How can I back up my web site?

Its important that you know what youre backing up first. If youre running a content management system, such as Drupal, WordPress or any web site that runs a database, youll have to back up the database as well. If youre running a simple web site, youll have to just back up the web site files.

Step #1 “ Backing up Website files

In order to backup your files, we recommend that you use FTP and copy the whole public_html directory from your web hosting account to your local PC. We recommend using FileZilla to transfer (copy) your web site files to your local PC.

Here is a tutorial on how to use the software: http://wiki.filezilla-project.org/Using

Important folders to download from the root folder of your account:

• mail (location of all your stored e-mails)
• public_html (location of all your stored website files)

Step #2 “ Backing up Databases

Login to your cPanel account and click on the phpMyAdmin icon located under the databases section.

1. Select the database you wish to backup in the drop-down database selection box on the left
2. Click the Export Tab towards the top of the interface. This will take you to the Export page with a lot of options
3. Click œSelect All. This ensures that all the tables in the database is included.
4. Select œSQL in the Export box
5. Ensure that œStructure is selected, then make sure the œAdd Auto_Increment and œEnclose Table and Field Name with Backquotes boxes are ticked.
6. Make sure œData is selected, check œHexadecimal for Binary Field and set the Export type to œInsert.
7. Select œSave as File then click œGo. You will be prompted to save the database to your computer.