Backing up...

[Masetek]

I just read Deronsizemore's post about his site being hacked, what a piss off. I feel sorry for him. This got me thinking about backups and auto backing up.

Im just wondering what everyone elses uses to backup their sites? I am doing it manually atm, but wouldn't mind getting an automatic setup going.

So how do you backup your sites?

[deronsizemore]

Thanks for the kind words! :)

I'm curious about this as well, cause you can bet that my site is getting backed up next time. It wasn't a huge deal this time because all my files were basically just static, so I can replace them easily. But I had just started using TextPattern CMS with my site, so thankfully this happened before I got a lot of content added, because it really could be worse...all my content could be dynamically drawn using TextPattern and then I'd be screwed.

[Todd W]

Things you can do:

1. keep original copy localy
-for content sites that's your entire site (minus stats which are probably db)
--can re-upload entire site with no loss. (unless you have comments/ratings in a db too)

2. backup to 2nd hd (could be deleted by hacker too)

3. backup to remote storage at dedicated host.

4. Random backup of db's.

5. cpanel do remote ftp backups interval.

[Masetek]

I always back my sites up locally, and I back my pc up as well :) The problem is it's a time consuming process.

You know any scripts that wil back your site up and say..email it to you or put it in a server dir so I can just ftp in an dl all of my sites at once?

[Todd W]

I always back my sites up locally, and I back my pc up as well :) The problem is it's a time consuming process.

You know any scripts that wil back your site up and say..email it to you or put it in a server dir so I can just ftp in an dl all of my sites at once?

cpanel can do remote ftp backups.

I`ll be setting mine to send my sites home soon automaticaly :)

[Blue Cat Buxton]

I have a script that backs up mysql via cron once a week and emails to my gmail account. - this covers most of the data on most of my sites. I then keep a copy of the sites locally and on CD (I need to keep a copy of the CD 'off site' as well in case someone physicall steals the pc and cds :()

I need to look at the cpanel ftp backup, that would be usefull

[Masetek]

I have a script that backs up mysql via cron once a week and emails to my gmail account. - this covers most of the data on most of my sites. I then keep a copy of the sites locally and on CD (I need to keep a copy of the CD 'off site' as well in case someone physicall steals the pc and cds :()

I need to look at the cpanel ftp backup, that would be usefull

What's the name of the script, or did you write it?

[Blue Cat Buxton]

I knew you'd ask!

phpMySQLAutoBackup (http://www.dwalker.co.uk/phpmysqlautobackup/)

[Masetek]

Nice one :)

I am going to modify this script so it will backup all my db's from a particluar server.

[Westech]

I think that most control panels now (at least cpanel, directadmin, and ensim) all have the remote ftp backup feature. The CP will back up all site files and database dumps of all databases, zip them up, and ftp them to a remote server. You can schedule this to happen daily, weekly, or monthly.

[etech-martin]

Rsync is a new method on the backup software block to replace remote copy program. Rsync is widely used for mirroring Web sites. Rsync improves efficiency at a great extent when it comes to traditional remote backup methods. While taking down backups, you should always consider the features like
- frequency of backup,
- encrypted data transfer for Security,
- quick Restore
- FTP access :)

[Chris]

I need to worry more about this myself....

[Westech]

A simple solution that I use is setting up an old box (mine's a pentium 2) at home with nothing on it but linux and an ftp server. I then have my webserver control panels ftp full backups to this box periodically. Every so often I make backup copies of the backups and place them on both other machines at my house and also on other remote servers. (Yes, I'm super paranoid.)

A lot of hosts and datacenters also offer remote ftp backup space for pretty cheap. This would be a good option if setting up a home ftp server is too much of a pain for you. If you do this you should get backup space that's located in a different datacenter than the servers you're backing up.

[Cutter]

Assuming someone hacks into your account, couldn't they trace the automatic ftp backup from there?

I have two hard drives, back up all my source files there. I also do backups through cpanel. On top of that, I have my websites spread out over three different web hosts. I'm looking to buy a USB drive for backup purposes too.

[Chris]

Thats a valid issue cutter... unless you rig the permissions of the account to only allow uploads, no downloads, no edits, no deletes..... I'm not sure how to do that, but I know its possible.

I don't think I could handle the mail-to-you backup methods. My lit site DB is about a gig.

[Todd W]

Thats a valid issue cutter... unless you rig the permissions of the account to only allow uploads, no downloads, no edits, no deletes..... I'm not sure how to do that, but I know its possible.

I don't think I could handle the mail-to-you backup methods. My lit site DB is about a gig.

I agree, and I agree... some sites are over 4gb, and 5gb... pretty crazy but that's why I like cpanels seqetial(sp) backup.. only backs up new stuff :)

-Todd

[Westech]

Assuming someone hacks into your account, couldn't they trace the automatic ftp backup from there?


Yes, that is a valid issue. It is possible to configure the ftp account to not allow deletion of previously backed up files, but I don't do that. Perhaps I should...

For now, I figure that my periodic backups of the stuff on the ftp backup server take care of that.

[Blue Cat Buxton]

I think that most control panels now (at least cpanel, directadmin, and ensim) all have the remote ftp backup feature. The CP will back up all site files and database dumps of all databases, zip them up, and ftp them to a remote server. You can schedule this to happen daily, weekly, or monthly.


I have been looking at this - please where on cpanel can you schedule backups - I get the option to backup manually but with the message:

Note: You cannot restore these backups, they can only be restored by your administrator.

Any backup process that does not happen automatically just wont work, for me at least.

This is the same on the 3 cpanel hosts I have, from the backup tab - am I just looking in the wrong place?

[r2d2]

I seem to have the same as Blue Cat, so would be interested in this also.