CP Data Backup Help

CP Data Backup Help

CPanel Data Backup is a great solution to all users of the popular hosting control panel called CPanel. Your host should offer daily and weekly backups and CPanel makes it easy to do this by backing up your files so you can download them for safe keeping. The only problem with that is you have to login to your CPanel every time you want to download your backups. This can become a pain if you want to keep daily archives of your backups.

CP Data Backup is an automated tool that will download your CPanel backup files for you! It will download your main website backup and all of your mysql database backups on a schedule you set. It can be daily, weekly, or monthly...you decide! CP Data Backup NEVER touches your actual files or databases. It only downloads copies of your backups to another part of the same server or a different server offsite.

I recommend that you find a cheap host that offers a lot of space. Make sure it's a CPanel host. That way, you can keep your backup site separate from your actual websites. The company I've found to have the most space for the best price and the most reliable service is below.

WE RECOMMEND LUNAR PAGES FOR YOUR CP DATA BACKUP WEB HOST!

Step 1: Upload CP Data Backup

Upload all files using an FTP program.

After you download the CP Data Backup zip file, unzip it, keeping the folder structure in tact.
Create a folder in your hosting account called cpdatabackup (or whatever folder name you want).
You should create in your /home/cpanel_username directory so it would look like /home/cpanel_username/backup.
Using your FTP program, upload all files to the cpdatabackup folder.
Open the inc folder and set full permssions on config.php (CHMOD 777)

Create the backup folder where files will be stored.

It is important to understand this important step. You need to figure out where you want your backups stored. During the installation, you will be asked where your backups will be stored. You will need to enter the path to the folder you want the backups stored in. CP Data Backup will not create this folder for you! You must create it first, set full permissions on it (CHMOD 777), and then enter the path to this folder in the Data Backup Folder field.

I recommend that you create a folder called 'backups' below your public_html folder. This is normally called the 'root' of your hosting account. It would be your '/home/cpanel_username' folder. This area is NOT accessible to browsing via the web, so it's fully secure. Everything in your 'public_html' folder can be viewed via the web, so it's not as secure, unless you password protect the folder from public access. If you do this, you would enter /home/cpanel_username/backup in the field.

Step 3: Create your MYSQL Database

If you are using CPanel 11, there is a video tutorial you can watch. You can also use the MYSQL Wizard to create the database.

Step 4: Installation

To install CP Data Backup, you will need to point your browser to http://www.your-domain-name.com/cpdatabackup/install.php

The screen below will appear.

Fill in all fields with the correct information.

Database Host:	This is normally 'localhost', but it depends on your host's database settings. If that does not work, please ask your host.
Database Name:	This is the MYSQL database name. It should be in the format of cpanelusername_databasename Example: If your CPanel username is abc123, your MYSQL database name would be abc123_databasename
Database Username:	This is the MYSQL username. It should be in the format of cpanelusername_username
Database Password:	This is the MYSQL password. It should be in the format of password (the Cpanel username prefix is not necessary).
Database Tables Prefix:	This is the MYSQL table prefix. This is for those hosts that only allow a single database. You cannot leave it blank, so just enter something like 'bu_' or 'cb' or something short.
Admin Password:	This will be the password you'll use when you login to the CP Data Backup Admin area.
Data Backup Folder:	This is the full path (not a URL) to where your backups will be stored. You will need to manually create this folder and set full permissions (CHMOD 777) on it.

If everything is correct, you will see a 'Congratulations' message telling you CP Data Backup was successfully installed. You can now login to the Admin area, but first, delete the install.php file from the folder where you uploaded CP Data Backup.

CP Data Backup Admin

After you've installed CP Data Backup, you will need to login. Enter the password you chose during installation and click the Login button.

CP Data Backup Dashboard

The dashboard will show all of the Domains that are currently added to be backed up, but since you just installed CP Data Backup, there won't be any. But, before you start adding domains to backup, click on the Configuration link in the navigation.

CP Data Backup Configuration

There's only a couple of things to update in the Configuration and that is your Admin Email address and whether or not you want to receive email notifications. Enter the email address where you want notifications sent when a backup completes and choose to receive notifications or not.

If you ever want to change your password, you will change it here.

Setting up your CRON command

CRON is a server function that automatically executes your scripts at times and dates that you schedule. CP Data Backup uses CRON to automatically backup your CPanel files, so you will need to set this up if you want your backups to be automated.

Click on the 'Cron Sample' link in the Admin. You will see the command and URL to use when you set up your CRON in your CPanel. Just copy and paste this command and URL into your CRON settings of CPanel. Example CPanel CRON setting below.

In the example above, I entered the full command and URL to run. Then I chose to run the CRON at 6am each morning. That ensures that I download the full backup from yesterday so I don't miss any files. You might want to check with your host to see when they perform their daily backups. This is important because if you download the backup before they backup your website, you won't have an accurate archive.

Let's say you schedule the cron to run at 12am (midnight) each night, but your host backs up your website at 3am. Then you basically have a backup that is from two days ago, since you downloaded the backup from the day before yesterday. So, make sure you schedule the CRON to run AFTER your hosts backs up your website.

Note: CP Data Backup will download your backups whenever the CRON is run, so there's no need to schedule the CRON to run more than once per day.

Backing Up Your Domain Names & Databases

After you have set up your CRON to run, it's time to start adding domain names to back up. Click on the Domains link in the navigation to get back to the dashboard. Then, click on the Add button. The Add New Domain screen will scroll down and look like this.

Fill in all the fields.

Domain Name	Only enter the domain name, not http:// or www.
Directory Name	This will be filled in for you, but you can change it if you want to.
Cpanel Login	This is the Cpanel username of the same domain name.
Cpanel Password	This is the Cpanel password.
Archive	Choosing Yes will rename the backup file to include the date the backup was downloaded. Make sure you have enough space on your server. Choosing No will download and overwrite the current backup, so you always have the latest backup from Cpanel.
Active	This enables or disables this domain name to be backed up.
Add Database	Clicking the (+) will create an additional database filed if you have multiple databases.
Database Name	This is the database name created under the same domain name. DO NOT INCLUDE the Cpanel prefix. If your database name is abc123_wordpress then only enter wordpress as the database name.

After you have entered the domain name and database details, click on Save. Your dashboard will update and show the current domains.

To edit any domain, click on the domain name and the edit screen for that domain name will open.
To disable any domain name from being backed up, just uncheck the Active box and click on Update.
To delete a domain name from CP Data Backup, check the Delete box and click on Update. This will delete the domain name and all backups from CP Data Backup. If you just want to stop backing up the domain name, just uncheck the Active box.

Now that you have CP Data Backup running and backing up your files, you'll want to automatically schedule your backups to download to your local computer. This will keep your backup files in an even safer location...on your own computer! There are several FTP programs out there that will download your files manually, there's only one that will download your ENTIRE backup folder and all sub-folders and files automatically!

It's called Auto FTP Manager and it is the BEST auto-scheduling FTP program we've found! Click here for more information or better yet, buy it!

If you have more questions, then please