Question about backups

[jefuchs]

I just signed up for my second hosting account. I plan to organize this one better than the first one, so the first thing I did was to create a backup of the empty account, in case I mess up installing components, and want to restore it back to the state it was before anything was installed.

Well, I did mess up. Not big, but I installed a CMS, only to learn that I should have waited until my nameserver was functioning.

Not a problem, I just went to the backup, and restored the empty site. But that's where I became confused. After the restoration, the CMS was still there, and the files were no different than they were before.

Is there something I'm not getting about backups? I assumed that restoring a backup would bring my server back to the state it was at the time of the backup. That's how it is when you restore a PC.

What am I missing?

[kazecoder]

May I ask who your host is? Are you on dedicated or shared hosting?

[jefuchs]

While you're mulling over your response, let me also ask this question.

Could I use a backup as a template for future websites?

It takes time to develop a site layout, and put in all its features. So I'd like to get all of that done, and save it in the form of a backup. Later, when I put up another site, I'd like to restore the backup from the first site onto the second server, and eliminate a lot of work.

The problem I foresee is that the backup might not work on another server because it's placed under a different account name, or even on a different hosting company.

So how can I get the kinks out of my design, and then use that to start new sites that need almost no setup time?

[jefuchs]

kazecoder

I use MoonSoft Systems. It's not a dedicated server.

[kazecoder]

When you say "backup" from a sever I think of putting a tape in a drive and performing a backup from the server console but if you don't have a dedicated server then this scenario is not possible.

However, once you get your website tailored the way want it use a FTP program and download a copy of all the files on your hosting server to your desktop pc being sure to keep the same directory (folder) then theoretically you should be able to upload that to the www folder of the new server again keeping the same directory structure.

Hope this helps.

[jefuchs]

My hosting company offers CPanel. which can create a backup via their browser interface. I click a couple of buttons and it created a tarball .gz file that can be used to restore the website.