Wordpress backup solution

Hey guys,

Lets say "hypothetically" I have lots of wp sites that I don't update frequently. I need an offsite backup system for those.

I want to avoid plugin based auto backups if possible because:

• For a huge network, offsite backup storage will be an issue.
• In case of an infected/corrupted site, it will be backup as well.
• If I set a "only keep x number of backups" that may eventually result a complete loss of data (your site gets hacked and auto backup system keeps baking up those garbage, deleting your pre-hack backup at some point).
• cron job fails, gets stuck, host goes down, you know how it is.

What I can think of as an almost ideal solution for my case is a desktop/web based app where I would set mysql and ftp credentials, I would be able to insert a batch of site names that I updated recently and it would take care of the backup (keeping only "x" recent copies).

Its almost ideal because no webmaster likes to do things manually. Any suggestions?

(yes I know I can make a simple script, I was wondering if there is a better solution?)

Hi,
As per my experience i don't think there will be any bot or software through which you can take all websites back at once. It can be done manually while login through your domain access.

payal23j said:

Hi,
As per my experience i don't think there will be any bot or software through which you can take all websites back at once. It can be done manually while login through your domain access.

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Then I am pretty sure you don't have enough experience in this field yet, with due respect.

MR9 said:

Then I am pretty sure you don't have enough experience in this field yet, with due respect.

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May be.

MR9 said:

Hey guys,

• If I set a "only keep x number of backups" that may eventually result a complete loss of data (your site gets hacked and auto backup system keeps baking up those garbage, deleting your pre-hack backup at some point).

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it would take care of the backup (keeping only "x" recent copies).

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Don't you think both the points are contradicting and essentially the same or is it just me?

SpoonFeeder said:

Don't you think both the points are contradicting and essentially the same or is it just me?

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First one was about auto backups, the second one was about triggering backups manually, which should be done after a manual inspection of every site eliminating the risk of corruption (hence not so ideal ).

MR9 said:

First one was about auto backups, the second one was about triggering backups manually, which should be done after a manual inspection of every site eliminating the risk of corruption (hence not so ideal ).

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Now that goes back to the step 1 cos if you want to trigger it manually you may as well write a simple script that dumps the database and downloads the files through ftp. It's more time-consuming and cumbersome than doing it automatically and will make you exhausted in the long-run.

SpoonFeeder said:

Now that goes back to the step 1 cos if you want to trigger it manually you may as well write a simple script that dumps the database and downloads the files through ftp. It's more time-consuming and cumbersome than doing it automatically and will make you exhausted in the long-run.

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Yes. It seems like there is no easy way. I can use plugins manually, but triggering 100-150 manual backups each day would be very time consuming. Perhaps if I can run the script on multiple domains at once (or processing those requests one by one, putting less pressure on FTP incoming port).

I thought there would be something better/easier

I use infiniteWP and it work great

Did you try Updraft plugins? I use it and feel happy!

MR9 said:

Hey guys,

Lets say "hypothetically" I have lots of wp sites that I don't update frequently. I need an offsite backup system for those.

I want to avoid plugin based auto backups if possible because:

• For a huge network, offsite backup storage will be an issue.
• In case of an infected/corrupted site, it will be backup as well.
• If I set a "only keep x number of backups" that may eventually result a complete loss of data (your site gets hacked and auto backup system keeps baking up those garbage, deleting your pre-hack backup at some point).
• cron job fails, gets stuck, host goes down, you know how it is.

What I can think of as an almost ideal solution for my case is a desktop/web based app where I would set mysql and ftp credentials, I would be able to insert a batch of site names that I updated recently and it would take care of the backup (keeping only "x" recent copies).

Its almost ideal because no webmaster likes to do things manually. Any suggestions?

(yes I know I can make a simple script, I was wondering if there is a better solution?)

Click to expand...

This is nice

Try BackupBuddy or UpdraftPlus plugins. Both work very well. If it's a one time thing then try All-in-One WP Migration

mainwp?

cron jobs?

More importantly, why are you ONLY using WP for your network? That is a footprint, my friend; that is not normal, You might want to take a look at ARGO Content. Your network, if you want to stay under the radar, should include WP, HTML, Joomla, Magento, XSitePro, Drupal, Thingamablog, etc. Look for platforms, where the site backups are stored on your harddrive and/or server.

Use VaultPress for two main reasons. It is extremely easy to use, and it offers real-time incremental backups. What this means is that instead of backing up all of your files every day or every hour, it only creates a backup of what has been updated literally within minutes of the update. This is ideal for large sites because it allows us to use server resources efficiently.

Reem khan said:

Use VaultPress for two main reasons. It is extremely easy to use, and it offers real-time incremental backups. What this means is that instead of backing up all of your files every day or every hour, it only creates a backup of what has been updated literally within minutes of the update. This is ideal for large sites because it allows us to use server resources efficiently.

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But also if you lose some of the other differential backups, you lose the whole thing.

So make sure to make some full backups every so often.

How much backup data do you expect per month? Storage fee on AWS Glacier only $0.004 per GB / month. Why bother with only keeping x number of backups when you can keep the every-day backup for a year.

Also, if your wp sites distributed only on several servers, you can just create a snapshot of the server to backup a whole disk, and you would not need to think about wp, joomla, database, etc..

MR9 said:

I want to avoid plugin based auto backups if possible

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Fuck yeah, love it!

MR9 said:

(yes I know I can make a simple script, I was wondering if there is a better solution?)

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Unfortunately what I'm about to say is a complex script, and a more difficult solution... but worth it (I think)

MR9 said:

What I can think of as an almost ideal solution for my case is a desktop/web based app where I would set mysql and ftp credentials, I would be able to insert a batch of site names that I updated recently and it would take care of the backup (keeping only "x" recent copies).

Click to expand...

MR9 said:

which should be done after a manual inspection of every site eliminating the risk of corruption

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If you have the programming knowledge and want to avoid manual work: Consider installing mysql on your back up server, make a manual backup utility that compares old backed up data with new backed up data. For example if you back up, add new post X, back up again; the second backup should detect post X is the only difference (all previous posts are the same) and add it to the back up table. Add an extra column in the back up table for when it was added.

I know it's a lot of work. But if you do it this way, you can set up a threshold like "if 3 or more of my existing posts change, notify me". Then you can have an email sent to you or whatever in case there's a breach. Fuck manually checking 100+ sites.

MR9 said:

Perhaps if I can run the script on multiple domains at once (or processing those requests one by one, putting less pressure on FTP incoming port).

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Most hosts put all your DBs on one server. So if your 100 sites are split up among 10 hosts, you only have to run it 10 times, not 100. Then you can gzip all the backups or whatever, and send them to the back up server to do the incremental checks.

Even better: create a "signature" for entries in the database - make it simple enough that you can run it as a function or stored procedure on the production servers, then only send these signatures over to your backup server. This should drastically reduce your transfer rate (500+ word article vs 32 character signature transfer). This is useless on the first back up, but on the second should save you a significant amount of time.

You came here for a simple solution.... sorry.