We have been installing Open Source software for many years now, and we have been big fans of the whole approach. However, we have major concerns for our clients in the area of software upgrades and site backups. Many people create sites using a free version of the software, but then never backup their site or keep the software up to date. So, here is our advice.

Backups

Most hosting providers run daily backups of their servers in case it crashes, but you probably cannot get them to restore your individual account without paying a large fee. We highly advise running your own backups on some regular schedule in case you need to restore your site or parts of it. You can do them manually by copying the files in the web directory to your PC using FTP, then using a package like phpMyAdmin to export and download your database. Don’t forget that you need both the files and the database!

There are also addon extensions for some software that will help you automate the process. Search your software vendor’s website for these types of solutions or ask your web developer for advice.

Updates

Open Source vendors release updates for many reasons- security vulnerabilities, bug fixes, and new features. Sometimes these are a single click upgrade, however most times it takes a combination of uploading files to your server and running upgrade scripts. You also need to be aware of which extensions you have installed and how the upgrade will affect them. Be sure to backup your files and database first!

Migrations

Different from software updates, migrations are usually necessary if you are moving between major versions of the software. This is usually a more complex process and can require recreating many facets of your website. Here’s an example with Joomla.

Joomla 1.0 is an outdated and unsupported version at this moment. You should migrate your site to at least version 1.5, which is support through the middle of 2012. The process is to install Joomla 1.5 in a different directory, run a third party database migration script to move your standard Joomla module content, install new extensions and run their migration scripts, then install a new site template and reskin it and set all the content placement to the appropriate modules on the pages. Whew! This can effectively take almost the same amount of time as building the site in the first place. You do save the effort of retyping most of your content, though.

Conclusion

Keeping your software running properly and backed up is a necessary step for ensuring your web software continues to run properly and securely. Make sure you learn these steps and perform them regularly, or contact your web developer to see if they can provide these services for you.

We are organizing a list of topics to cover in our blog and thought we should give you an idea of what we’re working on. The list is divided into two categories that we know best- Web Site Building and Web Marketing. Give us some comments to best judge what you want to see first.

Web Site Building

• Web Site Building- CMS software
• eCommerce
• Customer Management- CRM and Service Management
• Web and Email Hosting
• Domain Names and SSL Certificates
• Support and Training
• Backups and Upgrades

Web Marketing

• Website Marketing Optimization
• Email Campaigns
• Search Engines
• Social Media

I finally started the blog I’ve talked about forever. I hope to give everyone some snippets of wisdom about all the online tips and products that will make your business work the web better.

Thanks for visiting. Come back often.

Bruce Letterle