Backups
If your site is on Concierge Cloud, it’s backed up every night, automatically, in several places. I keep 90 days of backups, with copies stored off-site in more than one location. You don’t need to do anything. Backups are the last thing you need to worry about.
Restores: Read This Before You Ask For One
If something goes wrong, I can put your site back the way it was on any day in the last 90. A full restore, or just part of it (a single page, a plugin, the database, some files).
The important thing to understand: a full restore takes the WHOLE site back in time. Anything added or changed after that backup disappears with it: new posts, edits, orders, sign-ups, comments, student progress.
So before asking for a restore, tell me:
- What broke, and roughly when
- What has changed on the site since then that you’d want to keep
Often there’s a better option than a full restore. I can fix just the broken piece, or restore only one part. I can even restore an old copy to a temporary staging site, so you can browse the old version and grab what you need without touching your live site.
Staging Sites
A staging site is a private copy of your website at a separate address. It’s a safe place to try a redesign, a new plugin or a big change, without risking the real site. Staging sites are included with every plan. Just ask.
A few things to know:
- Changes don’t flow to the live site automatically. When you’re happy with something on staging, I carry those changes over to the live site. I don’t copy the whole staging site over the top of your live one, because your live site keeps changing in the meantime (new orders, sign-ups, posts), and copying over it would wipe those out.
- Don’t put real information on staging. New posts, products, orders or member records entered only on staging can get lost. Real content goes on the live site.
- Staging can still send real email and take real payments. It’s a copy of your site, including its email and payment connections. If you plan to test anything that sends email or takes a payment on staging, tell me first and I’ll make sure it’s switched to test mode (see Connecting Stripe). Otherwise a test on staging can email your real customers or charge a real card.
- Staging sites are temporary. They’re not monitored or backed up like your live site, and I remove them when the project is done. Don’t keep anything important only there.
When Something Breaks
Before you try to fix it yourself, tell me in Basecamp what you were doing when it broke. That one sentence often saves an hour. See Making Changes to Your Site Yourself.