What Is ‘Auto Backup before Update’?

The ‘Auto Backup before Update’ feature allows you to create a backup of WordPress core files, themes, and plugins before you perform an update to them.

With these versioning backups, you will be able to quickly roll back a plugin, theme or WordPress to a specific previous version if the update goes wrong.

How to Enable/Disable Auto Backup before Update?

To enable ‘Auto Backup before Update’ option, go to WPvivid Plugin > Rollback > Enable/disable ‘Auto Backup before Update’ for a specific plugin, theme, WordPress, or all.

Then when you update a plugin/theme/WordPress, WPvivid Backup Pro will automatically back up the current version of the plugin/theme/WordPress before the update is performed.

So all you need to do is to click ‘Update Now’ button on the Plugins or Themes page.

Note:

The backup will be taken in the background, so you won’t see a backup progress on UI.

You can find and manage these backups from WPvivid Plugin > Rollback > View versioning backups.

How to Roll back A Plugin/Theme/WordPress?

To roll back a plugin/theme/WordPress, go to WPvivid Plugin > Rollback, choose a version that you want to rollback to > Click Rollback.

Once done, you will see a message of ‘Rolling back the plugin completed successfully.’

Note:

Do not close/refresh the page until the rollback process is complete.

The Typical Usage Scenario

At WPvivid, over the past two years, we have been requested by many users to implement the ‘database merging’ feature for a very similar usage scenario, which we think also is the most typical usage scenario for ‘database merging’:

” If I copy my live WooCommerce site, or any other sites where content is updated frequently to a development site, then while I am making design changes to the development site, the live site is also getting new data, i.e. contact form submissions or newly paid membership subscriptions, product updates, etc. After I am finished editing my development site, copying the development site to live will erase all of the new data that came to the live site.”

It has also inspired and motivated us to develop and launch WPvivid Merging to handle the merging live updates in that scenario. So now with WPvivid Merging, users can easily keep track of changes that has been made on the staging site, and merge only changes to the production site, without losing existing data on the production site.

Prerequisites for Database Merging

There is some preparation work you will need to finish for utilizing database merging.

1. Set Dev Site and Prod Site

Install WPvivid Merging plugin on both your dev site and prod site. Set the sites as a dev site or a prod site.

2. Connect the Dev site and the Prod site

On the prod site > WPvivid Merging, click ‘Generate a key for creating connection with dev site’ button. Then copy the key and paste it to the dev site, click Connect to connect the dev site to the prod site.

3. Set A Preview Site (coming soon)

This option is coming soon and will allow you to connect a preview site with the dev site, so before merging data to your prod site, you can safely test the merging and preview changes.

4. Install WPvivid Backup Plugin(it’s free)

It is highly recommended to use WPvivid Backup Plugin to quickly create snapshots for the databases, for example, before you create a database recording task or perform database merging. So if something goes wrong, you can quickly restore it back to normal.

Initial Synchronization of Databases

Once the preparation work is done, perform the initial synchronization of dev database with the prod database.

1. Migrate Files of Prod Site to Dev Site

Before syncing databases, migrate files of the prod site to the dev site. You can use WPvivid Backup Plugin(it’s free) for the migration. Related Doc: How-to: Transfer Your Site Or, you can copy the entire prod site (files + database) to the dev site, so you can skip the initial databases synchronization.

2. Sync Dev DB with Prod DB

After the files are copied to the dev site, on the dev site > WPvivid Merging > Click on the ‘Sync Dev DB with Prod DB’ button to start synchronization.

How to Perform Database Merging?

After the dev database is in sync with the dev database, you can start to create a database recording task.

1. What Is A Database Recorder?

A database recorder is automatically created and enabled after you create a database recording task, for keeping track of all changes including files and data queries of the site.

2. What Is A Database Recording Task?

A database recording task contains a full life cycle of a database recording, and allows users to merge all changes (files + data queries) recorded in the task to the prod site. Thanks to this task system, users don’t have to sync databases every time after a merging which is required with other merging tools, but only do a sync after multiple merging, which saves great time. A task will be automatically terminated and marked as ‘Merged’ after a successful merging, then a new task can be created as needed.

