Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : What constitutes a full backup of the website?

I am trying to download my website on to my system since i am moving servers. I tried to download the full backup using cpanel but the size of the file is 610 MB and since i have a slow connection, it means me downloading the file the whole night. While i dont mind doing that, the connection has broken thrice (once when i had downloaded 517 MB). So i have decided to download it bit by bit. I would like to know what files i will have to download...i can think of just two...the public html folder and my database..is that it? or should i be downloading any other files?

[FrankLaszlo]

It will probably also include your email, and all the account information for everything.

[MikeDVB]

The Full Backup is everything that is needed to reconstruct your account from your bandwidth usage to your emails and email accounts, etc...

[CodyRo]

The Full Backup is everything that is needed to reconstruct your account from your bandwidth usage to your emails and email accounts, etc...
Migrating your bandwidth usage seems.. not quite right
Anything on the hard disk and in the database alongside account settings such as database credentials, e-mail accounts, website analytics, etc.
Unless you're horribly stickler the bare minimum you should backup to get up and running is are the files (public_html/*) and the databases .

[MikeDVB]

Migrating your bandwidth usage seems.. not quite right Talk to cPanel about it Any time we do a transfer of a client to our server we always go in and reset the bandwidth counter Just as when we restore an older backup we also reset the bandwidth counter to whatever it was before the restoration so that they have an accurate idea of their actual usage.
Anything on the hard disk and in the database alongside account settings such as database credentials, e-mail accounts, website analytics, etc.Everything needed to recreate the account as-is including access logs, error logs, emails, databases, etc...
Unless you're horribly stickler the bare minimum you should backup to get up and running is are the files (public_html/*) and the databases .I would download a full backup every *once* in a while but make sure you download your public_html and your databases regularly. The databases are likely the most important as the rest can be recreated in most cases.

Is migrating bandwidth usage, error logs and access logs necessary? I am migrating a site from my dedicated server to a shared server with the same host. Since the site is being kept on the backburner for some time the only thing i want to know regarding bandwidth usage is with the new server. Will i be able to set up the new server by just downloading the database and public html folder?

[RandyE]

You should be able to do that. Those are the two most important things. If you have emails and want to keep all your logs, download everything. It really is up to you on what you want to keep.

no..no emails or anything..just a large bunch of articles..anything else is not necessary since i will not be running the site much for the time being..it was on a dedicated server but since i am not using the site..i thought i will save some money by shifting it to the shared servers

[RandyE]

Then you should be fine with a Database Backup and directory backup (correct me if I'm wrong). I've restored a couple sites that way before. Check with your host and make sure they support it first though.

[Harzem]

Is migrating bandwidth usage, error logs and access logs necessary? I am migrating a site from my dedicated server to a shared server with the same host. Since the site is being kept on the backburner for some time the only thing i want to know regarding bandwidth usage is with the new server. Will i be able to set up the new server by just downloading the database and public html folder?
No they are not necessary. If you don't feel you need them, just ignore them.
As said, databases and the public_html are the only crucial parts to backup in your case.

so just the database and the home directory are enough right?

[RossMAN]

Have you looked into a backup solution such as WebbyCart.com (http://www.webbycart.com/backup.htm) starting at $5/mo?
Since it's automated and server to server, your slow internet connection shouldn't matter.

[Rageki-John]

The full backup will contain all the settings from your control panel, email account, website, and databases. If you want everything exactly the way it was before, I would recommend doing a full backup. Especially since you are moving servers, a full backup would highly be recommend since once you transfer over your old host would most likely terminate your account and if you were missing some information, there would be no way to recover it.

[MH-Nick]

Ask your host to transfer your site in using the 'copy account' function in WHM. That'll solve your slow-download issue.
If you do it manually, as well as moving the public_html and databases, remember to recreate the database users and assign them again.

[CodyRo]

Talk to cPanel about it Any time we do a transfer of a client to our server we always go in and reset the bandwidth counter Just as when we restore an older backup we also reset the bandwidth counter to whatever it was before the restoration so that they have an accurate idea of their actual usage.
Everything needed to recreate the account as-is including access logs, error logs, emails, databases, etc...
I would download a full backup every *once* in a while but make sure you download your public_html and your databases regularly. The databases are likely the most important as the rest can be recreated in most cases.
Granted this thread is a couple days old, I figured I'd still reply:
Talk to cPanel about it Any time we do a transfer of a client to our server we always go in and reset the bandwidth counter Just as when we restore an older backup we also reset the bandwidth counter to whatever it was before the restoration so that they have an accurate idea of their actual usage.
Yes, you're right that cPanel migrates the usage statistics as well - but that does not constitute a full backup for a user (as it's not usually intended). It's more of a "gotcha" with cPanel.
Everything needed to recreate the account as-is including access logs, error logs, emails, databases, etc...
E-mail's, logs, and such are all on the hard drive tied to your account (typically in your home folder) - so when I said "anything on the hard disk..." it included access logs, mail, and so forth.
I would download a full backup every *once* in a while but make sure you download your public_html and your databases regularly. The databases are likely the most important as the rest can be recreated in most cases.
While I agree a full backup is nice occasionally, I personally prefer a bare-minimum approach as it can get to become quite cumbersome otherwise. For example in my backup I don't really want access logs, I rather have the data required to restore my website as quick as possible.
The tone of this reply may seem defensive, but I think of it more as a elaboration of my previous reply and the points you pointed out.