A backup is the thing everyone says “we’ll do later”… until the day the server breaks. Then one day of downtime becomes weeks of stress. Here’s a simple backup plan for a small business website. 1) What exactly should you back up? - Database (this is the most important) - Media files (images/uploads) - Configuration (env files, nginx config, deployment configs) 2) How often? Depends on how often data changes: - brochure / company site: daily is usually enough - e-commerce / active orders: multiple times per day - critical systems: hourly or more (if needed) 3) Where should you store backups? Rule: “backup on the same server is not a backup”. If the server dies or gets hacked, you lose both site and backups. Better options: - another server - cloud storage (S3 compatible, Google Drive, etc.) - at least one off-site copy 4) Keep versions (history) Don’t keep only the last backup. Keep at least: - daily backups for 7 days - weekly backups for 4 weeks - monthly backups for 3–6 months 5) Encrypt and restrict access Backups contain sensitive data. - store them with limited access - encrypt if possible - do not leave public links 6) The most important part: restore test Many people have backups, but never tested restoring. If you can’t restore, you don’t have a real backup. Quick test idea: Once per month, restore the database to a test environment and confirm it works. KeyTD approach: When we deploy, we usually set up: - automated backup script (pg_dump / file sync) - cron schedule - notifications if backup fails So you don’t “remember” backups only after a disaster.