Back Up a WordPress Site Automatically: The 3-2-1 Way

A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a backup. Here is a simple plan that works for a small self-hosted WordPress site.

3-2-1

• 3 copies of your data (the live site plus two backups),
• on 2 different kinds of storage,
• with 1 copy off the server — another provider or cloud drive.

What to back up

1. The database — posts, pages, settings, orders.
2. wp-content — uploads, themes, plugins.
3. wp-config.php and your web-server config.

A nightly script

#!/bin/bash
D=$(date +%F); B=/backups/$D; mkdir -p $B
cd /var/www/example.com
wp db export $B/db.sql --allow-root
tar -czf $B/files.tgz wp-content wp-config.php
find /backups -maxdepth 1 -type d -mtime +14 -exec rm -rf {} +   # keep 14 days

Run it from cron at a quiet hour, for example 30 2 * * * root /usr/local/bin/site-backup.

Get a copy off the server

Tools like rclone can copy the backup folder to Google Drive, OneDrive or object storage each night. Encrypt the copy if it contains customer data.

Test the restore

Every few months, restore the latest backup onto a test server or a local copy: import the database, unpack the files, open the site. Time it. That number is how long you would be down in a real emergency.