Forum Backup

[#1]

My SMF forum has been up and running on PAYH for about a month now and is taking off nicely. Some posters have put a lot of effort into their posts and I am slightly nervous at the thought that a technical glitch somewhere might one day erase all their hard work. Is there any way in which I can ensure that the forum is backed up fairly frequently so that nothing can ever be lost?
Thanks for any advice! 

[#2]

I always make a make up of the data-base using PHPMYADMIN. and download it to my computer.  Or use Forum Maintence in smf admin.  it backs up the dbase and gives option of downloading it.  Also I keep a note in a pad of what Mods I have added.
Thats about all I know of what to do.
When I had a little more space on my server, I had another forum Identical hidden from public view, then every so often I would back up the data-base from the live forum and dump it into the hidden one. If problems occured that forced a re-install I simply juggled the folder names to make the hidden on the live one, nobody has ever noticed a thing as the urls were exactly the same. 

[#3]

Thanks Gordo!
I notice there is a Backup Manager in Parallels Plesk Control Panel 8.6 which allows one to Upload Files to Local Repository as well as Schedule Backups. That sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Do you think that should do the trick?
PS: What would I use as Local Repository?

[#4]

Must be honest I haven't looked at that at all, so cannot really answer.  At wild guess I would say that backs up all the data in the web folders without the data-bases.  I will have a nose round tonight and see whats what.
sorry can't be more help

[#5]

Thanks Gordo I would appreciate it if you could, as long as it is not too time consuming... 
Or perhaps someone else might know?

[#6]

On a slightly more general point, it is worth checking that - if you do a database backup - all the user-added material does in fact live in the database. Photo galleries, for example, often keep the structure of user posts (user's identity, photo title, comments etc) in the database but load the photos as files into subdirectories (which, if this is one subdirectory per user, is a common cause of galleries failing to work with safe_mode on).  When you back up the database, you must at the same time also take file backup of the user subdirectories to avoid the two being out of synch if you need to restore..

[#7]

Dear Plusnet staff, How come there is no support at all for PAYH? It's pretty good, user friendly and all, but I would definitely appreciate the kind of support from you that I have had in the past for connection issues... 

[#8]

Well from the help files on The Plesk Control Panel it says the following that you
Backup and restore a Web site with its databases and applications,
when you use the back up feature.  someone from Tech Support can surely answer this better than me, I think ? hahahaha
Personally I would still go the way I have,  just in case, but that comes from hardly using Plesk. If you really get stuck or have any difficulties PM me mate.  using SMF to back up and download is quite painless, as is PHPmyadmin,  dumping a file into a DB is easy with a little file called "BigDump"  have done many times.

[#9]

Thanks again decomplexity and gordo. The simplest way as far as I can see would be to download the whole of my httpdocs folder from plesk once or twice a week onto my PC (using FTP). Then I have the whole lot if anything happens. Does that seem sound? If not, I will look into the other options that you suggest. I am sure I will get the hang of them eventually but I am overworked at the moment and virtually braindead!

[#10]

No it is not any good backing up the files from httpdocs folder, just download the file from your Administration Center, clik Admin then put your password in the box and clik OK, in the Administration Center go down to Forum Maintenance clik it, then go to Forum Maintenance - Backup Database tick:

• Save the table structure.


• Save the table data. (the important stuff.)


• Compress the file with gzip.
 

Then clik Download
Save the file to a folder with a name that you can remember on your computer, you can Backup daily or weekly.
Me I keep the first one, then once a month I keep the file, it is up to you how long you keep the file for on your computer!
[Edit]
You may want to Backup the full of your forum files from httpdocs if you have SMF Mods installed, or you have modified your forum like I have, with the help of gordo and the SMF Community forum, there is a link to my forum on my Signature.  Good look with your forum.
gordo Thank you for all your help your the best

[#11]

Thanks Midnight Caller,
I've done that but it does not look like much! Are you sure absolutely everything is in there? Which one is the one that has all the posts in? Is it the data one?

[#12]

BlueRhizome it is the file that you Download from the Forum Maintenance - Backup Database, it will be called song think like: dyslexia_-complete_2009-04-21.sql.gz in it is the full of your forum, and yes it is a small file. 

[#13]

All the important stuff, members, posts Personal messages, forum layout, skins, mods passwords emails everything that makes the forum work is in that file.  surprisingly they are quite small.
Let me know,mate and I can always check things for you, if you give me access to the forum admin, and then you can delte my account.  Understand if you would rather thats if you still are unsure (believe it is right) 

[#14]

Thanks that's great it's just that it seemed a bit too easy to be true!
I've got a zipped file which looks like -------_-complete_2009-04-22.sql.gz, so pretty much what you have too!
I really appreciate your answers, many thanks again! 
In a rush...

[#15]

Your Welcome