Title: Databases
Author: WordPress VIP Documentation
Published: May 12, 2022
Last modified: December 29, 2025

---

#  Databases

Each [VIP Platform WordPress environment](https://docs.wpvip.com/infrastructure/environments/)
is supported by a unique database. Unique databases per-environment allows testing
to be performed on non-production environments without impacting the production 
environment.

To improve database performance, WPVIP uses Automattic’s HyperDB `db.php` drop-in.
HyperDB is configured to send writes to an environment’s master database and sends
reads to database replicas. [No other `db.php` drop-ins can be used](https://docs.wpvip.com/wordpress-on-vip/drop-ins/)
on the platform.

The size of an environment’s database can be reviewed in [the **Database Backups** panel](https://docs.wpvip.com/databases/backups/)
or [the **Insights & Metrics** panel](https://docs.wpvip.com/performance/insights-metrics/)
of the VIP Dashboard.

 * 
   ### 󠀁[Import database files](https://docs.wpvip.com/databases/import/)󠁿
   
 * Use VIP-CLI to import a full database file when migrating a site to the VIP Platform,
   or import a partial database file to update specific tables on a WordPress environment.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Custom database tables](https://docs.wpvip.com/databases/custom-tables/)󠁿
   
 * If necessary, custom tables can be added to a VIP Platform environment’s database.
   When adding a custom database table, use caution and follow best practices.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Supported character sets and collations](https://docs.wpvip.com/databases/supported-collations-charsets/)󠁿
   
 * In order to avoid unexpected issues, SQL database files for import should use
   the utf8mb4 character set.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Optimize database queries](https://docs.wpvip.com/databases/optimize-queries/)󠁿
   
 * Learn how to identify slow queries and optimize the underlying code to improve
   site performance and resilience.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Database Backups](https://docs.wpvip.com/databases/backups/)󠁿
   
 * Database Backups run automatically for all WordPress environments and can be 
   viewed and downloaded in the application view of the VIP Dashboard and with VIP-
   CLI.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Partial Database Exports](https://docs.wpvip.com/databases/partial-database-exports/)󠁿
   
 * Partial Database Exports with VIP-CLI allow a custom set of data to be exported
   from the current state of a VIP Platform environment’s database.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Database access](https://docs.wpvip.com/databases/access/)󠁿
   
 * Direct access to an environment’s database is limited, but users can view data
   in a read-only phpMyAdmin console session or interact with the databases on WPVIP
   through WP-CLI commands run via VIP-CLI.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Data sync from production to non-production environments](https://docs.wpvip.com/databases/data-sync/)󠁿
   
 * Data syncs from a production environment to a non-production environment can 
   be performed in the VIP Dashboard or with VIP-CLI.
 * 
   ### 󠀁[Export a SQL file from a site not hosted at WordPress VIP](https://docs.wpvip.com/databases/export-a-file-for-migration/)󠁿
   
 * To migrate the content of a WordPress site to an environment on the WordPress
   VIP Platform, a SQL database file must be exported from the non-VIP site.

Last updated: December 29, 2025