How to create a full backup of Concrete5
It is important to generate backups of your website regularly. This way, if something goes wrong on your website, you will always have a working copy that can be restored. The backup creation is a process that involves two main steps.
To generate a backup of your Concrete5 website, you need to:
- Step 1: Backup the Files
- Step 2: Backup the Database
Related tutorials for further reading:
Concrete5 configuration Tutorial
Concrete5 installation tutorial
How to manage users and create pages in Concrete5
How to install addons and themes in Concrete5
Backup the Files
The first thing to do is to create a backup of the files of your Concrete5 website. This can be easily completed using your favorite FTP client. The important thing here is to locate the exact directory of your Concrete5 website.
If you are accessing your website directly by entering your domain in the web browser, this indicates that the Concrete5 website is located within the public_html/ directory of your website. However, if you are accessing it via a subfolder, this means that you will find such a folder within the public_html/ directory.
Once you locate the directory containing all of your Concrete5 files, simply download the entire folder to your local computer.
Download Files
There are two ways of downloading your files to the server - using an FTP client, following our FTP tutorial, or downloading directly through your cPanel account > File Manager, following our cPanel tutorial.
Backup the Database
To create a backup of your database, you need to see it's exact name first. You can review that information via the main configuration file of your Concrete5 website.
Configuration File
If you are not able to complete that, we recommend reviewing our tutorial on how to locate and edit the Concrete5 Configuration file.
Once you find the database set on your Concrete5 website, you need to log into your cPanel account. Locate and navigate to the Databases tab and then access the phpMyAdmin service.
Select the database of your Concrete5 website from the list on the left-side of the screen.
Select the Export button from the top-menu.
Click on the Go button to export a dump backup copy of your database on your local computer.
Related tutorials for further reading:
Concrete5 configuration Tutorial
Concrete5 installation tutorial
How to manage users and create pages in Concrete5
How to install addons and themes in Concrete5
How to restore a full backup of Concrete5
You may need to restore a full Concrete5 backup if there is an issue with your website and you want to restore it to the last operational point. The actual process includes three simple steps.
To restore your Concrete5 Backup, you will have to:
Related tutorials for further reading:
Concrete5 configuration Tutorial
Concrete5 installation tutorial
Restore the Files
The first step of the process is to restore the files of your Concrete5 backup. There are two important things to consider here so pay attention.
Where would you like to restore the backup? If you would like to restore it to the previous position and access your Concrete5 website via the same URL, you will have to clear up the old contents of your website from the server and then upload the files from your backup. However, if you would like to restore it on a different location, simply create it and then upload the files in there.
Upload Files
There are two ways of uploading your files to the server - using an FTP client, following our FTP tutorial, or uploading directly through your cPanel account > File Manager, following our cPanel tutorial.
Is the location cleared up? It is important to ensure that the location, where you are restoring the Concrete5 backup files, is all clean. You need to remove all files that were previously occupying the same folder.
Restore the Database
The first thing is to create a new and empty database on your hosting package and a user for it. This user must have all privileges to your database.
MySQL Configuration
You can create a new database and a user assigned to it via cPanel. Simply follow our MySQL Wizard tutorial for information on that.
Once you create a new database, you are ready to proceed with the actual restore of your database backup. To complete that, please access your cPanel account and navigate to the Databases tab. From there, click on the phpMyAdmin icon.
Select the database that you have just created from the list on the left-side of the screen.
Click on the Import button at the top menu.
In the File Importsection, you need to select the dump backup file of the database that you wish to restore. When you complete that, simply click on the Go button below to proceed with the process.
Link the Files and the Database
By completing the steps above, you should have a location on your account, which contains all of the files and folders of your Concrete5 website. You should also have a database, which contains the backup of your Concrete5 database. Now, it is time to configure them together via the configuration file of your website.
Configuration File
If you are not able to complete that, we recommend reviewing our tutorial on how to locate and edit the Concrete5 Configuration file.
You can edit the file and enter the details for your new database using your favorite FTP client or directly via the File Manager service within your cPanel account.
Related tutorials for further reading:
Concrete5 configuration Tutorial
Concrete5 installation tutorial
How to manage users and create pages in Concrete5
How to install addons and themes in Concrete5
About Concrete5
Concrete5 is a free, open-source application. It is designed as a CMS (Content Management System) platform and allows you to build just about any type of a website that you may need. You can use Concrete5 for a social network, a blog or even a forum of people sharing similar interests.
Concrete5 is a well-established application, being active for a few years now. It has a strong community of people, dedicated to helping others using the script. Whenever you need assistance, you will always be able to find such in the community section of Concrete5.
To assist with that, we have also designed a set of tutorials that follow a number of the Concrete5 features. Following our tutorials, you will be able to build up your website from scratch and without any development knowledge as well.
System Requirements
The system requirements of Concrete5 are standard and not an issue for a shared hosting plans. Todhost provides a fully optimized hosting packages for the application:
- Apache 2.0+
- PHP version 5.2.4+, PHP 5.3+ (recommended)
- MySQL version 5.x
- JavaScript
Useful Resources
There are multiple places, where you can find information on how to use Concrete5. You can start by reviewing the ones we prepared for you:
