Best Practices Before Doing an Addon Update

We frequently release updates for our addons, which may include new features or essential security patches. To safeguard your website from potential disruptions or unexpected errors during or after the update, it’s crucial to create a backup.

In this tutorial, we’ll go through various ways you can do a backup of your whole site. We’ll also cover how you can backup the current version of an EventON addon before an update in case backing up your whole website is not an option.

Let’s get started.

1. Full Site Backup

There are three primary methods to backup your entire website:

1. Using a Plugin: This method allows you to easily backup your site directly from your website’s dashboard.
2. Through Your Hosting Dashboard: This is a more direct approach, where you can backup your site from the control panel provided by your hosting provider.
3. Using FTP: This is a manual approach where you download copies of plugins and themes and store them locally on your computer.

Using a Plugin

Backing up your WordPress site using a plugin is a straightforward and efficient method, especially for those who may not be technically inclined. Plugins are designed to automate the backup process, ensuring that all your website data, including posts, pages, comments, and settings, are safely stored. While many backup plugins are available for free, some offer advanced features, such as off-site cloud storage, which come with a price tag. To get started, simply install and activate your chosen backup plugin from the WordPress repository. Here are a couple of plugins that you can use for this purpose:

1. UpdraftPlus: This plugin allows you to backup and restore your website with ease. Please go through this guide for more details about the process.
2. BackupBuddy: This plugin offers scheduled backups, off-site storage options, and more. Please go through this guide for more details.
3. Duplicator: This plugin not only helps in backing up but also in migrating WordPress sites. Please go through this guide for more details.
4. VaultPress (now part of Jetpack): This plugin provides a subscription-based protection, security, and backup service. Please go through this guide for more details.
5. BackWPup: This plugin offers a free and premium version that supports backups to Google Drive, Rackspace Cloud, SugarSync, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Glacier. Please go through this guide for more details.

Using Your Hosting Dashboard

To backup your WordPress website via the hosting dashboard, first, log in to your hosting account’s control panel. Most hosting providers, like Bluehost, SiteGround, or cPanel-based hosts, offer a “Backup” or “Backup Wizard” option. Navigate to this section, and you’ll typically find options to create a full website backup, which includes all files, databases, and configurations. For the purpose of this tutorial, you can backup your files ONLY before doing the update and perform a restore through the wizard if anything breaks after an update. Here are some tutorials from the most common hosts:

1. How to backup with SiteGround
2. How to backup with GoDaddy
3. How to backup with Hostinger
4. How to backup with Bluehost
5. How to backup with Hostgator
6. How to backup with WPEngine

Using FTP

To backup your entire website using FTP (File Transfer Protocol), you’ll first need an FTP client like FileZilla or Cyberduck. You can find your FTP login credentials from your hosting dashboard. After connecting to your website using your FTP credentials, navigate to the root directory of your site. From here, select all files and directories and download them to your local computer. This process effectively creates a local backup of your website.

For added security, it’s wise to store this backup on an external hard drive or a secure cloud storage service. You can perform a local backup anytime you are updating EventON or WordPress.

2. Backing Up a Single EventON Addon

In certain situations, you might want to avoid the hassle and time-consuming process of backing up your entire website just for a single addon update. In these instances, there are two primary methods to backup the addon itself:

1. Using a plugin: You can install a plugin on your WordPress site to facilitate the download of the plugin from your dashboard.
2. Using FTP: You can connect to your site via FTP and create an archive of the addon or clone and rename the addon.

Using a plugin

You can install the WP File Manager plugin on your site and use this to navigate the file system on your site and download copies of the installed plugins on your site. Please follow these steps:

• Install and activate WP File Manager by going to WP Dashboard > Plugins > Add New.
• Once the plugin is activated, navigate to WP File Manager and go to the public/wp-content/plugins folder as shown below:

• Select the plugin/addon that you’d like to backup, right-click, and select Download from the context menu as shown below:

• This will download a zipped copy of the addon which you can store locally on your computer.
• Alternatively, you can select the option to Create archive and store the backed-up version in the same wp-content folder. In case an issue arises, you can delete the plugin folder and unzip the backup.
• Go ahead and update the addon, if anything breaks, you are covered and you can easily roll back to the downloaded version by deleting the installed copy and installing the old version.

Alternatively, you can install the Download Plugin from the WordPress repository and use it to download any EventON in just a few clicks. You can follow these steps:

• Install and activate WP File Manager by going to WP Dashboard > Plugins > Add New.
• Once the plugin is installed, go to WP Dashboard > Plugins and click the Download link to generate a zipped copy of the addon. Here is a screenshot:

Using FTP

You can download a copy of one of your installed EventON addons by following these steps:

Access cPanel:

• Open your web browser and navigate to your website’s cPanel login URL. Typically, it’s in the format: http://yourwebsite.com/cpanel or https://cpanel.yourwebsite.com.
• Enter your cPanel username and password to log in. Please get in touch with your host if you would like help getting these credentials.

Navigate to the File Manager App:

• Once logged in, look for the “File Manager” icon and click on it. This will open the file directory of your website.

Locate the Plugin Directory:

• In the File Manager, navigate to the public_html directory (or the directory where your WordPress is installed).
• Inside, locate and open the wp-content folder.
• Within this folder, locate the addon that you want to backup.

Download the Plugin:

• Right-click on the plugin folder and select “Compress” from the dropdown menu. Choose the “Zip” format and give the compressed file a name if you wish.
• Once the zipping process is complete, right-click on the newly created zip file and select “Download.”

Store Safely:

• Save the downloaded zip file to a secure location on your computer or an external storage device.

And that’s it! You’ve successfully downloaded a zipped version of a WordPress plugin from cPanel. In case any issue arises after the update, you can roll back by deleting the currently installed version of the addon and installing the backup copy.