Making backups is essential because problems inevitably occur and you need to be in a position to take action when disaster strikes. Spending a few minutes to make an easy, convenient backup of your database will allow you to spend even more time being creative and productive with your website.
How often should You back up Your site?
That depends on how often you blog, how often you want to do this, and how you would feel if your database were lost along with a few posts. It is your decision. I do this every week, I put remainder so i don’t forget to do this.
How many backups should I keep?
Excellent question. Most people make a backup and then just replace it every time. It saves space and is less to worry about. But what if that backup file is corrupted or lost? Then what? The general rule of thumb is to keep at least three backups and keep them in three different places or forms, like CDs, different hard drives, web disk, your e-mail account, etc.
How to Backup Your SQL data?
We can use several methods to backup SQL date. The simple method add plugin. Here some of Backup Plugins:
JBackup System Plugin. Some of plugin features:
* Sending backup file with mail
* Can save the backup file of sql or your selected archive to server
* Can select daily backup or interval of time
* Sending warning message
After saving SQL database you need to backup your template, media, customizations etc. These are things which do not change often… so a simple FTP transfer to a backup area should be sufficient.
You can also choose to use a component for your backups:
JoomlaPack – JoomlaPack is an open-source backup component for the Joomla! CMS, quite a bit different than its competition. Its mission is simple: create a site backup that can be restored on any Joomla!-capable server. Its possibilities: endless It creates a full backup of your site in a single archive. The archive contains all the files, a database snapshot and an installer derived from the standard Joomla! installer. The backup and restore process is AJAX powered to avoid server timeouts, even with huge sites. Alternatively, you can make a backup of only your database. If you want a reliable, easy to use, open source backup solution for your Joomla! site, try it out.
This is Non-Commercial component with great support so I recommend it to use.
JoomlaCloner – JoomlaCloner is a backup and restore component designed for Joomla!
By it’s name, the purpose is to give users possibility to clone their Joomla installation and move it over the internet on any location!
The follower, XCloner 2.0 is the new upgrade for JoomlaCloner, and it’s a standalone and Joomla 1.5 native component!
Frontend Features:
– Share custom backups with your users
– Users have the possibility to automatically transfer the custom clone to their host by using a simple ftp form
– Users can automatically restore the transferred clone by using the provided restore script we provide and which we transfer automatically among with the clone
Backend Features:
– Create full or partial backups based on your input
– Create ZIP or TAR backups based on your configuration input
– Possibility to create incremental backups, so you avoid the time limit problems on php script executions
– Possibility to exclude components, modules, mambots from your generated clone
– Possibility to exclude directory and files from the backup, manually or through cron settings(AJAX powered)
– Create backups based on a cron task, created backups can be stored on the local server, remotely through ftp or emailed to a custom email account
– Possibility to run multiple cronjobs, based on different configuration files
– Ability to manage existing backups, rename/delete/move, publish to user frontend for sharing
– Possibility to clone any backup to another location, it can be done automatically by using the server ftp function or manually
– Configuration area lets you choose on how to generate backups based on your server possibilities
– You can choose to create backups by using only PHP, or by also using some server utilities to speed things up
Restore Features:
– The generated clone of JoomlaCloner can be restored on a totally different server, with new server and mysql details
– Restore both ZIP or TAR archives
– Restore script is independent from the main component and Joomla and can be run on any host
– Full restore of a clone made with JoomlaCloner
– Ability to restore the original files and directories permissions
– Automatic re-write of the new host settings to the configuration file
– Ability to import the clone using either a ftp simulated sessions, or direct restore through php
– Possibility to exclude database from importing
– Ability to restore multiple clones to different locations, and also restore multiple database backups from the same clone