Back Ups!

[Keith W]

I have just done my weekly back ups.

Have you done yours yet?

If not, or you are not sure how to, then have a read of this excellent post by Gwyneth

[gwyneth]

Keith, that's so virtuous of you! Not just to make your backups, but reminding everybody else instead of being smug and self-satisfied. Enjoy your cocoa, you deserve it!

Everybody should remember: ANY backup is better than NO backup.

[ghpk]

Thanks for reminding,

[christfirstforums]

I back up monthly for files, 2 or 3 times aweek for forum database

[amki]

Originally Posted by Keith W

I have just done my weekly back ups.

Have you done yours yet?

If not, or you are not sure how to, then have a read of this excellent post by Gwyneth

I tried, but, as usual, anything I try to do goes wrong. I spent nearly all day, unsuccessfully, trying to get bq internet set up, only to discover when I went looking for help that, contrary to glowing reports in the two backup resource threads, bq internet may not be the best choice now. Everything I found in forum searches was either three months or three years old, and when I got to WHM, I discovered that the likes of me, i.e., newbies, aren't exactly welcome in the area where you generate an SSH key.

So, one more failure chalked up.

I gold star on your forehead for you, though, Keith.

[gwyneth]

For your purposes, Jo, you're almost certainly fine by just going to cPanel and making a full backup every couple of weeks, and a database backup weekly. Note that HG support would need to restore a full backup.

Wordpress may also have a backup plugin, which would be useful for making sure that changed files got saved.

[striddy]

Originally Posted by gwyneth

Wordpress may also have a backup plugin, which would be useful for making sure that changed files got saved.

Yes indeed. I use "WP-DB-Backup" from http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/

This plugin automatically emails a backup of the wordpress database everyday to my gmail account. Please note, this plugin only backs up the database, not your other wordpress files.

[gwyneth]

With backups, it's important to realize that the enemy of the good is the great, as somebody once said about something else.

Better to connect via FTP, choose select all, start the download and go to bed than spend weeks stressing about crons and syncing--and meanwhile, not making backups of any kind.

It is probably almost as important for most people to have an organized method to find a pre-changed file when you do something you instantly regret...or wonder how did THAT happen. Keeping a "virgin version" can save hours of sleep, client or boss relationships, and marriages. The smaller the change, the more important this is (because small changes can be impossible to find)--just pop in the virgin version and go to sleep. Whatever it is can be fixed in the morning.

And the less organized you are in the real world, the more important it is to be systematic with your electrons.

With backups, on the other hand, you don't need to worry about being disorganized unless you overwrite and rotate them, which shouldn't be an issue these days for most of us. Any backup is better than no backup. A good backup is better than a bad backup, of course, but really--a bad backup is better than no backup.

Keith should have added one phrase to his terrific thread-starter: before you start reading the thread to which he linked, start the select all/download or cPanel full backup/download.

[amki]

Originally Posted by gwyneth

For your purposes, Jo, you're almost certainly fine by just going to cPanel and making a full backup every couple of weeks, and a database backup weekly. Note that HG support would need to restore a full backup.

Wordpress may also have a backup plugin, which would be useful for making sure that changed files got saved.

Thank you, Gwyneth, for simplifying for me--again. (I can almost hear you saying, "I told her a long time ago that her relentless demands for perfection are keeping her from doing anything at all.")

Because this is becoming 'off-topic' for Off-Topic, I've started a new general thread, 'Backup Options Help.'

[amki]

Originally Posted by striddy

Yes indeed. I use "WP-DB-Backup" from http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/

This plugin automatically emails a backup of the wordpress database everyday to my gmail account. Please note, this plugin only backs up the database, not your other wordpress files.

I just downloaded that, David, but haven't installed it yet.

This is born of that other thread about upgrading to WP 2.7. I was going to do it, but only after backing up my site, and, naturally, I got bogged down with that.

Problems with plugins will arise either way: some won't work with 2.7, others will only work with it. I'm not plugin happy, but there are a couple that I want that aren't upgraded to 2.7. I feel sure that this isn't a new problem considering the frequency of upgrades, so I hope we'll get some comments about how others handle it--but not here, on the new thread as above (where it's almost off-topic, but certainly fits in about always backing up before changing things.)

Thanks for pointing me to the plugin.

[amki]

Better to connect via FTP, choose select all, start the download and go to bed than spend weeks stressing about crons and syncing--and meanwhile, not making backups of any kind.

Why do I always see that advice is good but can't interpret it, as above? 'connect via FTP' - to what? FTP on my end or in cpanel? 'choose select all' - all of what? And that's just for starters, but I won't continue here because discussion belongs in the new topic.

After spending all day yesterday in a futile attempt to do a backup, I promised myself that today I would wash the dishes, do the laundry, water the poor drought-stricken garden, etc., and here I am at almost 11:30 a.m. knee deep in it again.

The time difference between the US and NZ complicates things because if I want answers during my today, I have to do my posting and answering on US time.

Nevertheless, I am going to do some of those chores now, and if nothing gets resolved about backing up today, at least something will get resolved about a sinkful of dirty dishes.

Till later,

[gwyneth]

Connect to your site using FTP program.
In pane for local PC have destination directory open.
In pane for server have either top-level directory or public_html open.
In pane for server choose select all.
Transfer to local PC.

[Canadian]

I have to back up through the admin panel on my forum as doing it at cpanel I only get a 20 byte back up.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by Canadian

I have to back up through the admin panel on my forum as doing it at cpanel I only get a 20 byte back up.

20 bytes sounds as if it's just the name and an empty file. Something is wrong somewhere.

[christfirstforums]

Originally Posted by christfirstforums

I back up monthly for files, 2 or 3 times aweek for forum database

whoa so long ago, now i back up daily and sometimes 3 times aday

[gateway7]

I always backup, but I always forget to download the backup as well.

[Canadian]

20 bytes sounds as if it's just the name and an empty file. Something is wrong somewhere

Any suggestions? At one time It used to be normal then it stopped.

[Abomination]

Originally Posted by Canadian

I have to back up through the admin panel on my forum as doing it at cpanel I only get a 20 byte back up.

Originally Posted by Canadian

Any suggestions? At one time It used to be normal then it stopped.

There are PHP time outs that can cause issues. Using this method you will not have those issues.

Using PuTTy and Jailed shell access:
Backup: mysqldump --opt -Q -u dbusername -p databasename > backupname.sql

Restore: mysql -u dbusername -p databasename < backupname.sql

I "just played with it" until I was sure of how it worked, by backing up and restoring several times.


Then we set up a CRON job and have that backup command running 2x / day for a weeks worth of rotating backups (8 database backups total, 7 days at midnight + 1 noon copy).

[Abomination]

Apparently posts cannot be edited after a very short time. So, new post.

That method worked for us very reliably even when our database was well over 450MB.

Best of luck to you Canadian.

[Canadian]

Thanks I will give it a try.