Having a backup of your WordPress site is like having insurance for your website. When things are going well, it is tedious to think about, but when anything goes wrong, it is quite helpful to have this knowledge. You may be sure that something is going wrong at all times because WordPress is responsible for powering around forty percent of the internet nowadays.
Backing up your WordPress website can appear to be a significant chore despite the fact that it is essential. This is especially true if you have an online store or a website that receives a lot of traffic. But it is not necessarily the case. In this piece, we will demonstrate how to back up a WordPress website in a matter of minutes, and we will also ensure that it remains secure for an indefinite extended period of time.
Backups in WordPress: What Are They?
A backup of your WordPress website is a complete copy of your website that can be restored in the event that something goes wrong with an individual’s website. You may back up your WordPress site using a number of different methods, including utilizing your web host, using a plugin that is specifically designed for WordPress backups, or even attempting to do it manually.
Nevertheless, not every backup is constructed in the same way. It is essential to maintain WordPress backups in order to ensure that you do not experience any anxiety regarding the possibility of losing data from your website. This is of utmost importance for websites that deal with e-commerce and contain information on customers and orders, as well as those that are associated with legal firms. It is possible for months’ worth of effort to be lost due to simple human error, virus, or even a server failure, which can result in severe loss. The use of backups mitigates the risk of those events.
In the following paragraphs, we will discuss the process of backing up a WordPress website, as well as the most effective method for doing so.
How to back up your WordPress website and what to do:
In agreement with the suggestions that can be found elsewhere, we do not advise ever taking backups of just this or just that. This is because partial backups of any kind are not effective for doing restorations. Although it is possible to restore a portion of a website, such as a file or a plugin, it is usually preferable to have a backup of the entire WordPress installation.
With everything that we say, it might be difficult to comprehend exactly what it is that we are trying to convey. This is a brief introduction to the structure of your WordPress website, so let’s get started.
For your WordPress website, the files and the database are the two primary components that make up the website.
WordPress core files, plugin files, theme files, configuration and settings files, and uploaded files are all included in the files.
In addition to user information, the database stores other sorts of user-created content, such as posts, pages, links, comments, and other types of content generated by users. It is possible to save this information in the form of tables, such as wp_posts and wp_comments, for instance.
All of these elements come together to form your WordPress website.
On the other hand, as we discussed before, you will find that there are a lot of different ways to back up just the WordPress files or just the WordPress database. In light of the fact that it becomes far more challenging to restore a website from a partial backup, we strongly advise against doing this. Always make sure to take comprehensive backups of your WordPress site and then select the features that you wish to restore afterward.
Why it is essential to have backups for WordPress
There are many different things that could go wrong with a website that is powered by WordPress. Because of this, you need to have a current backup of your WordPress website kept on an external server, which means that it should be located in a different place than your web host server. This will protect your website in the event that it has a crash or if content is destroyed by accident.
In the following scenarios, recent backups have the potential to save your website, as well as a significant amount of labor and all of the resources that you have spent on your website:
Problems with the web host or server
A server, which is simply a computer, is where your website is stored when it is hosted by your web host. It is also possible for servers to crash for a variety of causes, just like any other type of computer. When there are problems with the software, servers may get corrupted in ways that cannot be recovered. There are a number of factors that might lead to faults in network connections, including power outages, surges in electricity, or even physical damage caused by animals eating through the cables.
Environment-related problems, such as natural disasters, are also capable of causing servers to become unavailable. Flooding and power outages were generated by Hurricane Sandy in New York in 2012, which had an impact on millions of websites. Many data centers in the state were affected. Another incident occurred in May 2021, when a fire wiped out one of the data centers that belonged to OVHCloud.
Therefore, it is essential to have a backup of WordPress that is saved offsite. In the event that both of your backups are kept on the same server or even with the same host, there is always the risk that you will lose both of them, and there is no prospect that you will be able to retrieve your website. You will be able to restore your website on a different server without any problems if you have backups that are kept in a location that is separate from the host.
Installation or update-related errors have occurred.
By utilizing themes and plugins, you can significantly enhance the functioning of your website. However, due to the fact that these add-ons are frequently written by different programmers, they are not always compatible with one another. It is not a solution to avoid plugins and themes; nevertheless, you can prepare for any compatibility difficulties that could cause your website to crash.
The easiest option is to create a backup of your WordPress site exactly before you execute any updates or install any new content. The fact of the matter is that if any theme or plugin is updated, BlogVault will automatically execute a visual regression. You are able to immediately revert to the prior version of the website in the event that differences are discovered in the website.
