BoldGrid Backup Plugin FAQ

The BoldGrid Backup plugin lets you backup your WordPress site and schedule automatic backups. The questions below represent common backup questions that are answered with the use of the features in the BoldGrid Backup plugin. This FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) includes instructions on the use of features found within the free BoldGrid Backup plugin. For more information on the BoldGrid Backup Premium extension, please see our tutorial summarizing the additional features.

BoldGrid Backup FAQ

There are many factors that you should consider before making a backup. Let’s list a few:

• Do I have a backup?
• When should I make my backups?
• How many times should I backup?
• Do I have the storage space to make backups?
• Where should my backups be stored?
• Will my backup affect my website?
• What am I backing up?

Do I have a backup?

The primary goal of making a backup is to provide peace of mind because you have a duplicate of your site and you can recover if disaster happens and your WordPress site fails, is hacked or simply has been changed to something you’d rather not use. In fact, if you do not have a backup, you should make it a priority to establish one immediately. Your backups should start when you are creating your website. You can easily see if you have a backup through the BoldGrid Backup plugin by going to the BoldGrid Backup menu option in the WordPress menu and then clicking on Backup Archive. If you want to use BoldGrid Backup to make an immediate backup, simply do the following:

How to Make an Unscheduled Backup

1. Login to the WordPress Administrator.
2. Scroll down to the BoldGrid Backup option in your menu and click on it.
3. Click on Preflight check. This option will first check to make sure that you will be able to make a backup without any problems. If you do have any problems, then you may need to make adjustments to permissions, or make sure that you have enough storage space for the backup. Using the Preflight check will save you a failed backup.
4. Click on the blue button at the top that says Backup Site Now.

That’s it! These steps create a quick, unscheduled backup of of your WordPress site. Make sure to read the warnings. The backup will take up space, so where ever you’re saving your backup you will need to make sure that there is sufficient hard drive space to store your backup file. Also, keep in mind that your backup utilizes CPU and memory resources when it is working. This can have an affect on the performance of your website during that time.

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When Should I Make a Backup?

If you don’t have a backup, then you should immediately see about making one (as per the instructions in making an unscheduled backup above). If you have a backup already, then you need to decide how often you want to make backups. The decision to make backups can be based on changes to your site, a time period, the available space to store your backups, and the optimum time to make backups to your site. You can decide on the frequency of your backup by simply using the scheduler and then determining the number of days on which it will occur. You will need to make sure that you are able to save that number of backups and also determine how many you wish to retain. This information can be found in your retention settings in the next section. To learn how to schedule a backup, follow the directions below:

How to Schedule a backup

Note that there is a warning that states, “Backup will not occur if no days are selected.” This warning applies to scheduled backups. If you click on Backup then the backup will be completed.

1. Login to the WordPress Administrator.
2. Scroll down to the BoldGrid Backup option in your menu and click on it.
3. Click on Settings.
4. The backup scheduler is controlled by either the Cron or WP-Cron. We recommend using the default setting of Cron. You can select a different option by simply clicking on the drop-down menu.
5. Next, check the box for the day(s) of the week when the backups will be performed.
6. You will then see a time option pop-up that will allow you to specify the time when the backup is made. Make sure that you select a time when your site is least visited as the process of backing up does provide a load on the server.
7. Scroll down to the bottom and click on Save Changes.

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How Many Times Should I backup?

This question involves a term called retention and also factors in the space you have available for your backups. You can find the Retention setting under the Settings tab of the BoldGrid Backup plugin. It allows you to determine how many backups are being kept. After you make a backup, go to the Backups tab and look at how much space is being used for your backup. Compare that with the available space where you are storing your backups and then you can calculate how many backups you can actually retain. If you’re unsure of your available hard drive space, then contact the technical support team for further information. The retention of backups may also factor in to the number of backups as explained when scheduling your backups.

How to Change your Retention Settings

1. Login to the WordPress Administrator.
2. Scroll down to the BoldGrid Backup option in your menu and click on it.
3. Click on Settings.
4. The Retention settings can be found in the menu at left. Click on Retention.
5. The page with the Retention settings page simply includes a drop down where you can select the number of backups you wish to retain. Click on the drop-down to change the number.
6. Click on Save Changes to save the changes that you make.

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Do I have the storage space to make backups? Will I be able to successfully make a backup?

