GIVING YOUR CLIENTS A SECURE FEELING WITH AUTOMATIC BACKUPS
With the Auto Backup plug-in from the Interactive Tools App Store
http://www.interactivetools.com/add-ons/
there’s now a simple way for you or your clients to schedule automatic daily, weekly, and monthly database backups for
CMS Builder.
New in Version 1.01
- Automatic hourly backups are now supported (up to 24 per day)
- Email Backups: Enter your email address to receive automatic backups via email
- Email Backups: Email backup files will automatically be compressed if supported by your server
Backup timers will automatically be set/reset each time the Admin or section editors are accessed or someone accesses
your pages on the web. By default, backups will be kept, for 3 time periods. Daily backup for 3 days, Weekly backup for
3 weeks,. and monthly backups for three months. The hourly default is 24 hours
You can also specify an e-mail address to receive backups and the frequency that those e-mails will be sent.
You can modify the code to change these default values. Backups are automatically saved on your server where you can
download them to your local computer for safe keeping.
Auto Backup is extremely easy to set up. All you need to do is upload the plug-in file to your server and activate the
plug-in through your CMS Builder.
CAUTION: Auto Backup only backs up your MySQL data and creates snapshots of the database that can only be restored using
THE SAME VERSION of CMS Builder with which they were created.
FTP BACKUP - The programming gurus at Interactive Tools are wrestling with the complexities of adding automatic FTP
backups to the plug-in so you can have a copy of these files on a local computer for safe keeping, but the hurdles are
high and it may be a while before a flexible enough system can be developed. Until then you might consider offering a
backup service to your clients. Both WS-FTP Pro and CuteFTP offer automatic backup scheduling and you could use it
create a new profit center for your business. Just don’t forget to add a legal disclaimer to the contract with your
clients if you haven’t already done that. The one that Interactive Tools uses reads:
LIMITED WARRANTY
Although Vendor has tested this Software and reviewed the documentation, Vendor makes no warranty or representation,
either expressed or implied, with respect to this Software, its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for a
particular purpose. As a result, Software is licensed AS-IS, and you are assuming the entire risk as to its quality and
performance.
Vendor shall not be liable for any claim or right to recover damages, including, but not limited to, loss of profit,
data, or use of the software or special, incidental, or consequential damages, or other similar claims, even if Vendor
has been specifically advised of the possibility of such damages.
I asked Dave Edis at Interactive Tools for clarification on a few issues:
Me: If I haven’t accessed my CMS interface in months and the auto delete is set for
3 weeks, will I find any backup file to restore?
Dave: Yes, assuming you had one page view per day you'd have snapshots for the last 3 days, last 3 weeks, and last 3
months.
Me: If I manually create a backup in admin > general settings, will that be automatically deleted as well?
Dave: No, the auto-backup files use a different naming scheme and won't erase any of your manually generated backups.
Me: If I check my database and find that it’s missing will the restore function attempt to recreate it for me using
the info for IP address, password and user name in General Settings
Dave: Yes, assuming everything is corrupted you may need to do a new install. But autobackup creates the same type of
backup file as clicking backup would.
Observation: Seems like it’s a good idea to create a manual backup when you set up your plug-in. That way you’ll
have a baseline backup that you can restore if necessary.
|