For this reason, it is essential to create a backup of your WordPress site, particularly prior to adding updates to more complicated plugins like Yoast, WooCommerce, and Elementor.
Threats posed by malware
Every day, hackers break into an average of 30,000 websites. Even the most advanced security measures are not completely impenetrable to attack.
Malware may do a great deal of damage and loss to a company, but it does so in a variety of different ways. Malware that redirects visitors and organic traffic away from your website and delivers them to a spam website instead is known as redirect malware. Phishing attacks are another type of malware that attempts to trick visitors into divulging valuable personal information. During defacement assaults, other hackers just delete all of the data and material that is present on websites.
It is possible for a security plugin such as MalCare to remove the majority of hacks from your website in a matter of minutes; however, it is not possible for it to restore erased content and files if the hacker deleted them intentionally. Backups are the only thing that can save the day in this situation.
The usage of backups as a method to recover from malware attacks is not something that we normally encourage. This is due to the fact that backups can also include malware. Nevertheless, in the event that your website has been defaced, this is the only way to retrieve it.
Errors caused by humans:
It is impossible to avoid making mistakes due to human error, particularly when it comes to tasks such as managing a website. In the event that you fail to remember to renew the hosting on time, it is possible that pages or posts will be deleted or altered by accident. On the other hand, there is the possibility of making a mistake in judgment. For instance, if you applied some settings that resulted in a side effect or if you made some changes to the user interface but didn’t like it afterward, you might want to revert to the prior version rather than make the changes again. Having a backup of your website on a regular basis is something you should do in order to avoid getting caught in challenging situations like these.
Before making significant decisions, such as moving a website or rebuilding it, it is a good idea to make backups as a best practice. This is especially important before making large decisions.
As was previously mentioned, each of the aforementioned circumstances has the potential to result in a loss of resources and revenue and, in the most dire of circumstances, the loss of the entire website. As a result, it is essential to have backups that are taken from an external source on a regular basis. This will ensure that you always have a recent copy of WordPress to restore in the event that things do not go according to plan.
As a result of the fact that you may easily restore a backup and begin over, backups eliminate the need for hours of troubleshooting.
Using your web host to create a backup of your WordPress website or blog
The vast majority of web servers include backups as a component of their services, sometimes as an additional service or as a package deal with their service packages. Certain hosts will always back up their servers as a precautionary measure in the event that they experience any kind of issue.
To begin the process of backing up your WordPress website with your web host, you must first determine whether or not backups are included in the package that you have purchased. Reading the terms of your agreement is one option; another is to get in touch with their assistance. Once this has been established, you will be able to set up backups for your web host in a few simple steps:
Your site host may necessitate a different set of tasks to do.
- To begin, log in to the dashboard of your hosting service and click on the website that you wish to back up.
- Locate a backup plan or alternative. The navigation panel or a menu will be the location where this is shown.
Manual instructions for backing up a WordPress site
For the most part, manual backups are the least time-efficient and the most laborious to perform. In the event that somebody is forced to rely on a manual backup process, there is a high probability that they will begin to take shortcuts and stop performing backups, regardless of how committed they are. The process of manually backing up data takes a lot of time, and in all honesty, that time would be better spent doing something more productive.
Having said that, it is beneficial to be familiar with the specifics of how to take a manual backup; it is comparable to being able to operate a stick shifter when virtually all of the other vehicles are automated.
When it comes to manual backups, the first thing you need to be aware of is that in order to create a full backup of WordPress, you will need to take two partial backups. To put this another way, you will need to create backups of the database and the files individually and then remember to store the two backups together again.
Files backups:
cPanel: The majority of web servers offer cPanel, which is a well-known control panel software, for the purpose of managing your website. You may, however, be using a different one, such as Plesk or Webmin, depending on your web server. For example, cPanel or Plesk will provide a tool similar to File Manager that will enable you to view the files that are associated with your website.
In the event that your web server does not offer a control panel, you can utilize File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to get a copy of the files that make up your website. There is a slight increase in the amount of time required to accomplish this task, and in order to connect to your website, you will require an FTP software such as FileZilla or Cyberduck.
Backups of the database:
If you have access to cPanel, all you need to do to access your database is click on phpMyAdmin. In order to access your database, you will require log in credentials, which can be found in either your WordPress configuration file or your hosting account.
Conclusion:
WordPress backups are an essential component of your website maintenance toolkit and should not be overlooked. In the event that something goes wrong with your WordPress site, you should be able to restore it and know how to do so now that you know how to back it up. There is also a guide available for it. In addition, you have the option of Dollar2host, which will make the process of restoring backups a simple one-click operation.