The storage space is often a main concern for making backups, but there are also other factors that will affect your backup. You can use your hosting server interface to find the amount of hard drive space that you have consumed and how much you have left. This concern may also depend on where you have decided to save your backups. If your backups are staying on the server, then you need to make sure that you sufficient storage space. Fortunately, the BoldGrid Backup provides an option that checks on that space for you. This option is called Preflight Check. This option checks multiple factors such as file permissions, compression options and database size, in addition to hard drive space. If you do not have enough space for the backup, then it will not occur.

Using the Preflight Check

1. Login to the WordPress Administrator.
2. Scroll down to the BoldGrid Backup option in your menu and click on it.
3. In the menu, click on Preflight Check.
4. You will see a report generated that shows the location of your backup, a check on the file permissions for that location, the available file compression options for your backup, the CRON options available for the backup, the disk space involved in making your backup, and the database size. At the bottom of the test you will see if the preflight check passes or fails. If it fails, then you will need to address the flagged section that is identified with the preflight check. If it passes, then you are free to proceed to make your backup.

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Where should my backups be stored?

Typically, you will want to store backups away from the server where your website is stored. This is recommended because if something happens to the server, then you have a backup in a safe location away from where the may be a problem. BoldGrid Backup provides a setting that allows you to determine if you are saving to the web server or if you are saving to a remote location using a FTP/SFTP.

The Premium extension for the BoldGrid Backup allows you to use an off-site storage service with Amazon S3. You would need to purchase the premium extension and have an Amazon S3 account to use this option.

How to Use the Storage Options in the BoldGrid Backup plugin

1. Login to the WordPress Administrator.
2. Scroll down to the BoldGrid Backup option in your menu and click on it.
3. Scroll down the BoldGrid Backup home page and find the section labeled Backup Storage.
4. Here you will be able to select to use either Web Server or FTP/SFTP. If you intend to save it on your web server, then make sure that the Web server option is checked. In order to use the FTP/SFTP option, move on to the next step. Otherwise, you can skip it. Note: The selection of using the Web Server or FTP/SFTP is required if you are scheduling an automated backup or if you intend to use FTP/SFTP to save the backup to a remote location.
5. If you have decided to use the FTP/SFTP option, you notice that you will need to configure the option before you can proceed to select it.
   

   1)	Type in the URL for the FTP/SFTP Host
   2)	Select if you are using FTP or SFTP
   3)	Select the correct port that you are using for FTP or SFTP
   4)	Type in the User name used to login to your FTP/SFTP account
   5)	Type in password to login to your FTP/SFTP account
   6)	If you are using FTP/SFTP to save your backup, then you will need to set the retention settings here. Select the number of backups that you wish to retain. Remember that you will need to have enough hard drive storage to store these backups.
   7)	Give a nickname to these set of settings. The nickname allow you identify multiple FTP/SFTP settings.
   8)	Click on SAVE in order to save your settings.

6. Once you are satisfied with your Backup Storage settings, click on Save Settings at the bottom of the page in order to save your storage settings.

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Will my backup affect my website?

When you make backups, they use server resources such as memory, CPU processing time, and storage space. So, it is important to remember that making backups can impact the performance of your website when it is being processed. You should plan to have your backups made when you have the least amount of traffic.

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What am I backing up?

When you make a backup it typically should consist of all of your website files including database files. For WordPress sites that is normally a complete backup. If you have custom files, then you may need to specify them in the BoldGrid backup, using the Custom option. There are also times where you may want to backup only certain files. This may be due to limited hard drive space or limited time for the backup to occur. BoldGrid backup allows for you to include or exclude backup files or database elements. Follow the directions below in order to access this portion of the BoldGrid Backup application.

How to Specify the Items saved in your BoldGrid Backup

1. Login to the WordPress Administrator.
2. Scroll down to the BoldGrid Backup option in your menu and click on it.
3. In the main window, you need to scroll down until you find the section labeled Files and Folders.
4. In the Files and Folder section the Full Backup option for the files and database is the first option that you can select – Backup All files. Click on this option for both the files and the database options in order to make a complete backup of your BoldGrid site.
5. If you want to make specific distinctions to the files being included in the backup, then click on Custom in the Files and Folders section. Click on the “?” and you will see an explanation of the options to include or exclude files.
6. If you want to backup specific sections of the database, then click on the Custom option in the Database section in order to select which table you want to include in the backup. Simply remove a check in order to remove the table. If you have a large number of tables, then you may want to use the include all or exclude all options in order to make your selections.
7. Once you have finished selecting everything that you want to include in your backup, click onSave Changes

   option at the bottom of the page.

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