How to Backup Your Site
Why Back Up?
No matter where you are hosting your data sooner or later, something will go wrong. Most inexpensive hosting plans do not include backup; and even if yours does, you should still have your own copy of the data. It's really the only way to be safe.
What do I Need to Back Up?
The Web Template site holds most of the data in a MySql database. Unfortunately, there are also quite a few other files that need to be backed up. They include:
- A few configuration settings in four files.
- Email forwarders that send mail addressed to the administrator or webmaster. You can back these up too, if you like, although they are easy to recreate.
- Images used in your articles.
- Images and configuration data for the Expose photo gallery are in three directories.
- Images used in user profiles.
How to Backup using cPanel
The following instructions assume that you are hosting your site on a Linux server and have access to cPanel for the site. If not, check with your system administrator for information on how to back up. (Unless you have installed the template yourself, you can almost certainly use these instructions.)
- Log into cPanel. If you don't know how to do this, check with the system administrator or the person who installed the template. (NOTE: If you are using Siteground, you access cPannel by clicking on the 'My Accounts' tab on the home page, then on 'Go to CPanel' under your site uri. If you get a message about accessing your site securely, we suggest that you do so by clicking "Proceed".)
- Select 'Backups' in the 'Files' section of cPanel;
- Click on 'Download or generate a full Website backup';
- Enter you email and click on "Generate Backup";
- You will receive an email when the backup file has been created in your home directory;
- Once the backup file has been created, use the "File Manager on CPanel to navigate to your home directory and download the backup file, which you will find there.
- After downloading the backup file, you should use File Manager to delete the copy on your server.
HRBackup
HRBackup is a program that allows you to quickly and easily backup an HR Template Web site. It will copy four elements of the site to your local computer. Those elements are the MySql database; all of the files in your Web site; all of your email aliases; any filters that you have defined. With those four elements you can fully restore a damaged installation. If you would like a copy of HRBackup email bill@spillthebeans.org and he will send you the installer and documentation. HRBackup will run on Windows PCs but not on Macs.
Where is My Data?
The configuration files that contain data are:
configuration.php in the root directory of your site. It contains the basic information such as the name of the site, the name of the database, where to access it, and information on how the site can send email.
ue_config.php in the .\administrator\components\com_comprofiler directory of your site. It contains configuration information for Community Builder such as the text of the email messages used during registration.
cbmailing.config.php in .\administrator\components\com_cbmailing. It contains configuration settings for the mass mailing component.
passhash.inc.php in .\components\com_exposeprive\expose\manager\amfphp\extra. It contains the password you need to access the ExposePrive album manager. The password is in a hashed form, so it is not a security risk if the file becomes exposed.
Uploaded images:
Images you've uploaded to your site are in .\images\stories\ directory
The Expose photo data is in:
albums.xml in .\components\com_exposeprive\expose\xml. I contains the description of your albums in the photo gallery.
alb_1.xml in .\components\com_exposeprive\expose\xml. There will be one xml file for each photo album that you define. It contains the titles, file names, and descriptions of the photographs in the album. (alb_1.xml is the default album with pictures of Harvard Square.)
all directories in .\components\com_exposeprive\expose\img. These directories contain the photographs and videos used by your photo albums.
Profile images:
Profile image uploaded by users are in the .\images\comprofiler directory
