It doesn’t matter how large or small the project there are a few things you should do before updating a new clients website. I always take an emergency copy of their site, a snapshot. You want to be able to roll back the site if anything goes wrong. When upgrading from an older version of wordpress to a recent stable version, or upgrading plugins, or installing new ones the client hasn’t used before you do not know what impact these changes will have on their database or site. Database corruption is one of my biggest concern, as well as security. You want clients to be on the newest version of wordpress if possible, as well as the newest version of the plugins that they are using. I create a backup of the following items before starting a project:

wp-config.php

wp-content

• uploads
• themes
• plugins

mysql database backup

wp-config.php

This is the only file that is modified from the wordpress core files that will get your site back online. Dont worry if you don’t have it, but be sure to capture the following information in a safe place in case you need to recreate it for your client. If you don’t have the wp-config.php file you will need this information to connect the database. If you have an upgrade issue or corrupted core file I delete all the files and folders except the ones listed in this article, re-upload the newest version of wordpress, and viola Usually.

wp-content folder

This folder contains the following folders:

• uploads
• themes
• plugins

The files that live in these folders are the heart of your blog. the uploads folder contains files you have uploaded for your blog such as images videos and wordpress updates. The images you see in posts, for example are kept in this folder. The themes folder contains all themes you have added to your wordpress installation, including your current theme. The plugin folder contains all the active, and in-active plugins that you have in your wordpress installation. For my personal sites i remove any plugins, and themes that I will not be using, this reduces backup time, helps keep the database nice and trim. Deactivating and deleting a plugin removes the values from the database, if the plugin is written properly. This reduces the mysql database which can impact load times for your wordpress website.

mysql database backup

Even if you lost all your themes, plugins and upload files, you cannot live without a database backup. This can tell you what plugins and themes were active at the time of backup as well as all the posts, pages, customized settings. With a database backup and wp-config information you can get your site up and running with the content and settings you had at the time of backup. I always go to phpMyAdmin and “optimize” the tables with overhead before creating a mysql backup. I also delete all records in log files when creating a backup or optimizing a site. Any log files older than 30 days contain data that can be replicated if the issues still exists. If you have updated your website or resolved issues in your log files you would want to clean these out to see new issues that are occurring with your site. Check the plugin documentation for log file information. Typically logs track visitors, error messages such as 404 errors and other plugin functions.