Can't import simple sql dump via phpmyadmin
genai_works
PROOP

a month ago

I am importing small sql dump (10 Mb) and have different variations of exported dumps. No of them work or give a mistake. It ends up in infinite waiting or "Wasn't able to load progress of import". Seems nobody reported about this problem except of me. I also tried other dumps, no luck.

$40 Bounty

3 Replies

Railway
BOT

a month ago

Hey there! We've found the following might help you get unblocked faster:

If you find the answer from one of these, please let us know by solving the thread!

brody
EMPLOYEE

a month ago

This thread has been marked as public for community involvement, as it does not contain any sensitive or personal information. Any further activity in this thread will be visible to everyone.

Status changed to Open brody • 27 days ago

genai_works
PROOP

a month ago

More context:
I deployed "PhpMyAdmin" template on railway, and used it's import functionality.

bytekeim
PRO

13 days ago

phpMyAdmin SQL Import Hanging on Railway – Explanation and Fixes

phpMyAdmin gets stuck on Railway when importing a SQL dump of around 10 MB. The UI shows infinite loading or the message "Wasn't able to load progress of import". The reasons are below.

Why It Happens

  1. PHP upload limits are too low.

Default Railway phpMyAdmin environment uses:
"upload_max_filesize = 2M"
"post_max_size = 8M"

Files above 2 MB are rejected internally. The result is a frozen import page or a silent failure.

  1. phpMyAdmin on Railway does not include the uploadprogress extension.

Without this extension, phpMyAdmin cannot update the import progress. The UI often remains stuck at 0% even when the upload is rejected.

Because of these limits, a 10 MB SQL file almost always fails in the phpMyAdmin interface.

Working Solutions

  1. Increase PHP upload limits (only if you deploy phpMyAdmin yourself).

Example nixpacks.toml:

"[variables]"
"UPLOAD_MAX_FILESIZE = '20M'"
"POST_MAX_SIZE = '20M'"

If you use Nginx, also update "client_max_body_size".

This increases allowed upload size, but the progress bar will still not work without the uploadprogress extension.

  1. Compress the SQL file.

Use zip or gzip to reduce the size below 2 MB. phpMyAdmin accepts ".zip" and ".gz" files and extracts them automatically.

This bypasses the PHP upload limit.

  1. Import using MySQL CLI (recommended and most reliable).

Railway provides:
"MYSQLHOST"
"MYSQLPORT"
"MYSQLUSER"
"MYSQLPASSWORD"
"MYSQLDATABASE"

Import with:

"mysql -h $MYSQLHOST -P $MYSQLPORT -u $MYSQLUSER -p$MYSQLPASSWORD $MYSQLDATABASE < dump.sql"

You can run this on your local machine or from inside the service using:

"railway run bash"

This avoids phpMyAdmin entirely and works for any file size.

  1. Split the SQL dump.

Split the dump into smaller files and upload them one by one through phpMyAdmin. This is only a fallback solution.

Summary

The phpMyAdmin import hangs because:

  • PHP upload_max_filesize is limited to 2 MB.

  • The uploadprogress extension is missing.

Compression or raising upload limits can help, but the MySQL CLI import is the most reliable method and works consistently on Railway.

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