/.my.cnf and add the text below and save
[mysqldump]
#use this if your password has special characters (!@#$%^&..etc) in it
password="YourPasswordWithSpecialCharactersInIt"
#use this if it has no special characters
password=myPassword
Step 3
cd into ~/backup and create another file script.sh
add the following text to it
SQLFILE=/path/to/where/you/want/to/dump/dbname.sql
DATABASE=dbname
USER=myUsername
mysqldump --defaults-file=~/.my.cnf -u ${USER} ${DATABASE}|gzip > dbName_$(date +\%Y\%m\%d_\%H\%M).sql.gz
Step 4
In your console, type crontab -e to open up the cron file where the auto-backup job will be executed from
add the text below to the bottom of the file
0 0 * * * ./backup/script.sh
The text added to the bottom of the cron file assumes that your back up shall run daily at midnight.
That's all you need folk ;)
For me, using MariaDB I had to do this: Add the file ~/.my.cnf and change permissions by doing chmod 600 ~/.my.cnf. Then add your credentials to the file. The magic piece I was missing was that the password needs to be under the client block (ref: docs), like so:
[client]
password = "my_password"
[mysqldump]
user = root
host = localhost
If you happen to come here looking for how to do a mysqldump with MariaDB. Place the password under a [client] block, and then the user under a [mysqldump] block.
[mysqldump] section and it worked without any issues. Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Here is a solution for Docker in a script /bin/sh :
docker exec [MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME] sh -c 'exec echo "[client]" > /root/mysql-credentials.cnf'
docker exec [MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME] sh -c 'exec echo "user=root" >> /root/mysql-credentials.cnf'
docker exec [MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME] sh -c 'exec echo "password=$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD" >> /root/mysql-credentials.cnf'
docker exec [MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME] sh -c 'exec mysqldump --defaults-extra-file=/root/mysql-credentials.cnf --all-databases'
Replace [MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME] and be sure that the environment variable MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD is set in your container.
Hope it will help you like it could help me !
Check your password!
Took me a while to notice that I was not using the correct user name and password in ~/.my.cnf
Check the user/pass basics before adding in extra options to crontab backup entries
If specifying --defaults-extra-file in mysqldump then this has to be the first option
A cron job works fine with .my.cnf in the home folder so there is no need to specify --defaults-extra-file
If using mysqlpump (not mysqldump) amend .my.cnf accordingly
The ~/.my.cnf needs permissions set so only the owner has read/write access with:
chmod 600 ~/.my.cnf
Here is an example .my.cnf:
[mysql]
host = localhost
port = 3306
user = BACKUP_USER
password = CORRECTBATTERYHORSESTAPLE
[mysqldump]
host = localhost
port = 3306
user = BACKUP_USER
password = CORRECTBATTERYHORSESTAPLE
[mysqlpump]
host = localhost
port = 3306
user = BACKUP_USER
password = CORRECTBATTERYHORSESTAPLE
The host and port entries are not required for localhost
If your user name in linux is the same name as used for your backup purposes then user is not required
Another tip, whilst you are doing a cronjob entry for mysqldump is that you can set it to be a low priority task with ionice -c 3 nice 19. Combined with the --single-transaction option for InnoDB you can run backups that will not lock tables or lock out resources that might be needed elsewhere.
I have the following.
/etc/mysqlpwd
[mysql]
user=root
password=password
With the following alias.
alias 'mysql -p'='mysql --defaults-extra-file=/etc/mysqlpwd'
To do a restore I simply use:
mysql -p [database] [file.sql]
This is how I'm backing-up a MariaDB database using an expanding variable.
I'm using a "secrets" file in a Docker-Compose setup to keep passwords out of Git, so I just cat that in an expanding variable in the script.
NOTE: The below command is executed from the Docker host itself:
mysqldump -h192.168.1.2 -p"$(cat /docker-compose-directory/mariadb_root_password.txt)" -uroot DB-Name > /backupsDir/DB-Name_`date +%Y%m%d-%H:%M:%S`.sql
This is tested and known to work correctly in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with mariadb-client.
cat ... will add it to the command line anyway.
