How to manage your backups
To protect your website, one of the key things to check regularly is that a proper backup is being kept. A backup means your data is stored elsewhere so that, if necessary, you can easily use it to bring your website back online. There are several types of backup, each with a different purpose and a different use.
The ZIP file
This type of backup consists of putting all the files that make up your website (to which a database dump and e-mails can be added) into a single file called an archive. The user creates this file on the server at a given date using a backup tool (Plesk, for example).
The main purpose of this file is to be used when the user loses part of their website. For example, if a file or a table/database is accidentally deleted, you can look for that file or database in the ZIP file and recover just that item. It lets you undo a mistake, most often caused by a wrong move, or an error on the website resulting from a security flaw or a failed update.
Backup to magnetic tape
This type of backup creates a copy – a restore point – of the entire server, so that the server can be brought back into service as quickly as possible in the event of a hard disk failure. It is more often referred to as a remote server backup. This type of backup does not make it easy to recover a single file, because it contains all the server's data so that the entire hard disk, including the partition table, can be restored. The goal is to get the whole server back online quickly, not to make the data easily accessible.
Backup storage space
Many hosting providers offer backup storage. It is important to check exactly what this involves. Most often, the backup space is provided empty, with simple FTP access. It is then up to the user to create backups manually and place them in this space. It is therefore important to understand how such a backup can be used in the event of a failure, and which types of failure it can help with. A backup space supplied without software will be of very little use in the event of a hard disk problem, for example, or even when a file is lost if the user has not thought to set up backups on the server.
R1Soft combines these types of backup
R1Soft combines an archive-style backup, easily accessible via an interface, with a tool that can reinstall the entire server onto blank hard disks quickly and simply over the network. All this with backup storage on a separate server, with a capacity set when you subscribe that can also be increased or decreased if required.
R1Soft makes a full backup of the disk. Then, daily or at regular intervals, it performs an incremental backup that only retrieves the items changed on the disk since the last backup. Thanks to this system, you always have a full backup of the server available, and it uses very few resources since it is updated daily by retrieving only the modified files.
R1Soft gives you access to a simple user interface in your web browser. With just a few clicks, this interface lets you find a file in a backup taken on a given date. You then have 3 options:
– you can download the file directly to your computer to examine and use it, which only takes a few seconds
– you can ask R1Soft to put the file back on the server, either in its original location or in a location of your choice
– if necessary (with help from support), the entire server can be reinstalled in a few minutes or a few hours, depending on the amount of data to restore, starting from a completely blank server with a USB stick containing the R1Soft software
So that data can be restored quickly and easily, the R1Soft tool is installed on a server as close as possible to yours, often in the same datacentre but not necessarily in the same rack. It is also important to keep a backup of your data at your own premises in case the backup server becomes unavailable.
