By decibel.places on

We see so many forum topics about irrecoverable errors, WSOD, database gone fubar etc.

As a matter of policy I ALWAYS install the Backup & Migrate module http://drupal.org/project/backup_migrate and configure it for automatic backups saved to the filesystem - with more frequent backups during development.

I create a manual backup before undertaking any complex configuration. That way, I have a "restore point" in case of disaster.

I am disappointed that Drupal Gardens has no database recovery tool - I have had 2 major crashes developing my first site there, requiring restoration by DG engineers.

While there may be some issues of security when the database and content is saved as a file (you could exclude certain tables, perhaps) the benefits of having a rollback in case of disaster are significant.

Also, the module facilitates migration of the site. I just moved a complex site with Views, APK, CiviCRM etc., about 12,000 files. I moved the files, created a new database, edited settings.php and civicrm.settings.php for the new database, exported the database and imported it in phpMyAdmin and VOILA - site moved! (sometimes I do a default install, copy the files, enable the Backup & Migrate module, and import the db in the module interface - that works too).

I think that Backup & Migrate - or something like it - should be part of "best practices" for Drupal development.

Comments

rcrusoe’s picture

rcrusoe commented

I ran across this post on a thread over at CiviCRM but wanted to respond here as well - thanks for this tip and rest assured the issue is a very important one, maybe somewhat underappreciated in the general 'web developer' world. Then again, anyone with a production site or in the business certainly knows enough to do frequent backups and test them for a restore, right? Sure. And yes, there are plenty of ways to do it, with scripts, cron jobs and so on. But making it a std part of site admin is really the adult, civilized thing to do, and Backup & Migrate does a nice job, so I'm with you. If what you say about Drupal Gardens is correct, shame on them and hopefully they'll fix it soon. For apps like CRM it's even more important, since it's not just a matter of web site content and such, but customer data of various kinds, including financial info like pledges, contributions etc. Very painful to lose, sometimes impossible to reconstruct without a valid backup.
Howard J

decibel.places’s picture

decibel.places commented

Drupal Gardens is in active development and glitches are to be expected. Would be nice to have a way to back up the db though.

~are you netsperienced?
♥ follow me @decibelplaces ∞

rubyji’s picture

rubyji
she/her
Primary language English
Location Durham, NC, USA
commented

I was counting on this module to help me migrate my Drupal 5 site to a new host where I will be able to update it to 6, but the BAM module's import is limited to files of 7 MB or less. I tried eliminating some tables I don't need and the file is still 18 MB! Anyone have suggestions?

(I know this is a little off topic here, I will post a request in the forums as well.)

Thanks for advice!

= Ruby

PetarB’s picture

PetarB commented

We don't create and maintain ANY sites without Backup and Migrate installed, with regular backups scheduled. For us it's an absolute necessity and no brainer. It's a fantastic module that should be part of the core in my opinion.