You should periodically create a backup copy of your website.
One way to do this would be to use the the Backup utility included with the Hosting Control Panel provided by your hosting provider.
Joomla! users may instead prefer to use a Third Party Extension like Akeeba Backup.
We like Akeeba Backup PRO.
Read more: Akeeba Backup User Guides.
About this Article
Akeeba Backup PRO includes lots of setting options for you to choose from.
Most users will not need to make significant settings changes, but if you do then be sure to refer to the developer's User Guide before proceeding.
Creating a Backup Archive is almost intuitive.
There are however a few basic settings tweaks you could usefully make before creating your first Backup Archive.
FIRST, purchase the Akeeba Backup PRO subscription.
Read more: Joomla! Extensions Directory.
Useful Setting Tweaks
Select the CONFIGURATION button from the Akeeba Backup dashboard to hide the One-click backup button from the dashboard.
De-select the check box.
Select the CONFIGURATION button from the Akeeba Backup dashboard to change the destination of Backup archives (recommended).
Recommended
Create a folder in the HOME directory outside of the PUBLIC_HTML (if cPanel) or HTTPDOCS (if Plesk) folder.
Purpose: to temporarily store Backup archives prior to download from the server.
The image below shows a backup directory called mybackups.
Use something similar and change the Output Directory field.
Reason
Whilst the default destination folder is protected by an HTACCESS file, this does not provide a 100% guarantee that your Backup archives will be safe if your website is hacked.
Select the CONFIGURATION button from the Akeeba Backup dashboard to review and change the number of Backup Archives to be stored at the destination (recommended).
The default setting = 3.
If left unchanged then when the fourth Backup Archive is created the oldest previous Backup Archive will automatically be deleted.
By default Akeeba Backup is configured to enable Administrators as well as Super Users to create and manage Backup archives.
But if you want to restrict access to only the Super User, you can.
Select the OPTIONS button from the top right of the Akeeba Backup dashboard.
And toggle the Administrator user permissions - see image.
WARNING: Take great care if you decide to make this change.
This System Plugin is NOT enabled by default:
We recommend you enable it in the Plugins screen of your website Dashboard.
Check this plugin is enabled.
When enabled it will create a Backup archive BEFORE the Joomla! Update routine runs.
Be aware of two important things when using the Manage Backups screen.
1) If you use the Delete Files button then only the Backup archive will be removed.
To remove both the Backup archive and the database entry, select the Delete button.
2) If you download a Backup archive using the green button provided in the Manage Backups screen then you should know that the Backup archive may be corrupted by your web browser whilst being downloaded.
To be sure that a Backup archive will not be corrupted, download it using an FTP Client.
Read more: How to download Backup archives using an FTP Client.
Restoring an Archive created using Akeeba Backup
Be aware before starting to use Akeeba Backup that to restore a website from an archive created using it requires the use of an extension called KICKSTART.
This extension is provided FREE by the developer.
Read more: About Akeeba Kickstart.
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