As a web designer and developer, I feel it is essential that I provide my clients with daily backups of their websites. Especially since I also provide their web hosting services for them.
Now backing up the files, and backing up the database are not the same thing. The database is not included in your files. It resides on a separate location of the server and must be backed up separately. I had a customer who wanted me to move their existing WordPress Blog to my web hosting service, they provided me with a copy of their files, when I explained to them that I needed a copy of the database, they were surprised. They had no idea that the database was not included with the files.
Fortunately WordPress has a Plugin that will automatically backup your database. There are several plugins you can use, but the one that I use is called WP-DBManager. I install it on every WordPress Blog that I develop.
I like WP-DBManager because it does a lot more than backup your database. It also allows you to optimize, repair, and restore your database. Perhaps the most important feature is that you can set automatic scheduling of your backups, and have a copy of the database emailed to you! I have a copy of my database sent to my Gmail account daily. I have created a filter for these mailings, they archived instead of arriving in my in-box, this way I never see the email, but I know that it is there if I ever need it.
Instructions For Installing WP-DBManger
Installing this plugin is a little more complicated than installing other plugins. There are some files that need to be renamed and moved. It takes a little extra work but is well worth the effort.
- Install and activate the plugin
- The script will automatically create a folder called backup-db in the wp-content folder if that folder is writable. If it is not created, please create it and CHMOD it to 777
- Using your FTP program, or File Manager, Open the wp-content/backup-db folder
- In the wp-content/backup-db folder rename the htaccess.txt file to .htaccess
- Move the .htaccess file from: wp-content/plugins/wp-dbmanager to wp-content/backup-db
- Login to your WordPress Admin Dashboard, Go to ‘Database -> DB Options’ to configure the plugins options. This is where you can set the frequency of the Automatic Scheduling of your Database Backups, and the Automatic Scheduling of your Database Optimization.
Video Tutorial
To help make the instructions clear, I have created a Video Tutorial to show you how to install and configure the wp-dbmanager
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