This tutorial explains how to backup and Restore Mysql or MariaDB databases from the command line using the mysqldump utility. The backup files created by the mysqldump utility are basically a set of SQL statements that can be used to recreate the original Database. If you don’t backup your databases, a software bug or a hard-drive failure could be disastrous. To help save you lots of time and frustration, it is strongly recommended that you take the precaution of regularly backing up your MySQL databases.