---
title: "Creating a Drupal site archive for import"
date: "2024-02-14T06:18:38+00:00"
summary: "Learn how to create a Drupal site archive for seamless import. Follow our step-by-step guide to package your application's docroot, database, and files correctly for Cloud Platform compatibility."
image:
type: "page"
url: "/acquia-cloud-platform/creating-drupal-site-archive-import"
id: "054232c7-9498-4b92-8ab7-ff2eecee7685"
---

[After you prepare your application](/acquia-cloud-platform/create-apps/import/prepare), create a Drupal site archive.

A Drupal site archive is a gzip-compressed `.tar` file containing the following structure:

*   A single top-level directory containing your application’s Drupal [docroot](/definitions/docroot), including the `index.php` file, the modules and the `/includes` directory, and `sites/*`.
    
    Cloud Platform imports your application’s user-uploaded files from the `[docroot]/sites/*/files` directory of the directory containing a `settings.php` file. For more information about docroots, see [Docroot definition](/definitions/docroot).
    
*   The uncompressed MySQL dump file from your Drupal application in the root of the `.tar` file. This file can have any name, but must have an `.sql` extension.

The following sample archive file shows the site archive structure of a Drupal 7 application with the `tar -tzf archive.tar.gz` command that lists the contents of the `.tar` file:

    tar -tzf archive.tar.gz

    ./your-database-goes-here.sql
    ./drupal-7
    ./drupal-7/index.php
    [... other Drupal files ...]
    ./drupal-7/sites
    ./drupal-7/sites/cleaninstall.localhost
    ./drupal-7/sites/cleaninstall.localhost/settings.php
    ./drupal-7/sites/cleaninstall.localhost/files/
    ./drupal-7/sites/cleaninstall.localhost/files/myimage.jpg

Creating a site archive file with Drush
---------------------------------------

1.  Ensure that you have installed a Drush version that supports the `drush archive:dump` command. Certain Drush versions like Drush 9 do not support this command. For more information, see [archive:dump](https://www.drush.org/12.x/commands/archive_dump/).
2.  Go to the Drupal directory and enter the following command:
    
        drush archive:dump --destination=../mysite.tar.gz
    
    Drush saves the `mysite.tar.gz` site archive file to the parent directory of your current Drupal directory. If the command displays error messages, ensure it has the required permissions to save files in that directory.
    
3.  Copy `mysite.tar.gz` to your local machine.

Making the site archive file available
--------------------------------------

To import a site archive file using the Cloud Platform user interface, the file must be located at a publicly accessible URL. You can use services such as Dropbox or Google Drive, or an infrastructure you control.