Introduction
Website backups are important, but they can be daunting to set up and maintain. You might be tempted to skip them altogether or do them only when your website is down—but if that were the case, then how would you know that something was wrong? It’s better to take the time up front to plan for website data archive than it is to find out later that your site has crashed due to an error during backup processing. If done right, backing up will ensure that your website always stays online—and ready for business!
Make sure you’re backing up your “live” database.
The first step in backing up your website’s database is to make sure you’re backing up your “live” database. Don’t back up a test, backup or copy of the live database—just the actual one!
If you have multiple WordPress sites on one server and each site has its own database that’s stored separately from all other WordPress sites’ databases on that server (or even if they’re not), then it’s important to know whether or not these databases are linked together so that changes made by one site will affect other sites as well.
Back up your database at least once a day.
The most common way to back up your database is daily. This is the best practice and you should do it every day unless you have a good reason not to (like if you’re having trouble with the backup system).
Somewhere safe for storing backups: You should be able to access them quickly when needed, so make sure that they’re stored somewhere where they won’t be lost or broken. If possible, try using multiple locations (e.g., two external hard drives) so that if one breaks down while being stored in a fireproof container somewhere—you’ll still have another place where you can quickly get access without having to wait long periods of time before getting into action!
Use a secure connection to back up your database.
To ensure your database is secure, use a secure connection when backing up your website’s database. This will ensure that no one can access the file without authorization.
If you don’t use a secure connection, then you may leave yourself open to security breaches if someone were to steal the data while it’s being backed up.
Keep backups of your backup data in two separate places.
- Keep backups of your backup data in two separate places.
- Save them in different locations. The same goes for backups, too—keep them offsite and in a different country than the original server location.
- Make sure you have backups that are kept safely and securely, so that if there’s ever a disaster (either natural or man-made), you’ll be able to recover everything without any problems!
Set up alerts so you know when a backup fails.
- Set up alerts so you know when a backup fails.
- Make sure your backup software is able to send alerts.
- Make sure the alert system is reliable, easy-to-use and doesn’t require any special knowledge on your part or in advance.
Back up as much data as possible, but not more than that.
It is important to keep in mind that backing up your website’s database should not take more than one hour. If you have a backup plan for the day, it should be easy to restore from that point and get your site back online quickly.
The best way to manage backups is with an automated process. You can use tools like Microsoft’s SyncBack or Backblaze’s Backup Exec software, which will allow you to schedule automatic backups based on specific criteria such as daily or weekly frequency (or even hourly). This can help ensure that all data is backed up regularly without requiring human intervention every time there’s an opportunity for data loss or corruption from malware attacks on the server itself—or other factors outside of our control such as power outages!
Use remote data centres for archiving backup data, rather than on-premises storage.
If you are using on-premises storage, it’s important to consider the security of your data centres. Your backup data is not just stored on a physical location—it’s also stored in the cloud. Cloud computing brings with it many benefits, but also some challenges when it comes to backups.
When it comes to protecting against disasters like fires or floods, remote data centre facilities are more likely than on-premises facilities to have backup power supply and connectivity (Internet). This means that if either one fails during an emergency situation at your local facility, there would still be enough time left over before any damage could occur to restore operations at both locations simultaneously rather than wait until one location gets back online first before starting again elsewhere around the globe!
Backup is your website’s first line of defence against disaster, so it needs to be done right.
Backing up your data is a critical part of any disaster recovery plan, regardless of whether you’re using a cloud-based service or not. The only way to be sure that you’ll have access if something goes wrong is by making a backup of all the important files on your website’s server.
Backups are also an important part of any business continuity plan because they help ensure that your site continues operating in case there are problems with the site’s hardware or software (or both).
Conclusion
Every website deserves a solid backup plan, but many businesses don’t have one. The better your database is protected from corruption and loss, the less damage it will suffer when an outage occurs. If you follow the tips outlined in this article and take some time to educate yourself about database backups before starting your own solution then you should be able to protect your data as well as possible.
