5 Minutes Could Save You $100
May 9th, 2008 by Bob Stovall
What if you could invest five minutes and possibly save yourself $100? And what if that same five minutes could provide you with peace of mind that all of your web server files were backed up?
Your OrangeCat server has a file backup system built into the Control Panel. It’s easy to use and could save you from having to rebuild your website from scratch in the event of a data loss. Complete data losses are very rare. In fact, we have never had one in the 12 years we’ve been in the hosting business. But as I am sure all of you are aware, hard drive crashes can happen. And you never see them coming.
We have put together the following tutorial to help you use the Orange Cat Control Panel to backup your web server files. There is also a video at the end of the article - click here to watch the video now.
Control Panel File Backup Tutorial
Here are the steps to backup your server files. The whole process should only take five minutes or so - it depends on how many files on your server need to be backed up. Point your web browser to your Control Panel. Your Control Panel is located at https:your domain.com (or .net, .org., etc.). Use of the “https” prefix will create a secure connection to your server. If you get a warning that the certificate doesn’t match the domain name, click “OK.” It’s your own domain and there is no danger of being redirected to another website.
You should see the following screen. Type in your username and password and login.
Scroll down to the 3rd row and click on the “Backups” link. You can also click “Utilities and Files” in the navigation on the left side of the page and then click “Backups.”
In the next screen, you will see a list of any backups you have already made - if this is your first backup, the list will be empty. You can delete any old backups by checking the box to the left of the old backups and clicking the “Delete” button. To make a new backup, click one of the “Create Backup” button at the right side of the backup list.
In the next screen, enter a name for your backup file. I usually use a date based naming system so I can track which are the newest backup files. In my naming system a file named “080509″ would have been created on May 9, 2008. This numbering system ensures that it is easy to sort the files by date. Use any file naming system you are comfortable with. Once you have entered a file name, click “Save.” The system will them create a backup file of your files. When it is finished, the new file will be added to the backup files list.
If you ever need to restore your files from a backup, just click the “Restore” link on the right side of the line that contains your latest backup. Backup files can be large. It may benefit you to delete older files from your server from time to time. You can delete backup files by clicking the “Delete” link next to the restore link. You can delete multiple backup files by clicking the boxes at the left and then clicking on of the “Delete” buttons on the left.
You can make your files even safer by downloading the backup file to your local hard drive on your computer. To do this, click on the “All Files” link under “Utilities and Files” in the left navigation on the Control Panel home page.
On the next screen, click on the link for the “Backups” directory.
On the next screen, locate the file you would like to download, right-click (PC) or control-click (Mac) and save the file to your computer. That’s all there is to it. Now, you have not only backed up your web server files. You have increased your security by saving the file in a second location.
We have also created a video that illustrates the steps to backup your server and download the files. You can watch to 400 pixel video here or watch a larger (640 pixel) version at OrangeCat.net.
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