A new version of the WordPress dB Backup plugin along with WordPress 2.1 gives you the ability to schedule automatic backups of your WordPress database hourly, daily, or weekly, with the backup file emailed to the email address of your choice. These back-up would include all WordPress core files and any other file in the database that you select.
The core files consist of you blog posts, comments, links, categories, setup, and user data.
WordPress Database Backup v2.0 plugin gives you this capability when used with WordPress 2.1. The instructions for installing the plugin can be found at the link above. Install consist of copying the plugin files into the WordPress plugin directory and activating the plugin.
Once installed there will be new options on the admin panel under the Manage/Backup menu. The top part of the Backup screen is for immediate backups while the bottom part screen, which is a new feature, is for scheduling automatic backups (see partial screen shot below). The “core files” will always be backed up. You can select any additional files in the dB that you wish to be included.
The backup is in the form of a SQL script file that contains the data as well as the proper commands to restore it. To restore the data you executing the SQL script on your mySQL database which creates the tables. if required, and repopulates the data into the proper fields.
This is an easy way to make sure you have a back-up copy of your essential WordPress and blog data. I’ve set mine up to do a backup daily.
Update: 2/18/07, 18:00 EST
I should mention that this WordPress dB Backup Plugin emails this back-up file in a compressed format. The blog data from my site currently compresses to only 256kb. Very economical!
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