Knowledgebase

Introduction

Performing full WordPress backups protects your site from catastrophic data loss from server crashes, hacks, or accidental data deletions. Without regular backups, you could permanently lose all your WordPress site content, users, settings, and plugins if any potential data loss factors occur.

Manually backing up your WordPress site is time-consuming and involves constant execution steps. If you rely on manual backups, you may skip an important backup, hence, automating the backup process ensures that your backup files are always up to date. This article explains how you can automate the full WordPress backup process using the following Linux tools:

• Bunzip 2 (Bzip2): A compression utility that reduces the total size of archive files to save storage space.
• Rclone: Manages cloud storage volumes, such as Rcs Object Storage.
• WP-CLI: The WordPress command line utility used to manage WordPress core and configuration files.
• Cron: A built-in Linux utility that runs scheduled commands on a server.

By combining the tool functionalities, you will create an automated backup script to regularly perform a full WordPress backup. Then, you will upload the full backup to Rcs Object Storage for restoration at a specific point in time.

Prerequisites

Before you begin:

• Deploy a OneClick WordPress Server using the Rcs marketplace application
• Access the server using SSH as a non-root user with sudo privileges
• Install WP-CLI on the server
• Create a new Rcs Object Storage bucket to store the WordPress backup files

Install Rclone

Rclone is a command-line utility used to manage files stored on cloud storage volumes. It performs file synchronization tasks similar to other common utilities such as RSync. Follow the steps below to install Rclone and use it to manage files on your Rcs Object Storage Bucket.

1. Download and install the latest Rclone installation script.

   console Copy

   $ curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash
   

   Output:

   rclone v1.64.2 has successfully installed.
   Now run "rclone config" for setup. Check https://rclone.org/docs/ for more details.

2. Test the Rclone configuration to verify that it's installed correctly.

   console Copy

   $ rclone config file
   

   Output:

   Configuration file doesn't exist, but rclone will use this path:
   /home/webadmin/.config/rclone/rclone.conf

Configure Rclone to use Rcs Object Storage

To configure rclone to use your Rcs Object Storage details, access the Rcs Customer Portal. Then, copy your Rcs Object Storage authentication details including the Hostname, Access Key, and Secret Key from the Overview tab

1. Open the Rclone config file using a text editor such as Nano.

   console Copy

   $ nano /home/webadmin/.config/rclone/rclone.conf
   

2. Add the following configurations to the file to create a new remote location wp-backup that points to your Rcs Object Storage bucket.

   ini Copy

   [wp-backup]
   type = s3 
   provider = Other
   env_auth = false 
   access_key_id = YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
   secret_access_key = YOUR_SECRET_KEY 
   region =
   endpoint = https://endpoint
   location_constraint = 
   acl = private
   server_side_encryption =
   storage_class =
   

   Save and close the file.

   The above configuration creates a new Rclone remote storage profile wp-backup that points to your Rcs Object Storage. Replace the placeholder values, and https://endpoint with your actual hostname such as https://ams1.vultrobjects.com to correctly enable your Rcs Object Storage connection. This allows you to use Rclone commands such as rclone copy to copy files to your storage bucket.

3. View the list of Rclone remote profiles and verify the new wp-backup profile.

   console Copy

   $ rclone listremotes
   

   Output:

   wp-backup:

4. Create a sample text file to test your rclone configuration.

   console Copy

   $ echo 'This is a test' > testfile.txt
   

5. Copy the sample file to your Rcs Object Storage using Rclone.

   console Copy

   $ rclone copy testfile.txt wp-backup:wp-files/
   

6. List all files in your wp-files Rcs Object Storage to verify that the new file is uploaded, and available in your storage bucket.

   console Copy

   $ rclone ls wp-backup:wp-files/
   

   Output:

   20 testfile.txt

   Additionally, access your Rcs Object Storage file manager and verify that the new sample file is available in your wp-files bucket.

   

Create a Full WordPress Backup

To back up your WordPress site, copy the WordPress database and site files. The database contains all site content, settings, users, and other data while the WordPress files directory contains uploaded files, plugins, themes, and the WordPress core. If you back up the active database and web root directory, you can restore or migrate your WordPress site at any point in time.

