1. Log in to your Plesk control panel.
   

• Usually available at: https://yourdomain.com:8443 or https://your-server-IP:8443
  

• Enter your admin or hosting user credentials.
  

2. Go to the “Databases” section (either from the main menu or inside a specific domain).
   
   
   

3. Find the database you want to work with and click the “phpMyAdmin” button next to it.
   
   

📥 How to Import a .sql Dump into a Database

1. You will be redirected to the phpMyAdmin interface.
   

2. In the left sidebar, click on the target database name (make sure it’s the database, not the server name).
   

3. Click the “Import” tab at the top.
   
   
   

4. Click “Choose File” and select your .sql dump file from your local computer.
   

5. Make sure the format is SQL and the character set is usually utf8 (you can leave the default).
   

6. Click “Go” to start the import.
   
   
   
   

❗ What to Do If You Encounter Import Errors

1. Timeout or File Size Limit Errors

• Symptoms: import fails with an error like "Maximum execution time exceeded" or "upload_max_filesize exceeded".
  

• Solutions:
  Split the large .sql file into smaller parts (you can use tools like SQLDumpSplitter).
  
  

Alternatively, import the dump via SSH using the mysql command:
 mysql -u username -p dbname < dump.sql

2. Character Encoding Issues

• Symptoms: garbled text, wrong characters (especially in non-English content).
  

• Solutions:
  

  Make sure your .sql file is saved in the correct encoding, such as UTF-8 without BOM.
  

  During import, select utf8 in the “Character set of the file” dropdown.
  
  

3. Access Denied or Permissions Errors

• Symptoms: you get a message about lack of permissions.
  

• Solutions:
  

  Make sure the user you're logged in with has privileges on the selected database.
  

  Use the database user assigned to that specific database (visible in Plesk).
  

4. “Table already exists” Errors

• Symptoms: the import partially succeeds, but some tables aren’t created.
  

• Solutions:
  
  Ensure your dump file includes DROP TABLE IF EXISTS statements.
  

  If not, you can manually delete the existing tables or edit the SQL dump to add the DROP statements.
  

If your dump file is very large or complex, it's often better to upload it via FTP and import it using SSH instead of phpMyAdmin (due to browser and server limits).