How to import an sql backup

Have an instance was running on ubuntu with mysql
was a asp.net update that broke the app but it didn't take effect till much later on a restart
so I have daily sql backups going way back which include all the media. I don't have the app data other than code for customizations which I can reapply after.
If I load up a clean app and replace the database with the old one it will try to reinitialize going back to the install page and wont take the path of the old database.
I'm using the same version that was running during the backup what else do I need to do?

You restored the database to the Server ?
Then you need to edit the connection string in App_Data\appsettings.json (If you have one) to point to the database

If you dont have App_Data\appsettings.json then one way is to let the install run to create a temporary database.
This way you can check everything is working and get the correct format for the connection string
Then edit the connection string in App_Data\appsettings.json to point to the database

I'm assuming you mean dataSettings.json was able to get it up thanx. Cant understand why setting up the init with root. Then overwriting the database was putting it back into setup mode, but changing the connector to a different database with the same data doesn't.