# Create a dump file
If this is running on your local machine, do this. You will need to be inside the container or, in a directory/location that is local to the mysql/mariadb database.
```
mysqldump --single-transaction --default-character-set=utf8mb4 -h [server] -u [username] -p[password] [db_name] > nextcloud-sqlbkp_`date +"%Y%m%d"`.bak
```
If it is running in a container, you will need to run this command in that container.
```bash
docker exec [CONTAINER_NAME_OR_ID] /usr/bin/mysqldump -u [USERNAME] --password=[PASSWORD] [DATABASE_NAME] > [BACKUP_FILE.sql]
```
Replace:
- `[CONTAINER_NAME_OR_ID]` with the name or ID of the Docker container running MySQL
- `[USERNAME]` with the MySQL username
- `[PASSWORD]` with the MySQL user's password
- `[DATABASE_NAME]` with the name of the database to dump
- `[BACKUP_FILE.sql]` with the desired name for the SQL backup file
##### Note:
The typical process of creating a database dump requires connecting to the running database server and executing a command like `mysqldump` or `pg_dump` to export the database data to a SQL file. However, without a running database instance, these commands cannot be executed.