A physical backup is a copy of all the files in which MariaDB stores the database definitions, the data and index files, the configuration files, and the logs. Since data is usually stored in a compact way, a physical backup is usually the most convenient form of backup. Also, only physical backups include the configuration files and the logs.
However, while performing a physical backup, a lock must be acquired so that the server does not use the files. As an alternative, we can stop the server.
A complete backup consists of all the following groups of files: table files, trigger files, logs, and configuration files.
Table files are stored in the data directory. The storage engine, and sometimes its configuration, determines which files contain the table data and indexes. The data directory contains a directory for each database. The name of the directory matches the database name, as long as no special characters are used (which is not...