Backing up mail
Mail is usually left out of the backup, and it is often the most irreplaceable thing on the server. Two ways to keep a copy.
4 min read
Back up before every update
Nightly backups do not cover the plugin you are about to update. One command before the change, and rolling back is two minutes.
4 min read
A copy that is somewhere else
A backup on the same disk protects against a mistake and nothing more. What "somewhere else" has to mean, and how far away is far enough.
4 min read
Testing that a backup restores
A backup nobody has restored is a hope, not a backup. How to prove yours works without touching the live site.
5 min read
Retention: how long is long enough
Seven days of backups protects you from an accident you noticed. It does not protect you from anything you did not.
4 min read
What a backup must include, and usually does not
Files and database is the answer everyone gives. Four more things decide whether the restore produces a working site.
5 min read
When the backup is also broken
The archive will not open, or it opens and the data is wrong. What can still be recovered, and in what order to try.
4 min read
Database dumps that actually restore
Most dumps that fail to import were written badly, not corrupted. Five flags decide whether yours will come back.
5 min read
Reading a failed backup log
Backups fail silently for months and are discovered on the day they are needed. The four usual causes, and how to be told.
4 min read
Full, incremental and differential
Three words that decide how long a backup takes and how many files you need to restore one. The difference in plain terms.
4 min read
How often to back up
The honest answer is a question: how much work can you afford to lose? Answer that and the schedule writes itself.
3 min read
Moving a site with no downtime
The order that keeps the old server answering until the new one is proven, and the two settings that cause the lost hours.
7 min read
Restoring one file, not the whole site
A full restore undoes everything since the backup. Getting back one file or one table costs minutes and undoes nothing else.
4 min read
Restoring to a different server
The restore itself is the easy half. What breaks is everything that was configured outside the backup and never written down.
5 min read