To backup your database using mysqldump simply type:
mysqldump -p -u[username] [database] > [filename].sql
where:
- username = the mysql username (with the appropriate rights for this database [of course])
- database = the name of the databse you want to backup
- filename = the name of the file you want the dump to be saved as
To restore a backup you could type:
mysql -p -u[user] [database] < [filename].sql