» Simple Maintenance - Backup Everything

Backups are so important, yet one might not appreciate them until you something catastrophic happens and you actually need one. I currently administer several Word Press Blogs (this being one of them) and working on launching another here very soon… I found it very educational to actually go through the entire backup and restoring process of one my blog sites.

Fortunately for me I have a development blog that is password protected and strictly for the use of a web team that I work with. We use it to post design samples, project lists and assign tasks to the individuals involved. So we decided that being the WebDev blog is not live so to speak that we do a practice run of restoring it from backup files so we know the process if anything crashed on one of our live sites.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS! First we backed everything up and then deleted everything… all the files on the server and the entire database. Using the backup files we restored the entire blog inside of hour. Below is our documented backup and restore process…

The Backup Process

1. Download the entire file directory via FTP (File Transfer Protocol). If you want a good FTP program try FileZilla it’s freaking fast. I generally archive my FTP files on an external hard drive on a regular basis.
2. Database backup: You can back it manually via PHP My Admin or use the Backup plugin that comes pre-installed with Word Press.
   • From the Word Press Admin Panel click Manage > Backup. (requires that you active the backup plugin first)
   • Choose your backup option (I tend to download to my computer) and click the “Backup Button” on the right. It might be good practice to run it a second time and save it the server.

Restoring Word Press

In the event that you need to completely restore / resurrect WordPress (both the files and the database).. the process is pretty simple.

1. Upload via FTP the entire WordPress directory of files. DO NOT run the install file via the browser.
2. Login to PhPMyAdmin via the webhost control panel.
3. Select the database for the blog. If we have to recreate the database then it must have the same database name, login name and password as the original database. Once the database is selected, click browse… find the database backup file (ends in .sql) and click go. You should see a Import Successful if all went well. If there is an error refer to the Word Press.org Support Forum.
4. You should be done at this point and your WordPress blog back on online

When To Run Backups:

I backup my Word Press databases at least once a weekly… it really depends on how much is being posted or added to the database. If have a ton of traffic, posts, and comments then you might consider backing up the database a couple times a week.

A complete backup of the file directory should be done monthly as routine maintenance especially if you have several admins who constantly tweak stuff.

A full backup should happen…

• Before upgrading to the latest stable release of WordPress.
• Before we make any substantial changes to the file directories ie adding plugins, updating templates, modifying CSS.

Hopefully you will never have to restore your blog from backups but in the event you do… it shouldn’t take more than hour at least if you use Word Press. Anyhow.. it doesn’t make a difference what platform you use.. run back up regularly so you don’t lose vital information.