Backups

Genesis

Administrator
Staff member
I'm wondering what every one is doing for a backup system of their Websites? What are your favourite tools and how do you manage them? What is the backup frequency and do you have a specific program?
 
Although I don't do a backup per say, rule of thumb would be nightly for the backup.
Basically what I do is, when I edit any files on the server, I download them into a new folder so it doesn't change the original ones I first uploaded. Then if I happen to make any changes to the database, I export the sql into the new folder.
All my sites are testing and development sites. So if you have a web forum, or other type of site where your data can change daily, then I would suggest doing a daily back up using the tools in the cpanel. That way, it will give you a date stamp. In case of a failure, you will have a backup, minus the data that may have been there on the day of the failure.
 

Genesis

Administrator
Staff member
strokerace said:
Basically what I do is, when I edit any files on the server, I download them into a new folder so it doesn't change the original ones I first uploaded. Then if I happen to make any changes to the database, I export the sql into the new folder.
All my sites are testing and development sites. So if you have a web forum, or other type of site where your data can change daily, then I would suggest doing a daily back up using the tools in the cpanel. That way, it will give you a date stamp. In case of a failure, you will have a backup, minus the data that may have been there on the day of the failure.
I like this idea. But then how would you know which changes you made for any given day? Which backup to select when you do a restore?
 
Well, in the event of a failure, you load up the latest back up.

You do bring up a good point. As for knowing changes for a given day, you can edit the name of the back up to include the change made for that day. Yes, I do understand that you will have a long name for that file.
You can do what I do, I make folders and name it for the changes and then store that backup in it. Sure, its not fool proof, and it can take up some space on the drive. Trust me, it will be worth it if you ever screw up a file, or if the changes breaks the page. It is time consuming and can get confusing. I even relable a file on the server when I am making changes.
 

Genesis

Administrator
Staff member
Sounds like a great plan.

My needs for knowing which backup is which are not as great. But who knows. So lately I've been making backups and saving on my hard disk by date of month folders. After the disk failure I'm now always backing up both the Website and the cpanel after changes have been made or there has been a major input of data.

I'm using the duplicator plugin for WordPress sites but technology wise the cPanel full backup is still the most secure backup there is. I haven't had an incident yet where I haven't been able to restore a forum or wordpress site in perfect shape. So I prefer to do both duplicator and a full backup of the hosting account. Easy to do and effortless to download and upload.
 

Blix

New member
I do backups via cronjobs... most of my client sites are made with Joomla. There is a free backup extension from here