To find your WordPress web files directory, view your server host configuration files to identify your working web root directory. For example, when using Nginx, view the host configurations files in the /etc/nginx/sites-available or /etc/nginx/conf.d directories.

1. Switch to your web server host configuration files directory.

   console Copy

   $ cd /etc/nginx/sites-available/
   

2. Search all available files for your WordPress domain string using the Grep utility to verify your active host configuration file.

   console Copy

   $ grep -r "example.com" .
   

   Output:

   /etc/nginx/sites-available/wordpress_https.conf:   server_name example.com;

3. Depending on your active configuration file, view the file contents.

   console Copy

   $ cat wordpress_https.conf
   

   Within the configuration, find the root directory directive:

   root /var/www/example.com;

   As returned in your output, your WordPress site uses the /var/www/example.com web root directory.

4. Switch to your WordPress web root directory.

   console Copy

   $ cd /var/www/example.com
   

5. Long list files in the directory and verify that all WordPress files are available.

   console Copy

   $ ls -l
   

   Your output should look like the one below:

   total 200
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data   405 Feb  6  2020 index.php
   lrwxrwxrwx  1 www-data www-data    21 Nov 19 06:56 mysqladmin -> /usr/share/phpmyadmin
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data  7211 May 12  2023 wp-activate.php
   drwxr-xr-x  9 www-data www-data  4096 Nov  9 00:45 wp-admin
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data   351 Feb  6  2020 wp-blog-header.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data  2323 Jun 14 14:11 wp-comments-post.php
   -rw-rw-r--  1 www-data www-data  3516 Nov 19 06:57 wp-config.php
   drwxr-xr-x  7 www-data www-data  4096 Nov 19 06:58 wp-content
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data  5638 May 30 18:48 wp-cron.php
   drwxr-xr-x 27 www-data www-data 12288 Nov  9 00:45 wp-includes
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data  2502 Nov 26  2022 wp-links-opml.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data  3927 Jul 16 12:16 wp-load.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data 50924 Sep 29 22:01 wp-login.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data  8525 Sep 16 06:50 wp-mail.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data 26409 Oct 10 14:05 wp-settings.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data 34385 Jun 19 18:27 wp-signup.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data  4885 Jun 22 14:36 wp-trackback.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 www-data www-data  3154 Sep 30 07:39 xmlrpc.php

6. Create a new environment variable WP_ROOT to store the WordPress web root directory path, and append the variable to your ~/.bashrc file.

   console Copy

   $ echo 'export WP_ROOT="/var/www/example.com"' >> ~/.bashrc
   

7. To record the daily backup time, create a new environment variable BACKUP_TIME with a year, minute, day, and minutes value to record the time each backup starts.

   console Copy

   $ echo 'export BACKUP_TIME=$(date +%Y-%m-%d_at_%H.%M.%S)' >> ~/.bashrc
   

8. Create a new local backup files directory to store your WordPress backups.

   console Copy

   $ mkdir -p /home/webadmin/backups/
   

9. Create a new environmental variable to store your backup files directory path.

   console Copy

   $ echo 'export BACKUP_DIR="/home/webadmin/backups"' >> ~/.bashrc
   

10. Activate your server profile changes to apply the new variables in your session.

    console Copy

    $ source ~/.bashrc
    

11. Verify that the WordPress web root variable is active and available to use.

    console Copy

    $ echo $WP_ROOT
    

    Output:

    /var/www/example.com

12. Verify that the backup time variable is available.

    console Copy

    $ echo $BACKUP_TIME
    

    Output:

    2023-11-19_at_09.57.57

    The above output verifies that a backup started on 19 November 2023 09:57:57.

Back Up the WordPress Database

1. Export the WordPress database using WP-CLI to your web root directory.

   console Copy

   $ sudo -E wp db export --path=$WP_ROOT $WP_ROOT/db_$BACKUP_TIME.sql --add-drop-table --allow-root
   

   The above command uses WP-CLI to export the WordPress database with the --add-drop-table flag that creates an SQL file with commands to delete existing tables with the same name before recreating them. This helps avoid conflicts and ensures a clean import, especially when overwriting an existing database or restoring a database to a previous state.

   Output:

   Success: Exported to '/var/www/example.com/db_2023-11-19_at_09.57.57.sql'.

