You can export the Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) or Optimizely Customized Commerce database to a _bacpac_ file using the API or using the PaaS portal. See also [Export the Database to Bacpac File](🔗) to use the UI.
When you export a database, it triggers an export job for the requested database. The export job copies the requested database from the requested environment to a new database in the Integration environment to avoid performance issues in the production environment when the export runs. After this, it exports to a bacpac file from the copied database, and stores the bacpac on BLOB storage.
Note
The Export Database process can take from a few hours to several days (in extreme cases). You can export only one database at a time.
The following sections describe operations to export the database to a .bacpac file using the API.
## Export database
### Request
**POST**Â api/v1.0/projects/{projectId}/environments/{environment}/databases/{databaseName}/exports
### Parameters
| Name | Type | Description |
| databaseName | string | The name of the requested database Valid names: epicms, epicommerce |
| environment | string | The name of the environment of the requested database |
| projectId | Guid | The identifier of the project of the requested database |
### Body
| Name | Tyoe | Description |
| retentionHours | int | Total hours that the bacpac is retained in the bacpacs container Default value: 24 |
### Response
## Get export database
This API gets the information about the export job that is triggered by an export database operation.
### Request
**GET**Â api/v1.0/projects/{projectId}/environments/{environment}/databases/{databaseName}/exports/id
### Parameter
| Name | Type | Description |
| id | Guid | The identifier of the export job |
### Response
(Same as a response for Export database operation.)
## Test tools
Postman
Epicloud
Start-EpiDatabaseExport
Get-EpiDatabaseExport
Swagger
swagger/ui/index