How do I generate (or restore) a backup of my MS SQL database?

You can generate a backup of your database that will be placed into your account and made available for download via FTP. The file created will have a .bak extension, and can be used for maintaining safety copies of your database or for use in your local development environment. Note however that the backup files are intended for restoration to our servers, and we cannot provide support for using the database backup on your local system.


To create a database backup
  1. Go to the MS SQL section in Control Panel
  2. Click the "Manage" link for the database you wish to back up
  3. Click the "Backup" link
  • The backup file is created in the following format: [DatabaseName]_backup.bak
  • Backup will be placed in the /App_data directory (if /App_data does not exist, it will automatically be created)
  • The backup process will fail if a backup file with the same name already exists in the /App_data directory. You must rename or download any existing backups before creating a new backup.

How do I restore a backup file to my WinHost database?
  • Make sure the backup file is in the /App_data directory
  • and the name is in the following format: [DatabaseName]_backup.bak (restoration will fail if you attempt to restore a database that does not conform to this naming convention)
  1. Go to the MS SQL section in Control Panel
  2. Click the "Manage" link for the database you wish to back up
  3. Click the "Restore" link
Note that the existing database will be overwritten and all existing data will be replaced!

The database restoration tool is intended to be used with backups generated in Control Panel only. If you create a backup on your local system and attempt to restore it to the live database the restoration may fail.

Attach Database Feature

NOTE: The Attach Database feature is only available if your account is on the Ultimate plan.

To use the Attach Database feature please refer to this Knowledge Base article.

Attach Database Tool

Article ID: 1045, Created On: 3/30/2012, Modified: 4/2/2012