Import large .sql file into MySQL

Question

I have been given a VERY large mysql backup file. It is ~630 MB... I guess someone thought it was a good idea to store images in a database... Anyway, I need to restore the data somehow in MySQL. But i can't get it done because of the filesize.

At first i tried to do it with MySQL Workbench. But when i try to import the file it gives me the following error:

Could not allocate xxxxx bytes to read file C:\backup.sql

Then i tried to do it through command prompt. I entered the following in cmd:

C:\> mysql -u user -pPassword database < C:\backups.sql

That eventually gives me the following warning:

ERROR 2006 (HY000) at line 68230: MySQL server has gone away

Guess that is also because of the big filesize?

I have no other ideas on how to restore the data. Is that still possible somehow?

Answer 1

Increasing the wait_timeout and/or interactive_timeout should help. First check the current value:

C:\> mysql -hlocalhost -uroot -proot

mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'wait_timeout';

If this is very low (e.g. 30 seconds) then increase it (e.g. 5 minutes):

mysql> SET SESSION wait_timeout = 300;
mysql> SET SESSION interactive_timeout = 300;

Then execute your SQL file:

mysql> \. database.sql