Back Up All WordPress Files

1. Create a compressed WordPress files archive that contains all site files and the .sql file you exported earlier.

   console Copy

   $ sudo -E tar -jcvf $BACKUP_DIR/wp_$BACKUP_TIME.tar.bz2 -C $WP_ROOT/.. $(basename $WP_ROOT) --ignore-failed-read
   

   The above command creates a new Tar archive compressed using Bzip2 j that includes all files in the WordPress web root directory to your backup files directory. The --ingore-failed-read flag allows the backup process to continue in case the Tar utility encounters locked files or cannot read some files during the backup process.

2. List files in your backup files directory and verify that a new .tar.bz2 archive is available.

   console Copy

   $ ls -l $BACKUP_DIR
   

   Output:

   wp_2023-11-19_at_09.57.57.tar.bz2

   You have created a full WordPress backup archive that includes all the site files and database. You can transfer the single compressed file to your Rcs Object Storage and decompress the files when recovering your WordPress site.

Transfer WordPress Backup Files to Rcs Object Storage

1. Copy the WordPress backup archive from your local backup files directory to your target Rcs Object Storage bucket wp-files using the rclone copy command.

   console Copy

   $ rclone copy $BACKUP_DIR/wp_$BACKUP_TIME.tar.bz2 wp-backup:wp-files/
   

2. When successful, list the files in your Rcs Object Storage bucket and verify that your WordPress backup file is available.

   console Copy

   $ rclone ls wp-backup:wp-files
   

   Output:

   15 testfile.txt
   28234126 wp_2023-11-19_at_09.57.57.tar.bz2

3. To clear the server storage space, delete the local copy of the WordPress archive

   console Copy

   $ rm -rf $BACKUP_DIR/wp_$BACKUP_TIME.tar.bz2
   

4. Delete old backup files to avoid running out of space for new backups

   console Copy

   $ rclone delete wp-backup:wp-files --min-age 7d
   

   This rclone command deletes all backup files older than 7 days from your Rcs Object Storage bucket. The --min-age option allows you to specify the maximum age of files to keep. You can increase or increase this value. Consult the rclone documentation to see valid time values for this option.

   With each backup operation, your Rcs Object Storage accrues more backup files. The delete command allows you to create space for more recent backups by deleting old ones.

Your WordPress site is now safely backed up in your Rcs Object Storage bucket. The next step is to automate the backup process.

Automate the WordPress Backup Process to Rcs Object Storage

To automate the WordPress backup process, set up a new Cron task that runs a backup operations script that includes all file transfer commands as described in the steps below.

1. Using a text editor such as Nano, create a bash script in your user home directory.

   console Copy

   $ nano /home/webadmin/wp-backups.sh
   

2. Add the following contents to the file.

   bash Copy

   #!/bin/bash
   
   # Set variables
   BACKUP_TIME=$(date +%Y-%m-%d_at_%H.%M.%S)
   WP_ROOT="/var/www/example.com"
   BACKUP_DIR="$HOME/backups"
   RCLONE_CONFIG_FILE="/home/webadmin/.config/rclone/rclone.conf"
   LOG_FILE="/var/log/wp_backup_$BACKUP_TIME.log"
   MAX_BACKUP_AGE="7d"  # Define maximum age of backup files to retain
   
   # Print backup timestamp
   echo "Backup time: $BACKUP_TIME"
   {
      # Create backup directory
      mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
   
      # Export WordPress database
      wp db export --add-drop-table --path="$WP_ROOT" "$WP_ROOT/db_$BACKUP_TIME.sql" --allow-root
   
   
      # Create a compressed archive of WordPress web root directory
      sudo -E tar -jcvf $BACKUP_DIR/wp_$BACKUP_TIME.tar.bz2 -C $WP_ROOT/.. $(basename $WP_ROOT) --ignore-failed-read > /dev/null 2>&1
   
   
      # Copy backup archive to remote storage using rclone
      rclone --config="$RCLONE_CONFIG_FILE" copy "$BACKUP_DIR/wp_$BACKUP_TIME.tar.bz2" wp-backup:wp-files
   
      # List files in remote storage
      rclone --config="$RCLONE_CONFIG_FILE" lsl wp-backup:wp-files
   
      # Remove local backup archive
      rm -rf "$BACKUP_DIR/wp_$BACKUP_TIME.tar.bz2"
   
      #Remove the database SQL dump file
   
      rm -rf "$WP_ROOT/db_$BACKUP_TIME.sql"
   
      # Delete old files from remote storage (older than the defined maximum age)
      # Comment out the next line if you don't want to delete old files
   
      rclone --config="$RCLONE_CONFIG_FILE" delete wp-backup:wp-files --min-age "$MAX_BACKUP_AGE"
   
      # Log the entire process
   } | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"0 07:39 xmlrpc.php
   

   Save and close the file.

