The part everyone skips.
WHY IT MATTERS MORE THAN THE BACKUP
A backup that cannot be restored is not a backup.
WHAT COMMONLY GOES WRONG
The dump was incomplete Routines and triggers were omitted Character sets differ, corrupting text The restore takes far longer than the window allows Nobody knows the procedure
WHAT TO TEST
A full restore, on separate infrastructure, on a schedule.
WHAT TO MEASURE
How long it takes.
WHY
It is the figure that determines your actual recovery time.
WHAT TO VERIFY AFTERWARDS
Row counts against the source That the application starts That recent records exist That text with accented characters is intact
WHAT TO DO BEFORE RESTORING OVER ANYTHING LIVE
Take a copy of the current state.
WHY
The broken database may hold data the backup lacks.
WHAT TO RESTORE TO FIRST
A separate database, not over the live one.
WHAT ORDER TO WORK IN
Create the database Import the dump Check for errors in the output Verify
WHY CHECKING OUTPUT MATTERS
Imports continue after errors by default, leaving a partial result.
WHAT TO DOCUMENT
The procedure, step by step, testable by someone else.
