Best MySQL Backup Solutions for Drupal (2025)
Your Drupal site powers mission-critical applications for enterprises, governments, and educational institutions. Content workflows, user data, configuration management, and complex entity relationships represent thousands of hours of development and years of accumulated content.
A database corruption or security breach could destroy not just content but configuration, entity structures, and workflow states that took months to build. Unlike simple blogs, Drupal sites integrate deeply with organizational processes - losing data means operational disruption beyond the website.
This guide compares MySQL backup solutions specifically for Drupal's enterprise requirements, from manual approaches to automated systems meeting compliance standards for government and large organizations.
Why Drupal Sites Need Enterprise-Grade Database Protection
Complex Entity and Field System
Drupal's entity-field architecture creates intricate database relationships across dozens of tables. A single content type spreads data across node tables, field storage tables, field data tables, and entity reference tables. Your database contains not just content but the structural definitions that make Drupal powerful. Losing these relationships means losing not just data but the architecture itself - requiring extensive rebuilding even if you have content exports.
Configuration Management Dependencies
Drupal 8/9/10's configuration management system stores critical site configuration in the database. Content types, views, workflows, permissions, and custom module settings live alongside content. A backup solution must preserve configuration data with the same fidelity as content because broken configuration can render your site non-functional even with intact content. Configuration synchronization between environments depends on reliable database backups.
Content Workflow and Publishing States
Enterprise Drupal deployments use complex content workflows - draft, review, approved, published, archived. Multiple users collaborate on content moving through these states. Content moderation tables track this workflow state, which is as critical as the content itself. A backup from before a workflow state change could republish draft content or hide published articles. Recovery points must align with content workflow timing to prevent these issues.
Multi-Site and Distributed Architecture
Many Drupal organizations run multiple interconnected sites or distributed architectures. Development, staging, and production environments require synchronized backup strategies. Some organizations run 10-50+ Drupal instances. Your backup solution needs to handle multiple databases with consistent policies while supporting environment-specific retention and recovery requirements.
Compliance and Audit Requirements
Government agencies, healthcare organizations, and financial institutions choose Drupal partly for its security credentials. These organizations face strict compliance requirements: FISMA, HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP. Your backup solution must provide encrypted storage, audit logs, retention policies, and reliable recovery capabilities that satisfy auditors. Non-compliant backups can fail audit requirements even if technically functional.
Top MySQL Backup Solutions for Drupal Databases
We've evaluated the most common backup approaches Drupal users rely on, from manual methods to automated services. Here's what works, what doesn't, and where each solution fits best.
Drush SQL Dump (Manual Backups)
How it works: Drush's sql-dump command wraps mysqldump with Drupal-aware features. You can run manual exports or schedule via cron, with options to exclude cache tables and sanitize user data for staging environments.
Advantages
- Free and Drupal-integrated
- Familiar to Drupal developers
- Can exclude cache/temporary tables
- Works with all Drupal versions
- Supports data sanitization for staging
Limitations
- Requires manual setup and scheduling
- No automated verification
- Database locks impact performance
- Must manually manage retention
- No built-in encryption
- Difficult to test regularly
- Slow restore for large databases
Best for: Drupal developers comfortable with command-line tools, development/staging environments, or situations where budget is the primary constraint.
Not suitable for: Production enterprise Drupal sites, organizations with compliance requirements, or situations requiring guaranteed backup verification and rapid recovery.
Backup and Migrate Module
How it works: The Backup and Migrate module provides scheduled database backups through Drupal's admin interface. It can backup to local storage or remote destinations with configurable schedules and retention policies.
Advantages
- Easy setup through Drupal UI
- No command-line knowledge required
- Can exclude specific tables
- Cloud storage integration available
- Scheduling built-in
- Familiar to Drupal admins
Limitations
- Runs within Drupal (fails if Drupal breaks)
- PHP memory limits cause failures on large sites
- Performance impact during backup
- Limited to hourly backups at best
- No independent verification
- Not suitable for databases over 5GB
Best for: Small to medium Drupal sites, organizations without dedicated DevOps resources, sites where hourly recovery points are sufficient.
Not suitable for: Enterprise Drupal sites, large databases (10GB+), high-traffic production environments, or organizations with strict compliance requirements.
Platform.sh / Acquia Cloud Backups
How it works: Premium Drupal hosting platforms include automated backup systems optimized for Drupal. These typically provide daily automatic backups with on-demand snapshot capabilities and integration with the hosting platform's tooling.
Advantages
- Included with enterprise hosting
- Drupal-optimized configuration
- Professional support available
- Integration with deployment workflows
- Snapshots for staging/testing
- Compliance features available
Limitations
- High cost ($100-1000+/month)
- Usually limited to daily backups
- Locked to hosting platform
- Limited retention periods
- Not portable between providers
- May not support custom schedules
Best for: Enterprise Drupal sites already using these platforms, organizations valuing integrated tooling and professional support.
Not suitable for: Organizations needing sub-daily recovery points, multi-cloud backup strategies, or backup portability independent of hosting provider.
Cost: $100-1000+/month
Enterprise Backup Solutions (Veeam, Commvault)
How it works: Enterprise backup suites provide comprehensive infrastructure backup including databases. These systems backup entire servers or virtual machines, capturing Drupal databases as part of larger backup strategies.