   • The script uses the following variables to perform WordPress backup tasks:

     • BACKUP_TIME: Records the date and time when the backup starts, this creates unique file names for each backup copy.
     • WP_ROOT: Defines your WordPress web root directory.
     • BACKUP_DIR: Specifies local backup files directory.
     • RCLONE_CONFIG_FILE: Points to the Rclone configuration file to use when uploading files to your storage bucket.
     • LOG_FILE: Creates a unique log file for each backup process for reference and troubleshooting.
     • MAX_BACKUP_AGE: Sets the maximum age for files to be deleted from your Rcs Object Storage. In the configuration 7d deletes all files older than 7 days from your storage bucket.

   • Each time you run the above script:

     • It exports the WordPress database with drop table statements.
     • Creates a compressed bzip archive that contains all WordPress files and the matching database.
     • Transfers the latest backup archive file to your Rcs Object Storage using Rclone.
     • Displays the list of files in your Rcs Object Storage bucket.
     • Removes the local backup archive file and the exported database SQL after successful transfer to save the local server storage space.
     • Deletes files older than your specified time period, as per the configuration, files older than 1 week.
     • All script operations a logged to a time-stamped file within the /var/log/ using the tee utility.

   To successfully create the WordPress database backup, you must run the above script with sudo privileges since WP-CLI command includes the --allow-root option.

3. Make the script executable.

   console Copy

   $ chmod a+x ~/wp-backups.sh
   

4. Run the script to verify that it works correctly.

   console Copy

   $ sudo /home/webadmin/wp-backups.sh
   

   Output:

   Backup time: 2023-11-22_at_10.30.27
   Success: Exported to '/var/www/html/db_2023-11-22_at_10.30.27.sql'.
          20 2023-11-22 09:29:57.256559544 testfile.txt
          14 2023-11-22 10:29:08.863311480 wp_2023-11-22_at_10.29.08.tar.bz2
    19445245 2023-11-22 10:29:50.585685794 wp_2023-11-22_at_10.29.47.tar.bz2
    19445190 2023-11-22 10:30:08.322695638 wp_2023-11-22_at_10.30.05.tar.bz2
    19445290 2023-11-22 10:30:19.755346688 wp_2023-11-22_at_10.30.16.tar.bz2
    19445218 2023-11-22 10:30:30.171939971 wp_2023-11-22_at_10.30.27.tar.bz2
   

   When successful, a new WordPress backup archive is uploaded to your Rcs Object Storage, and all files in the bucket are listed when the operation is complete.

5. Access your Rcs Object Storage dashboard to verify the new WordPress backup files are available in the wp-files bucket.

   

6. Edit your Crontab configuration to a new task that automates the WordPress backup script to run once every day.

   console Copy

   $ sudo crontab -e
   

7. Add the following Cron task to the file.

   0 0 * * * /home/webadmin/.wp-backups.sh

   Save and close the file.

   The above CronJob executes the wp-backups.sh script once every day and 7 times in a week. This ensures that you have access to daily WordPress backups you can use to restore your site at any time. Depending on your WordPress site activity, adjust the schedule to run daily or weekly. For more information, learn the how to use the Cron task scheduler resource.

Restore your WordPress Site Using Rclone and Rcs Object Storage

To restore your WordPress site from different backup versions stored in your Rcs Object Storage, use Rclone to pull your target archive file. Depending on your backup files format scheme, you need to extract files from the archive, and transfer them to your new or existing WordPress web root directory to recover your site using the files.

