Most website software - WordPress included - keeps its content in a database. Your hosting plan includes a number of MySQL databases.
Creating one
- Open your hosting service and choose Advanced Control.
- Go to the MySQL databases area.
- Create a database, and note the exact name it is given.
- Create a user with a strong password and grant it access to that database.
Write down the database name, username, password and host. Software asks for all four during installation.
Managing the contents
phpMyAdmin is available from the same area, for browsing tables, running queries and importing or exporting.
Taking a copy
Export from phpMyAdmin before any significant change - a plugin update, a theme change, a bulk edit. A database export is small and has saved a great many afternoons.
Restoring one
Import the exported file back over the database. Be certain you are importing into the right one; an import can overwrite what is there.
Some sense about security
- One database and one user per site, so a compromise cannot reach the others.
- Never reuse a password across databases.
- Grant the user only the database it needs.
