Backups: make, download, restore, keep elsewhere

A database copy is insurance for when the wrong thing was deleted, an update went badly or the hosting let you down. Make one before any big change.

What a copy contains

A copy is a snapshot of the whole database: entries, users, settings and module data. Site files (uploaded pictures in public/uploads, your own themes and modules) are not in it: copy them separately, for example over FTP. The copy is stored outside the public folder, and only someone signed in to the panel can download it.

Make and download

The “Database backups” section (menu “Backups and transfer”). Press “Make a backup”: the panel tells you how many tables and rows went into it. Every copy in the list has “Download” and “Delete”. Download the copy to your own computer: a copy that lies only on the same hosting does not help if the hosting disappears. Before an engine update the engine makes a copy itself.

Restore the database

Restoring replaces everything there is now with what was in the copy: entries and settings that appeared after it will disappear. That is why:
- pick the copy, type its name by hand and press “Restore the database”. The name is typed on purpose: between “pressed the wrong thing” and “retyped the name” there is a second to think;
- before restoring, the panel itself makes a copy of the current database and names its file: if you dislike the result, you can go back to it;
- if the restore was interrupted (the page was closed, the server restarted), the page shows “A database restore started and did not finish” and a “Return to the state before the attempt” button;
- a copy with a red “incomplete” label lacks some tables of the current database. Restoring leaves those tables as they are, so some data is new and some old. If you want that, tick “I understand”.

Upload a copy from your computer

A .sql or .sql.gz file made by this same engine can be uploaded to the list. Only the owner can do it, and only after a fresh password. The engine accepts only a dump of this site: any other SQL (other tables, several statements in a row, commands such as GRANT) is rejected with a reason. An uploaded copy changes nothing by itself: restoring from it is a separate action.

Copies elsewhere

The “Off-site copies” section is open to the owner only. On a schedule (every day or once a week) the engine sends a copy to storage off the site: S3-compatible, WebDAV or SFTP. What to know:
- the copy is encrypted with a key shown once. Keep it somewhere safe: without the key a copy cannot be opened and the server does not have it. If you lost it, create a new one; the old copies stay under the old key;
- give the storage key write-only permission, without delete and list: the key sits on the site, and a key that can delete would wipe the off-site copies too if the site were hacked. Better set the retention period on the storage side;
- “Test connection” puts one small file and deletes nothing; “Send a copy now” starts a send by hand;
- enabling needs a fresh password, and when the storage or secrets change every owner gets an email;
- when the first copy arrives, open it on your own computer: download the small nx-decrypt.php file and put the copy and the key file next to it. That way you check once that the key works.

How often

For a live site: a daily off-site copy plus a copy on your computer before every big change, update and bulk cleanup.