1. Create a new wp-backups directory to store files downloaded from your Rcs Object Storage.

   console Copy

   $ mkdir -p /home/webadmin/wp-backups
   

2. View the available backup archive files stored in your Rcs Object Storage wp-files bucket.

   console Copy

   $ rclone lsl wp-backup:wp-files/
   

   Output:

   20 2023-11-22 09:29:57.256559544 testfile.txt
   45 2023-11-22 10:29:50.585685794 wp_2023-11-22_at_10.29.47.tar.bz2
   90 2023-11-22 10:30:08.322695638 wp_2023-11-22_at_10.30.05.tar.bz2
   90 2023-11-22 10:30:19.755346688 wp_2023-11-22_at_10.30.16.tar.bz2
   18 2023-11-22 10:30:30.171939971 wp_2023-11-22_at_14.39.09.tar.bz2

   Note your target backup archive file to restore your WordPress site. For example, wp_2023-11-22_at_14.39.09.tar.bz2.

3. Copy the backup archive file from Rcs Object Storage to your new wp-backups directory.

   console Copy

   $ rclone copy wp-backup:wp-files/wp_2023-11-22_at_14.39.09.tar.bz2 /home/webadmin/backups/
   

4. Switch to your directory.

   console Copy

   $ cd ~/backups
   

5. List files in the directory and verify that your WordPress backup file is available.

   console Copy

   $ ls
   

   Output:

   wp_2023-11-22_at_14.39.09.tar.bz2

6. Extract files from the WordPress backup.

   console Copy

   $ tar -xvjf wp_2023-11-22_at_14.39.09.tar.bz2
   

7. List the directory files and verify the newly extracted WordPress files.

   console Copy

   $ ls -l
   

   Output:

   example.com
   wp_2023-11-22_at_14.39.09.tar.bz2

   In the above output, the new example.com directory is extracted from the backup archive file.

8. Long list files in the extracted directory and verify that all your WordPress files are available.

   console Copy

   $ ls example.com
   

   Output:

   total 296
   -rw-rw-r--  1 webadmin webadmin 92719 Nov 22 14:39 db_2023-11-22_at_14.39.09.sql
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin   405 Feb  6  2020 index.php
   lrwxrwxrwx  1 webadmin webadmin    21 Nov 22 09:17 mysqladmin -> /usr/share/phpmyadmin
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin  7211 May 12  2023 wp-activate.php
   drwxr-xr-x  9 webadmin webadmin  4096 Nov  9 00:45 wp-admin
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin   351 Feb  6  2020 wp-blog-header.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin  2323 Jun 14 14:11 wp-comments-post.php
   -rw-rw-r--  1 webadmin webadmin  3516 Nov 22 09:18 wp-config.php
   drwxr-xr-x  7 webadmin webadmin  4096 Nov 22 09:18 wp-content
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin  5638 May 30 18:48 wp-cron.php
   drwxr-xr-x 27 webadmin webadmin 16384 Nov  9 00:45 wp-includes
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin  2502 Nov 26  2022 wp-links-opml.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin  3927 Jul 16 12:16 wp-load.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin 50924 Sep 29 22:01 wp-login.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin  8525 Sep 16 06:50 wp-mail.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin 26409 Oct 10 14:05 wp-settings.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin 34385 Jun 19 18:27 wp-signup.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin  4885 Jun 22 14:36 wp-trackback.php
   -rw-r--r--  1 webadmin webadmin  3154 Sep 30 07:39 xmlrpc.php

9. Move the extracted files to your WordPress web root directory to restore your site.

   console Copy

   $ sudo mv example.com /var/www/
   

10. Grant the web server ownership permissions to the new web root directory.

    console Copy

    $ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/example.com
    

11. Restore your WordPress database using the .sql file in your working directory. Replace example.sql with your actual database backup file.

    console Copy

    $ mysql wordpressdb < example.sql
    

Conclusion

You have implemented an automated backup strategy that creates full WordPress backups using Rcs Object Storage and Rclone. Depending on your preferences, you must ensure that your WordPress backup files are up to date to roll back changes in case any errors arise from updates or security breaches on your WordPress site.

More information

For more information, visit the following resources:

• Rclone Documentation.
• Rcs Object Storage Documentation.
• How to use Rclone with Rcs Object Storage.
• Install Let's Encrypt SSL on Ubuntu with Apache or Nginx.