The Blog of a Programmer
DreamHost WordPress Backup
Okay, so it’s a bad plugin name but it does what it says, pretty much.
This plugin creates a copy of your wp-content folder (excluding any backups made by this plugin) and creates an archive, that archive is then uploaded to the DreamHost backup server. A backup of your sql database can also be created and uploaded for you. As per the DreamHost style I went ahead and made this as simple as possible with 1 click backups for each option.
Just enter your backup username and password and click on backup. You can grab a copy of the plugin from here, I’ll be submitting it to the WP Plugin Directory soon.
JJ
-
-
Are there any size limits on the wp-content folder? I am getting a 404 not found page when I try.
No specific size limit, but as we discussed the problem is that when there are too many files the tar command which creates the archive simply takes too long and fastcgi times out. Switching to CGI mode will still timeout but the file still gets created and uploaded. There are plans for an ajaxified version of the plugin that will handle the archiving in a much more elegant manner that should not timeout on even the largest of sites, unfortunately a release is going to have to wait till I have time to finish it’s development.
-
#6 written by David 1 month ago
Hello! referred by DreamHost customer support.
This post was published in April 2010, with the notation you’d be submitting to the WP plugin directory “soon”. Is up there by a different name perhaps? Can’t find it.
Also, how does the user get the archive from the DH backup server? my goal is the simplicity this plugin seems to offer but the archive stored locally.
thanks!
-
@David: Unfortunately I was never able to get around to writing the improved version of the script that would work around the fastcgi timeouts which were affecting larger sites. That version was the one I intended to submit to the directory, so you won’t find it there.
As for grabbing the archive from the backup server, you would use ftp to grab a copy of the backup manually.
-
#8 written by David 1 month ago
Thanks JuanJose;
My sites are fairly small, perhaps won’t be affected by the timeouts.
The plugin is compatible with WP 3.3.1?
Going in to FTP via Fetch would be no problem as long as I can find the right backups, I could save it as a favorite and clickety click be done.
At a recent WordCamp, we were cautioned about using plugins from independent developers directly due to security concerns (the talk was a bit over my head most of the time). I’m not a coder, so I don’t know what kind of ‘funny stuff’ to look for. The fact that DreamHost recommended you is a plus, so I take it this is just a plugin that does what is says without any other ‘dodgy’ or ‘tricky’ stuff also going on, right?
Sorry about the suspicion, I’m kind of new with WP and only know enough to get myself in trouble! :)
Happy Trails! -
David:
Thanks JuanJose;
My sites are fairly small, perhaps won’t be affected by the timeouts.
The plugin is compatible with WP 3.3.1?I use it on this blog, which is running 3.3.1, and it’s still working as expected. Both web and mysql backups executed properly.
David:
Going in to FTP via Fetch would be no problem as long as I can find the right backups, I could save it as a favorite and clickety click be done.It will create a folder under your backup user named “wp-dh-backups”, and backups will go there.
David:
At a recent WordCamp, we were cautioned about using plugins from independent developers directly due to security concerns (the talk was a bit over my head most of the time). I’m not a coder, so I don’t know what kind of ‘funny stuff’ to look for. The fact that DreamHost recommended you is a plus, so I take it this is just a plugin that does what is says without any other ‘dodgy’ or ‘tricky’ stuff also going on, right?
Sorry about the suspicion, I’m kind of new with WP and only know enough to get myself in trouble! :)No worries! The plugin is actually pretty simplistic and all it does is create the backup files using “tar” and uses the ftp functions available through PHP to upload the backup.
David:
Happy Trails! -
#10 written by David 3 weeks ago
JuanJose;
I finally installed this after looking in the Codex for how to install a plugin manually instead of via the Directory.
Activated, then the Duh? moment occurred.
Now the plugin is asking for my DreamHost Backup username/pw.
I tried the un/pw I use for ftp but that wasn’t correct.
Do I use the main WP Admin un/pw? or is there yet a third new un/pw?
Thanks, dave -
David:
JuanJose;
I finally installed this after looking in the Codex for how to install a plugin manually instead of via the Directory.
Activated, then the Duh? moment occurred.
Now the plugin is asking for my DreamHost Backup username/pw.
I tried the un/pw I use for ftp but that wasn’t correct.
Do I use the main WP Admin un/pw? or is there yet a third new un/pw?
Thanks, daveThe backup user is what you need to activate:
https://panel.dreamhost.com/index.cgi?tree=users.backup&
I hard coded the backup server address into the plugin to prevent people from backing up to normal user accounts. While that feature would allow more flexibility in regards to where you can store the data, it also allows for mistakes like storing the backup in a place that would be against the DH terms of service, specifically the unlimited policy.
-
- Comment Feed for this Post
I found your plugin through Dreamhost support – will definitely pass this on to many friends and clients!
-Web Weaver
http://catswebweave.com