Backing up my store?

[AHB900]

Hey everyone, I have decided to do some addons and updates to my site but i am worried i might loose everything by messing up something. I was just wondering how do i backup my products and my current store information such as products, emails, customer information, etc etc? I go to back up in the admin panel but all i see is the computer telling me my back up directory is admin/backup.php but that is just bunch of writing what do i do? OH also on the top it says set in configure.php?

THanks

[michael_s]

First, don't do any work on your LIVE site.

Make a copy of your site and database and run it as a complete separate instance. Do your edits on the copy site so if you do mess up, it does not affect your sales! When it all works on the copy, then and only then should you copy the changes into the live site.

Now, onto making a backup. Sounds like your backup directory is not writable or is non-existant. I don't recommend using the built in backup feature anyway. Here is what I recommend:

1. Use phpmyadmin (usually included in your hosting control panel) to do a mysqldump of the database structure and data. It will create an .sql file that is your database backup.

2. If you have ssh access to your account, ssh to the catalog directory and either make a zip or tarball of all the contents. Then FTP download that to your local computer and unzip or untar it to a safe place (keep the zip file too). Now you have a local copy of all your files.

3. If you don't have ssh, just ftp download all the current files to your computer.

Now you are fully backed up.

[AHB900]

Hi thank you for the response. Iam looking at my PHP my admin right now and i have no idea how to do a MYSQL dump or anything do i export?

[michael_s]

Export. There is online documentation for phpmyadmin... google it.

[AHB900]

thank you ill give that a try

[MindTwist]

If your OSCMAX installation is already working, you can also do a DB backup from your admin section, under tools / DB backup.

I usually do it from there, where you can choose if you want to download it, or just store it on /admin/backups

[met00]

if you are going to be working with an oscMAX store for any period of time and you want to make mods, learn how to use phpmyadmin. Backups are easy (export data and tables to a file) and better than that, you can learn to read HOW the tables are connected and the data works.

[MindTwist]

Agreed, phpmyadmin is a MUST.

[Phixon]

I would like to confirm soemthing.

If I download my entire catalog via ftp, and download my database via phpmyadmin, i have everything i need to put my site backup if my hosting provider was to explode (or i make a critial error to my site)?

[MindTwist]

Yeah Phixon, you have everything and would be ready for your server to blow up.

Your catalog will hardly change once you have everything in place (or, you will know when you change something at least), it is good to find yourself a way to have a daily copy of your database emailed to you or backed up somehow.