Backing up a Website properly?

buglawton

I have been trying to back up a website with say, 2000 files on it. The ftp connection drops from time to time but my program (Cuteftp) can auto-resume. However I am not convinced I've backed up all files - what I'm looking for is a way of counting the files on the site (I don't control the server, just have a basic PHP Admin panel access) to check, or better, are there any programs out there that can back up via ftp to one's PC in a verifiable way and even only copy files that are newer or added on the Website?

DrBenway

wget at http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/

DrBenway

write a php script to count the files

buglawton

The Windows GUI version of Wget looks ideal for my needs. Reading the manual, the only thing I'm not sure about is whether it follows links to decide what to download or whether it does a directory lookup on the hosting server like an ftp program would do. If via links, then it would try to download all the php generated dynamic content which would not be good news!

Brilliant piece of advice Benway, I will be trying this program out.

Mad101daN

A simple idea may be to compare the folder size of the web site and the backup version. If they are them same size you have copied all the files accross.

Dan

buglawton

Yes I agree. However I have only PHPAdmin Panel access to the site, not full control. So how do I get the site size and/or the number of files?

Mad101daN

Can you not use cuteftp to give you the info ?

buglawton

Looked around all the obvious Cuteftp options - no method there, it only counts 1 level down from a dir.

DrBenway

buglawton wrote:

The Windows GUI version of Wget looks ideal for my needs. Reading the manual, the only thing I'm not sure about is whether it follows links to decide what to download or whether it does a directory lookup on the hosting server like an ftp program would do. If via links, then it would try to download all the php generated dynamic content which would not be good news!

Brilliant piece of advice Benway, I will be trying this program out.

You miss the point of wget. Wget is an all rounder.

It doesn't just talk http it talks ftp as well. See: http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/manual/wget.html#Very-Advanced-Usage

Never used wget gui only cli so cant comment on that.

I would also check what access you have to the webserver. If you have shell access and it is running some version of GNU/Linux then there are many different approaches you can take.

P.S. if you have any mysql data (or similar), dont forget to back that up as well.

A backup is for life not just ...

DrBenway

Mad101daN wrote:

A simple idea may be to compare the folder size of the web site and the backup version. If they are them same size you have copied all the files accross.

Dan

This idea will not necessarily work. For instance the size of a directory on Linux
when copied file by file to another location is not always the same. Ideally you should copy the files one by and check the exit codes of the copy or do diffs on the file (which may not work if you are ftp in ascii mode).

All O/Ss have there little discrepencies. Just look at the properties of a file in windows explorer. Is the file size the "Size: 485KB" or the "469,550 bytes" right next to it. Or is it the "Size on disk: 460KB" or the "471,040 bytes" right next to that. And the original was none of the above because of the ascii conversion mentioned above.

buglawton

I could see that Wget has loads of functionality & that I will have to invest some time in learning how to use it - in ftp mode which would suit the purpose of backing up PHP scripts.

About comparing file sizes - actually, a simple count comparison would do for an initial backup. I have only the most basic phpMyAdmin panel access, have yet to work out if there's an ftp commnad to count all the files in all directories.

The DB is not really an issue - it backs up fast using the MySQL control panel and I can check the result.