Databases

Four ways to give an app a database: a new one, one loaded from a file, a copy of one that lives elsewhere, or a link to one you keep with another provider.

The four ways

Open your app and find Database. Pick one:

New database. An empty database on this server, private to your apps.
From an exported file. 1ClickOps creates a database here and loads your file into it. Use Upload a file for an export on your computer, or From a link to have your server download it directly, which is best for large files.
Copy from another database. Paste the connection link of a database that lives elsewhere. Your server reads it once and copies the data here. The original is not changed.
Link one that lives elsewhere. Keep using a database hosted by another provider. Nothing is copied; your app is simply given the link.

A fifth choice, One already on this server, connects a database you created here earlier.

PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB and Redis can run on your server. Any other kind can only be linked.

What happens to your app

The app receives the connection as a setting.
When data has to be loaded first, your app is left alone until the load has finished. Only then is it connected.
If a load fails, your app is not changed and the database is left as it was. A wrong file, a failed download or a refused password stops before any data is touched.
Your server looks inside a file to decide what it is. A file that does not fit the database is refused.

Uploading a file

An uploaded file is the one case where your data passes through 1ClickOps. It is encrypted while it waits. Your server collects it once. It is deleted when it has been handed over, and after two hours whatever happens. A download link avoids all of this: your server fetches the file itself.

A linked database stays with its provider

The link is stored encrypted and is never shown again. A connection link is a password.
Your data stays with that provider. 1ClickOps does not back it up, and staging gets no copy of it.

Versions

A database on your server keeps the version it was created with, for good: data written by one major version does not open under another. New PostgreSQL databases are version 17.

Connection details

A database on your server has no public address. Only apps on the same server can reach it.
The database’s own page has Connection details: where it is and what it is called.
The password is not shown there, and it cannot be shown again. The only time a password is ever shown is right after you create a database by itself.
Disconnecting a database from an app does not delete the database.

Databases on your server are backed up every day. See Backups and restore.