How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Backup WordPress

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Backup WordPress Chris Jean @chrisjean chrisjean.com

Who is this presentation for?
Bloggers and business owners that run their own sites
Web developers/designers that host and/or maintain client sites

What are backups? ” Backups are useful primarily for two purposes. The first is to restore a state following a disaster (called disaster recovery). The second is to restore small numbers of files after they have been accidentally deleted or corrupted. Data loss is also very common. 66% of internet users have suffered from serious data loss.” Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup

Qualities of a good WordPress backup
Restore: The backup must be able to be restored back to the original or a different server.
Complete: The backup must be able to fully restore the site. This includes both the database and files.
Automation: Save time and prevent loss due to forgetting by making the backups automatic.
Duplication: Don't have a single point of failure. Can the backup can be easily (automatically?) copied to another location?

Wordpress Backup + WP DB Backup
Files: Wordpress Backup
Blog Traffic Exchange
www.blogtrafficexchange.com /wordpress-backup/
Database: WP DB Backup
Austin Matzko (filosofo)
austinmatzko.com/wordpress-plugins/wp-db-backup/

Site files will need to be manually uploaded to site via FTP or some other file upload method
Database export can be restored via phpMyAdmin (available in cPanel) and manually on the command line. Non-cPanel hosting tools may also have a database import utility. Great instructions on the WordPress Codex: codex.wordpress.org/Restoring_Your_Database_From_Backup

Pros
Both free plugins
Both can be scheduled
Easy to set up
Both provide ability to send backups via email
Cons
Neither plugin provides a restore capability
Two plugins needed
May not make full site backup

Automatic WordPress Backup
Backs up files and database
Web Design Company, Inc
webdesigncompany.net/automatic-wordpress-backup/

Automatic WordPress Backup
Pros
Backs up files and database
Stores backups in remote Amazon S3 storage
Can be automated
Cons
No restore ability

BackupBuddy
Paid plugin by PluginBuddy
pluginbuddy.com/purchase/backupbuddy/
Backs up both database and files

BackupBuddy
Pros
Backs up both database and files
Able to send backups via email and FTP
Can be automated
Able to restore and migrate
Cons
Not free
Can have issues with large (1GB+) sites

VaultPress
Paid service by Automattic
vaultpress.com
Backs up entire site
Monitors for site attacks and content spam
In active development, so full details are limited

VaultPress
Pros
Realtime backup of files and data
Backups stored on Automattic's storage cloud
Does more than just backups
Able to restore content and files
Cons
Not ready yet
Paid service
Backups are not available to user (not confirmed)

Other plugins to look at
Bei Fen – Wordpress Backup Plugin wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bei-fen/
WP S3 Backups wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-s3-backups/

When to backup
Do a full backup before a WordPress core or major plugin upgrade.
Do a full backup at least once a week.
Do a database backup, if possible, once a day.

Migration: The final piece of a solid backup plan
WordPress migration is being able to restore a backup to a site using a different database prefix, domain, or site path.
Standard backups can only recreate the site exactly as it was. This means that a migration will have to be done manually.
Not only does migration allow for better protection against unknown factors, it allows for simple testing of backups.

Tips
The WordPress Codex has a great article on this topic with a variety of techniques and tools: codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Backups
If you lose some content (not images), try using a search engine's cache feature to retrieve the content.
Once a month, test your backups to make sure they are reliable.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Backup WordPress

by Chris Jean on Jun 07, 2010

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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Backup WordPress — Presentation Transcript