Advantages
- Part of enterprise infrastructure strategy
- Backs up entire server/VM
- Compliance features built-in
- Professional support and SLAs
- Integration with enterprise monitoring
Limitations
- Very high cost ($5,000-50,000+/year)
- Complex setup and management
- Typically limited to daily/hourly backups
- VM-level backups aren't application-aware
- Slow granular database recovery
- Overkill for database-only protection
Best for: Large enterprises with existing enterprise backup infrastructure, organizations backing up entire data centers.
Not suitable for: Organizations needing application-specific database backup, those requiring sub-hour recovery points, or situations where database backup is the primary concern.
Cost: $5,000-50,000+/year
DBCalm: Enterprise MySQL Backup for Drupal
We built DBCalm to meet enterprise Drupal requirements that general backup solutions miss. Instead of daily snapshots creating 24-hour data loss windows, DBCalm uses physical incremental backups every 15 minutes via Mariabackup/XtraBackup to protect your content, configuration, and entity data.
How DBCalm Protects Your Drupal Site
Continuous Incremental Backups Every 15 Minutes
DBCalm creates physical incremental backups every 15 minutes using Mariabackup/XtraBackup. This means you're never more than 15 minutes away from your most recent backup, dramatically reducing potential data loss compared to daily or even hourly approaches.
Unlike full dumps that copy your entire database repeatedly, these physical incremental backups only capture what changed at the file level. A 10GB Drupal database might only generate 200-500MB of changes per day, making backups faster and storage more efficient.
Point-in-Time Recovery Every 15 Minutes
With backups running every 15 minutes, you can restore your database to any 15-minute interval. This is critical for Drupal sites because:
- If a module update breaks your site at 3:45 PM, restore to 3:30 PM before the update
- If a configuration import corrupts data at 11:20 AM, restore to 11:15 AM and retry correctly
- Maximum data loss is limited to 15 minutes instead of 24 hours with daily backups
Automated Backup Verification
DBCalm automatically verifies every backup by restoring it and running validation queries against the data. For Drupal sites, this includes checking for recent nodes and verifying critical tables are intact. You'll know immediately if a backup is corrupted or incomplete, not during an emergency recovery.
This verification runs continuously in the background without impacting your production database performance - critical for maintaining SLAs.
Enterprise Security and Compliance
All backups are encrypted using AES-256 before leaving your server. Encryption keys are managed separately from backup data. Audit logs track all backup and restore operations with timestamps and user attribution.
This meets compliance requirements for FISMA, HIPAA, SOC 2, and other standards common in Drupal's enterprise market.
Multi-Environment Support
DBCalm's Pro and Business plans support 5-20+ database servers with independent backup policies. Backup production every 15 minutes with 30-day retention, staging hourly with 7-day retention, and development daily with 3-day retention - all managed from one dashboard.
Drupal Recovery Scenarios
Scenario 1: Configuration Import Failure
A configuration import from development to production corrupts content type definitions at 2:40 PM. Database structure is broken. With daily backups, you'd restore last night and lose all day's content. With DBCalm's 15-minute backups, you restore to 2:30 PM before the import and only lose 10 minutes - likely zero published content.
Scenario 2: Module Update Database Changes
A module update at 10:15 AM runs database updates that fail partway through, leaving tables in inconsistent state. With DBCalm, you restore to 10:00 AM before the update, verify the module compatibility, and retry. With daily backups, you lose all morning's editorial work.
Drupal-Specific Considerations
- Entity integrity: Physical backups preserve all entity-field relationships correctly
- Configuration consistency: Backups capture configuration and content atomically
- Multi-site support: Handles Drupal multi-site installations correctly
- Large content repositories: Efficiently backs up sites with 100K+ nodes and complex taxonomies
- Workflow preservation: Content moderation states backed up consistently
Complete Drupal Backup Comparison
| Solution | Backup Frequency | Recovery Point | Encryption | Starting Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drush SQL Dump | As configured | 24 hours | Manual setup | Free | Dev/staging environments |
| Backup & Migrate | Hourly to daily | 1-24 hours | Optional | Free | Small Drupal sites |
| Platform.sh/Acquia | Daily | 24 hours | Yes | $100-1000/mo | Integrated hosting platform |
| Enterprise Backup | Daily to hourly | 1-24 hours | Yes | $5000+/year | Full infrastructure backup |
| DBCalm | Every 15 minutes | 15 minutes | AES-256 | $49/month | Enterprise Drupal sites |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I backup Drupal while the site is running?
Yes, but the method matters. Traditional mysqldump creates locks that can slow your database during backup. This affects content editors, form submissions, and user interactions during busy periods.
Physical backup systems like DBCalm use Mariabackup/XtraBackup and don't lock tables, maintaining full performance even during backup operations.
What is point-in-time recovery and why does it matter?
Point-in-time recovery lets you restore your database to specific backup intervals. With DBCalm's 15-minute backups, you can restore to any 15-minute interval.
This is critical for Drupal sites because if a module update breaks your database at 3:45 PM, you can restore to 3:30 PM and only lose 15 minutes of content instead of a full day of editorial work and configuration changes.
How long does it take to restore a Drupal database?
DBCalm uses physical backups (Mariabackup/XtraBackup) which are typically 5-10x faster than importing SQL dump files, critical for meeting recovery time objectives.
- 2GB Drupal database: 3-5 minutes with physical backups, 15-25 minutes with SQL dumps
- 10GB database: 15-20 minutes with physical backups, 60-90 minutes with SQL dumps
- 50GB database: 60-90 minutes with physical backups, 4-6 hours with SQL dumps
Ready to Protect Your Drupal Site?
Questions? Contact our team to discuss your Drupal backup needs.