How To Back Up Everything

Divinum Fiat

Well-known member
Been searching this topic for a while but can't seem to find the non-technalese answer. ;)

My forum is 3 weeks old, on a remote VPS sever and I haven't got the foggiest idea how to back-up any of my files, database, etc.

Is there a simple step-by-step guide on what exactly needs backing up and how to do it (in 10th grade English please)? :D
 
Thank you, Jake! On to my first back up, let's hope I don't lose anything in the process. ;) BTW, still looking for an answer where to send donations to you for your splendid 'page' add-on. :D
 
Been searching this topic for a while but can't seem to find the non-technalese answer. ;)

My forum is 3 weeks old, on a remote VPS sever and I haven't got the foggiest idea how to back-up any of my files, database, etc.

Is there a simple step-by-step guide on what exactly needs backing up and how to do it (in 10th grade English please)? :D

Another way to backup and restore your database would be mysqldumper. Which is way better than phpmyadmin especially when your database is of medium size to big. Because phpmyadmin has a file size limit restriction and if your database reaches that limit you will not be able to make a good backup of the database as it will be incomplete.
 
For a couple years I was making backups of my database on a daily basis using mysqldumper only to find they were all corrupt.
mysqldumper was not backing up my entire mysql file. I think it was timing out.


I now use http://sourceforge.net/projects/automysqlbackup/ running with a cronjob.
Only problem with this one is that I can't use bigdump.php to import back. Something to do with additional inserts??

I don't trust myself to use line commands, but at least I have good database backups for my host to help me reinstall.

Moral of my story, just because you have backups of your database, be sure they are good and that you can reinstall them.
Test your backups from time to time. I learned the hard way.
 
well, the whole thing crashed. glad I made the back up, however, now the site has been down a few hours and when I filled out the Host Gator ticket to get a full restore they said 12-24 hours. what!? Okay, so now I'm trying to learn how to do the darn back up restore myself. Yes, I did do a full back up restore before it crashed. lol. But now we shall see if I did this right. :-)
 
well, the whole thing crashed. glad I made the back up, however, now the site has been down a few hours and when I filled out the Host Gator ticket to get a full restore they said 12-24 hours. what!? Okay, so now I'm trying to learn how to do the darn back up restore myself. Yes, I did do a full back up restore before it crashed. lol. But now we shall see if I did this right. :)
Odd. http://www.corefreedom.com/members/ works!
 
HostGator says 12-24 hours but is usually much, much quicker. Most of the tickets that I've created in the past were looked at within a few minutes, problems solved within an hour.

If you create a ticket and need immediate assistance, log into their LiveChat and ask for them to have the ticket looked at right away. Be prepared to give them the ticket number. And don't abuse the system.
 
For a couple years I was making backups of my database on a daily basis using mysqldumper only to find they were all corrupt.
mysqldumper was not backing up my entire mysql file. I think it was timing out.

How were they corrupted? Maybe the mysqldumper was not configured properly. I have used it to backup and move some very large forums and it has worked like a charm. Never had a single problem.
 
... And don't abuse the system.

you're funny, like I'm gonna make it a habit to crash my site. lol ;) It's been more than 3 hours, they had 0 restores in their que and I've been on with 4 chat techs, they said it's been escalated... earlier I went on chat it said '15 technicians working, 1 waiting.' That was me waiting, I felt honored to have 15 technicians fighting to serve me. :p But still waited at least 5 minutes...
 
11 hours later I'm so glad I came here to find out how to back up my site!

The greatest thing is that while Andrej stepped forward and helped me out just because he's a great guy, we spent hours, over 6 pages and over 100 conversations in trying to get the site back up. Now THAT I call going 'above and beyond.' Yes, I gave him a token of appreciation in form of a donation, but it's hardly sufficient if I counted the hours he was helping me. He'll certainly be a part of Blueprint4Love's history. As is Borbole, too, another great guy who is always ready to help. You guys are amazing, XF is amazing.

So today I learned what an ftp client is and how to upload files, I learned not to panic when the site goes kaputt, I learned how to upload an add-on, and I made a new friend - all in a day's work! :p And now I want a gingerbread cookie...
 
Top Bottom