Something most web site owners have little time for is...anything! Anything other than focusing on their website content and the business or service it supports and the information it provides, that is. That means that administration is often lacking, as it frequently must – after all, there are only so many hours in your day.
But the one factor that you should never overlook are backups. They are like insurance. You rarely need it (you hope), but when you do, you need it very badly.
Performing regular backups - and testing them - doesn't have to be a monumental task. With a reasonable bit of forethought and effort and they can be automated to a high degree. And, they should be tested from time to time. Even when a backup seems to have gone without a hitch, the only way to know whether it really did is to attempt to restore the information. If it can't be restored, the backup is worthless.
Even when the web hosting company provides backup service, there still will be some planning involved for you. Hosting companies often rely on one or both of two methods; they backup all thefiles (called a full backup), or backup anything that has changed since the last full backup (called an incremental backup).
Of critical importance are any configuration files that have been modified. For example, if you've changed the default installation of a software application, you want to be able to recapture or recreate those modifications without starting over. Network configuration files, modifications to HTML files, CSS style sheets, Java Script files and others fall into the same category.
If you have XML files, databases, spreadsheets or any other files that carry product, subscriber information or order history, for example, they should get special attention. They are the lifeblood of your business. Lose them and you have to start from scratch. That can have a tremendous negative impact on your site that can last quite a while.
It goes without saying that all HTML and related web site files that create visible pages should be backed up on a regular basis. It isn't necessary to record every minor modification, fortunately you can tailor backup software to exclude specific files or folders. Usually they're so small that it isn't worth the trouble, but in some cases it can add up when there are many thousands of files.
Here again, the backups are worthless if they can't be used. Even if the hosting company charges for doing so, it's important to test at least once or twice a year to make sure the data can be restored. That's especially true of database backups, which often involve special software and routines. Database files have a special structure and the information is related in certain ways that require backups be done differently.
Developing a backup plan can be straightforward. Start simply and review your plan occasionally, modifying it as your site changes and grows. The day will come when a hard drive fails, you get hacked, attacked by a virus, or you accidentally delete something critical. When that day comes, the time you invested developing and executing a backup plan will save you days or weeks of effort and more importantly, save you from lost revenue.
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