Set up an effective backup for your web with cdmon

One of the essential components to keep your website safe and operational at all times is to implement an effective backup or security copy system. A proper backup not only protects your website against accidental data loss or damage caused by a cyberattack but also ensures quick and hassle-free recovery in the event of any contingency.

In this blog post, we will guide you through the best practices for setting up a robust backup system for your website. From automatic backups to using plugins for content management systems (CMS) and the importance of maintaining local copies, we will cover all the necessary aspects to ensure your peace of mind and the continuity of your online business.

Continue reading to discover how you can shield your website against unforeseen events and ensure its continuous operation.

Backups are one of the fundamental pillars in the management and security of any website. In the digital world, where data is one of the most valuable assets, having a reliable security copy system is not an option, but a necessity. These ensure not only the continuity of your website in the face of unforeseen events but also preserve the integrity of the crucial information for your business.

Cyberattacks, such as ransomware and SQL injection attacks, can seriously compromise your website, even encrypting or deleting essential data. In these scenarios, having recent backups means having the ability to restore your website to a state before the attack, thus minimizing losses and impact on your users or customers.

Human errors are inevitable and can range from accidental deletion of critical files to erroneous modification of databases. Having regular backups allows these errors to be reversed, restoring the affected data to its correct and functional state.

Despite advances in hardware reliability, physical failures in servers and storage devices still occur. These failures can lead to the loss of irreplaceable data. Backups act as insurance, allowing you to recover lost information and ensuring the continuous operation of your website.

Backups are essential not only for disaster recovery but as a proactive security and risk management strategy. Securing your website with frequent and reliable backups provides peace of mind and the certainty that, in the face of any adversity, you have control to restore and maintain the continuity of your online presence.

In the hosting field, the backup service is often an additional provision that you can include when hiring your hosting, but it involves extra costs. These security copies are essential for any web protection strategy, providing a crucial layer of security and peace of mind by allowing data restoration in case of loss or corruption, so it is critical when choosing your hosting to review the backup options they offer.

At cdmon, we understand the critical importance of keeping your website safe and operational at all times. For this reason, we stand out by offering this essential service for free. Our automatic backup system performs daily backups of your website, ensuring that you always have a recent version to restore if necessary.

Our service covers the retention of daily copies for up to 30 days, providing a wide range of restoration points. This coverage gives you the control and options necessary to handle different data recovery scenarios.

Ease of use is a priority for us, and that is why we have integrated the restoration functionality directly within your Control Panel. This direct access simplifies the restoration process, allowing you to quickly and without technical complications recover your website. Whenever you need it, without waiting or complex processes, your website can be restored to its previous state.

Websites built on content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal greatly benefit from the functionality and flexibility these systems offer. However, to ensure comprehensive protection, it is vital to complement your hosting’s automatic copies with specific backup solutions designed for your CMS. Backup plugins specialize in capturing all aspects of your site, from the database to theme files and plugins, ensuring complete and efficient recovery.

Below, we present some backup plugins known for their effectiveness and reliability in the most popular CMSs:

• For WordPress:
  • UpdraftPlus: Widely recognized for its ease of use, UpdraftPlus offers scheduled backups and the possibility to store your data in multiple cloud locations.
  • BackupBuddy: A complete solution that not only allows for regular backup scheduling but also for easy restoration and site migration.
• For Joomla:
  • Akeeba Backup: Known for its robustness, Akeeba performs complete backups of your site that can be restored on any Joomla-compatible server, ideal for emergency recoveries or migrations.
• For Drupal:
  • Backup and Migrate: This module simplifies the backup and restoration process, allowing Drupal users to schedule backups and exclude specific tables and directories as needed.

These plugins have earned the community’s trust for their reliability and for offering advanced features that ensure the integrity and accessibility of your backups. By selecting the right plugin for your CMS, you are taking a proactive measure towards your website’s security, complementing your hosting’s automatic copies and strengthening your recovery capability in any eventuality.

Even though cloud backups are convenient and offer a significant level of security, it’s essential not to underestimate the value of having local backups. These backups serve as an additional safety net in extreme cases where cloud access may be compromised or when connectivity issues arise. Furthermore, local copies give you complete control over your data, allowing you to access it immediately and without depending on third parties.

When storing local backups, consider these best practices:

• Secure Storage: Keep your backups on a dedicated external storage device, such as an external hard drive or a USB drive, to protect them from failures on your main computer.
• Multiple Locations: If possible, store copies of your backups in different physical locations to protect against damage in a single location, such as fires or floods.
• Encryption: Consider encrypting your storage devices to protect your data in case the device is lost or stolen.
• Regular Verification: Perform regular checks of your local backups to ensure that the data is not corrupt and can be successfully restored.

Maintaining local backups is a crucial component of a comprehensive backup strategy. It provides an additional layer of security and ensures maximum control over your data recovery. By combining automatic backups in hosting, backups through CMS plugins, and local backups, you can strengthen your website’s resilience against any adversity.

Maintaining a backup schedule is critical to ensuring the continuity and security of your website. A well-defined schedule ensures that your backups are performed consistently and timely, protecting your website against data loss due to human errors, technical failures, or cyberattacks.

The frequency with which you should perform backups depends on several factors, including:

• Website Type: E-commerce sites or those containing discussion forums, for example, may require daily backups due to the high frequency of transactions and postings.
• Data Volume: Sites with large volumes of data or those that are updated frequently may need more frequent backups to minimize data loss.
• Storage Capacity: Consider your available storage capacity both in the cloud and locally when planning the frequency and size of your backups.

A good practice is to perform complete backups weekly, with incremental or differential backups daily that record changes made since the last complete backup.

Performing backups is only part of an effective security strategy. It’s essential to regularly test these backups to ensure that the data can be correctly restored. Backup testing allows you to verify data integrity and the effectiveness of the restoration process, ensuring that in case of an emergency, your website’s recovery will be successful.

In conclusion, establishing an effective backup system for your website is an essential part of online management and security. We encourage you not to underestimate the importance of backups. They are your safety net in a digital world where unforeseen events can occur at any moment. By following the recommended practices and using the backup solutions we offer, you can enjoy peace of mind knowing that your website is protected.

Remember, prevention and preparation are the keys to successful website management. We are here to support you every step of the way, ensuring that your website not only survives, but thrives in today’s dynamic digital environment.