Backup Whole Website from WordPress with a Custom WordPress Plugin
If you’re looking for a way to backup your whole website from within WordPress, then you’ve come to the right place. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to automate the process of creating a backup of your WordPress site using a custom WordPress plugin. With a few simple steps, you’ll be able to enjoy the peace of mind of knowing your site is backed up and ready to go whenever you need it. Plus, you’ll have the added bonus of controlling the frequency of backups depending on your needs. Without any further ado, let’s get started.
Step 1: Enable the WordPress Plugin
To begin with, you’ll need to enable the WordPress plugin named Backup Core. This plugin provides a convenient place to restore your content from within WordPress whenever needed. To activate the plugin, visit your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Settings → Backup and Restore. Once there, find the Backup Core option and simply click the switch to enable it. Now, when you log in to WordPress, you’ll see an option to create a restore point in the admin panel. This is a great place to save your content so you can come back to it at any time. Just think of all the content you publish — whether it’s on your blog or in content-focused areas like reviews or infographics — that you’ll want to be able to restore if ever needed. A blog with 100 posts may not seem like a big deal, but when you’re talking about a site that’s been around for years and has lots of content, you’ll realize how much you’ll need a restore point to be able to go back to exactly where you left off.
Step 2: Configure the Backup Schedule
The next step is to configure the backup schedule for your WordPress site. You’ll want to do this from within the Settings menu of your WordPress dashboard. Once you’re there, you can click the Backup Core link to open the settings for that plugin. From there, you can configure the schedule for when the backups should happen and how often they should occur. You have three options here: Daily, Weekly, and Monthly. Daily is the simplest option as it will backup your site every day at the same time. Weeklies are more flexible than dailys as they will backup on a different day and time depending on the week. Monthlies are the most complex as they will backup your site on the first day of the month and then again on the last day of the month. The beauty of these options is they give you perfect control over the frequency of your backups without having to resort to doing them manually. You can use the backup schedule to its fullest by setting up automated backups and using the RESTORE option in case of a crash.
Step 3: Set a Passcode and Create an Account
Your WordPress dashboard will now direct you to create a passcode and login to your account. This step is required by the Backup Core plugin and will help ensure that no one else can access your data in case they gain unauthorized access to your WordPress instance. While creating a passcode is not difficult, having a complex and strong one can be beneficial in case you ever lose your password. You’ll then be able to create a new one without having to go through this step. After you create a strong password, you should create an account for the sake of Backup Core. This account will then allow you to restore your content whenever needed. You can do this by navigating to the Account menu in the admin panel and choosing the Create New Account option. Once you’ve created an account, you can use this same menu to easily restore your content in case of a problem. This is a great place to keep all your backups should you ever lose everything on one occasion. Restoring from a backup is actually a simple process and will bring your site back to exactly where you left off before the problem occurred.
Step 4: Test Your Configuration
Once you’ve configured the Backup Core plugin and created a user account, you can test your setup by clicking the button to create a restore point. You’ll then be asked to enter a title, description, and set a date and time for the backup to occur. Once you’ve entered this information and clicked the Create button, you’ll see a success message from WordPress along with a link back to the admin panel of your WordPress site. Just to verify that the Restore Point has in fact been created, you can visit this link and click the Preview button. This will display all the content you saved in the previous step. You can now test the restore process by clicking the Restore button which, in turn, will take you back to the content you originally entered in the previous step. If all is well, this process will be repeated every time you click the button.
Step 5: Keep Your Data Safe
The last step is to keep your data safe. This step is required by the Backup Core plugin and will help ensure that your information is not accessible to anyone else. To do this, visit your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Settings → Backup and Restore again. Once there, you’ll see a popup that asks you to enter a password for the MySQL database that the WordPress site is stored in. This database contains all the content you’ve previously backed up. You’ll then need to click the Save Changes button. Once this is done, you can click the Log Out button to log out of WordPress and return to your login page.
As you can see, using Backup Core is fairly easy. You’ll simply need to follow the instructions above to complete the process of creating a restore point. Then, you can use the same instructions to easily restore your content should you ever need to. Backing up your WordPress site is something you should do on a regular basis regardless of the size or type of your website. This is especially important if you’re storing any sort of important data related to your business. Doing this manually is not impossible, but it’s definitely a hassle most people are better off avoiding. Plus, it’s a good idea to create a regular schedule for when you’ll back up your site so you can follow along and do it without any sort of stress. Using the Backup Core WordPress plugin is a great way to achieve this as it takes all the worrying out of backing up and restoring your site.