Commented
Mar 3, 2022 at 4:58
I'm doing mine a different way, using Plink(Putty command line) to connect to remotehost, then the below command is in the plink file that runs on the remote server, then I use RSYNC from windows to get it and backup to an onprem NAS.
sudo mysqldump -u root --all-databases --events --routines --single-transaction > dump.sql
I have keys setup on the remote host and using PowerShell that's scheduled via task scheduler to run weekly.
For example, you can export the schema and data of the tables of apple database to backup.sql without a password prompt by setting a password(e.g., banana) to -p(--password=) as shown below. *Don't put any space just after -p or --password= because there is error and my answer explains how to export the schema and data of the tables of a database and my answer explains how to import a database without a password prompt:
mysqldump -u john -pbanana apple > backup.sql
Or:
mysqldump -u john --password=banana apple > backup.sql
Or, you can export the schema and data of the tables of apple database to backup.sql without a password prompt by setting a password(e.g., banana) to MYSQL_PWD= as shown below. *The doc says MYSQL_PWD is deprecated as of MySQL 8.0; expect it to be removed in a future version of MySQL.:
MYSQL_PWD=banana mysqldump -u john apple > backup.sql
Or on Windows, you can set the user john and the password banana under [client] in my.ini as shown below. *This way is more secure than the ways above and my answer explains [client] and my answer explains where my.ini is located on Windows:
# "my.ini"
[client]
user="john"
password="banana"
Then, you can export the schema and data of the tables of apple database to backup.sql without a password prompt by setting my.ini's location to --defaults-file= or --defaults-extra-file= as shown below:
mysqldump --defaults-file='C:\ProgramData\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\my.ini' apple > backup.sql
Or:
mysqldump --defaults-extra-file='C:\ProgramData\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\my.ini' apple > backup.sql
*Not setting my.ini's location to --defaults-file= or --defaults-extra-file= gets error as shown below:
mysqldump apple > backup.sql
mysqldump: Got error: 1045: Access denied for user 'ODBC'@'localhost' (using password: NO) when trying to connect
For example, you can import backup.sql into orange database without a password prompt by setting a password(e.g., banana) to -p(--password=) as shown below. *Don't put any space just after -p or --password= because there is error and my answer explains how to import the schema and data of the tables of a database and my answer explains how to export a database without a password prompt:
mysql -u john -pbanana orange < backup.sql
Or:
mysql -u john --password=banana orange < backup.sql
Or, you can import backup.sql into orange database without a password prompt by setting a password(e.g., banana) to MYSQL_PWD= as shown below. *The doc says MYSQL_PWD is deprecated as of MySQL 8.0; expect it to be removed in a future version of MySQL.:
MYSQL_PWD=banana mysql -u john orange < backup.sql
Or on Windows, you can set the user john and the password banana under [client] in my.ini as shown below. *This way is more secure than the ways above and my answer explains [client] and my answer explains where my.ini is located on Windows:
# "my.ini"
[client]
user="john"
password="banana"
Then, you can import backup.sql into orange database without a password prompt by setting my.ini's location to --defaults-file= or --defaults-extra-file= as shown below:
mysql --defaults-file='C:\ProgramData\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\my.ini' orange < backup.sql
Or:
mysql --defaults-extra-file='C:\ProgramData\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\my.ini' orange < backup.sql
*Not setting my.ini's location to --defaults-file= or --defaults-extra-file= gets error as shown below:
mysql
ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'ODBC'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
One liner works:
mysqldump -u root -p'password' db > db.sql
what about --password="" worked for me running on 5.1.51
mysqldump -h localhost -u <user> --password="<password>"
--password=xxx on the command line will make the password visible to anyone with ability to read proc (or do full ps) -- which is pretty default.
Definitely I think it would be better and safer to place the full cmd line in the root crontab , with credentails. At least the crontab edit is restricred (readable) to someone who already knows the password.. so no worries to show it in plain text...
If needed more than a simple mysqldump... just place a bash script that accepts credentails as params and performs all amenities inside...
The bas file in simple
#!/bin/bash
mysqldump -u$1 -p$2 yourdbname > /your/path/save.sql
In the Crontab:
0 0 * * * bash /path/to/above/bash/file.sh root secretpwd 2>&1 /var/log/mycustomMysqlDump.log
You can specify the password on the command line as follows:
mysqldump -h <host> -u <user> -p<password> dumpfile
The options for mysqldump are Case Sensitive!
mysqldump -u root -pmypassword