April 20, 2011
Backing up a WordPress blog – THREE THINGS
WordPress blogs are particularly finicky. A small change in php disrupts the entire system. Backups are absolutely critical.
A) WORDPRESS FILES
- WordPress Core Installation
- WordPress Plugins
- WordPress Themes
- Images and Files
- Javascripts, PHP scripts, and other code files
- Additional Files and Static Web Pages
B) WORDPRESS DATABASE
C) ROOT FILES
ALL THREE MUST BE BACKED UP.
WordPress Files
a)Wordpress export:
Regularly export the XML file containing the blog posts. This file is NOT backed up automatically.
b) Automatic backup to Amazon S3:
ALL MAIN BLOGS are backup up using WP S3 backups (S3 backup widget: Automatic backup doesn't work) to Amazon S3 [up to 5 GB is free]. Cloudberry gives regular access. To that is attached a free Amazon website. Here is the post that describes it.
Limitations: Amazon backup doesn’t work well. Amazon backup showed 24 March but the data was restored only till 21 January. I don't know what's going wrong. Clearly the S3 Backup plugin is NOT working. That is a serious problem.
WordPress database
Periodically take a backup of the datbase using phpMyAdmin
Root files
There is NO system available to backup root files. You need to use FTP regularly. The good thing is that the root files don't change much. Second, you can restore them in desperate condition by deleting the WordPress installation and then reinstalling a fresh version.
ADDENDUM
A) Export function on wordpress contains all posts, pages, and comments.
B) I'm not sure if it contains the images.
C) It definitely does not contain various widgets or other settings of the blog
