How to Import an .sql File Into Your FiveM Server Database

Many FiveM frameworks and scripts ship with an .sql file that creates all the tables they need. You load this file into your database using phpMyAdmin.

Note

You need an existing database for this. How to create one, read the credentials and open phpMyAdmin is explained in Create Database.

Before you start

1. Stop the server
   Stop your server via the dashboard. That way no resource writes to the database while the import is running.

2. Review the SQL file
   Open the .sql file in a text editor and check whether it contains lines such as CREATE DATABASE or USE.

   Warning

   The database user from the dashboard only has permissions for its own database and is not allowed to create another one. If the file contains such lines, the import stops with a permission error. Remove those lines and import directly into your existing database.

3. Watch out for overwritten tables
   Also check the file for lines containing DROP TABLE IF EXISTS. Existing tables with the same name are deleted along with their content during the import. Back up your data beforehand.

Back up existing tables

If your database already holds data, export it before importing.

Note

A backup from the dashboard covers the files of your server. Your database has to be backed up separately through phpMyAdmin.

1. Open phpMyAdmin
   In the dashboard, go to Databases and click the external icon next to your database, then log in.

2. Select the database
   Click your database in the left sidebar.

3. Open the Export tab
   Click Export at the top.

4. Download the export
   Leave the Export method on Quick - display only the minimal options and the Format on SQL. Click Export to download the file to your PC.

   Tip

   With Custom - display all possible options you can pick individual tables and have the output saved directly as ZIP or GZIP under Compression.

Import the SQL file

1. Select the database
   In phpMyAdmin, click the database you want to import into in the left sidebar.

   Warning

   Make sure you select the database first. Without a selected database, phpMyAdmin does not know where the tables belong and the import fails.

2. Open the Import tab
   Click Import at the top.

3. Choose the file
   Under File to import, use Browse your computer to select your .sql file. The maximum file size you are allowed to upload is shown right next to that label.

4. Check the character set
   Leave Character set of the file on utf-8 unless your file explicitly uses a different encoding. Otherwise special characters end up broken in the database.

5. Check the format
   SQL has to be selected under Format. phpMyAdmin usually detects this automatically from the file extension.

6. Start the import
   Click Import at the bottom and wait until the page has finished loading. Do not close the browser tab in the meantime.

Check the result

1. Read the message
   After a successful import, the message "Import has been successfully finished, X queries executed." appears at the top.

2. Verify the tables
   Click your database on the left and then on Structure. The tables from the .sql file should now be listed there.

3. Start the server
   Start your server via the dashboard and check the console for database errors.

Tip

For your server to actually use the new tables, the database connection has to be stored in your server.cfg. How to do that is explained in Set Up Database.

Importing large SQL files

The upload limit on the import page is a setting of the web server phpMyAdmin runs on. You cannot change it yourself. If your file is too large or the import stops after a while, you have these options:

1. Compress the file
   phpMyAdmin reads compressed files directly, and only the compressed size counts towards the upload limit. The file name has to end in .[format].[compression], for example database.sql.zip. Which compression formats are supported is shown in the note at the top of the import page.

2. Allow a partial import
   Under Partial import, tick Allow the interruption of an import in case the script detects it is close to the PHP timeout limit. phpMyAdmin then stops the import in a controlled way before the PHP time limit hits and continues from the stored position when you submit again.

   Warning

   phpMyAdmin itself points out that this option can break transactions. Back up your tables first.

3. Split the file
   Split the .sql file into several smaller files and import them one after another in their original order. Make sure you do not cut a statement in half.

Common errors

Symptom	Cause and solution
Permission error (Access denied)	The file contains CREATE DATABASE or USE. Remove those lines and import into your existing database.
Error while creating a foreign key	Remove the tick from Enable foreign key checks under Other options and repeat the import.
The file cannot be selected or is too large	The upload limit is exceeded. See Importing large SQL files.
The import stops without a success message	Usually a timeout. See Importing large SQL files.
Table already exists	The table was imported before. Back it up and delete it before repeating the import.