3. Create A Database Recording Task

To create a database recording task, on the dev site > WPvivid Merging, click on the ‘Create A Database Recording Task’ button. When creating a task, it is highly recommended to check the option ‘Create a snapshot for dev site’. With it checked, the plugin will create a snapshot for the dev site automatically. Using this option requires WPvivid Backup Plugin(it’s free) installed. It can take a few minutes to create a task, depending on how many tables and plugins(themes) of the site. A task will be enabled automatically by default upon creation. So, once a task is created, you will see it running on the Tasks Section. On this Tasks Section, you can enable/disable a task, view the task start Time, Escaped time(running time), how many database queries have been recorded and how many files have been added, and perform database merging. You can also rollback the dev site database to a previous point if you have created snapshots with WPvivid Backup Plugin. Note: The update of task information is not in real time, refresh the page to keep it updated.

4. Merge Changes from Dev Site to Prod Site

When you are ready to merge the changes from the dev site to the prod site, on the dev site > WPvivid Merging > Tasks section > Merge to,  select ‘Production Site’ from the drop-down menu. Choose to merge both Database and Files, Files only, or Database only. You can also check the option ‘Create a snapshot for your production site before merging’, which is recommended. After that, click on the ‘Merge Now’ button to start the merging. Note: Do not close or refresh the page during the merging process, otherwise, the merging will fail and the sites can be down.

WPvivid Database Snapshots allows you to quickly create snapshots of your WordPress database, and restore the database from a snapshot in 1-click.

Why Use A Database Snapshot?

A database snapshot can usually be created in seconds, which is much faster than creating a backup for the database. If you need a quicker rollback solution for safely testing WordPress database-related changes, use a snapshot.

Note: A snapshot contains database only. If you need to back up the full site or files, you can use our WPvivid Backup Plugin.

How to Create Database Snapshots with WPvivid Database Snapshots

1. Install WPvivid Database Snapshots

Go to your WordPress admin dashboard > WPvivid Plugin > Dashboard > On the Addons/Tools section, click Install button of the Database Snapshots.

Note: If you don’t see the Install button, make sure you are using the latest version of WPvivid Pro, also, verify your WPvivid pro license on the Addons/Tools section again.

2. Create A Snapshot

Once installed, you can find WPvivid Snapshots from the left admin menu of your WordPress dashboard. Click on ‘WPvivid Snapshots‘ menu.

On Snapshots tab, click Create Now button. Before doing that, you can enter a comment for the snapshot for easier identification.

Once created, you’ll see a ‘creation successful message’ in a popup. And you’ll see the snapshots appearing in the snapshots list, where you can view and manage all snapshots.

You can also set up a retention policy for the snapshots from the Settings tab.

That’s it. Now a snapshot of your database is in place, you can restore the database from it whenever needed.

How to Restore A WordPress Database from A Snapshot

To restore your WordPress database from a snapshot:

1. Go to your WordPress admin dashboard > WPvivid Snapshots.

2. On the snapshots list > Click the Restore button of a snapshot.

3. Wait for the restore process to complete and a successful message to appear.

4. Check whether the website works as expected.

Please check the disk space. Generally, the free disk space should be at least twice the size of the backup. Also, in shared hosting, the disk space should be shared as well.

A general solution to this error would be:

1. Removing the backup file from backup list of the target site.

2. Check and free up your source/target server disk space. Generally, in order to backup/restore successfully, the available disk space needs to be at least twice the website size.

3. Create a new backup of the source site, upload it to the destination site and restore. Or, upload the backup to the wp-content/wpvividbackups directory of the target site via an FTP client or a file manager, then click the Scan uploaded backups button on WPvivid to display it on the backup list then restore.

In the case where your storage provider only supports path-style, you will get an error of ‘Could not resolve host’, then you can enable the path-style option on the WPivivd S3-Compatible Storage adding page to solve it.

Option 1: Import the Source Site from Localhost(Web Server)

With this option, you can upload and import the source site that was exported to localhost(web server) to the target site to restore.

Here is our step-by-step guide on How-to: Import A Website from Localhost(Web Server).

Option 2: Import the Source Site from Remote Storage

If you have exported the source site to remote storage, then you can import and restore it to the destination site from the same remote storage with this option.

Before importing it, you need to connect to the same remote storage on the destination site.

Here is our step-by-step guide on How-to: Import A Website from Remote Storage.

Option 3: Import from the Source Site(Auto Migration)

This option allows you to import and restore the source site that you exported via the auto migration option to the destination site.

Here is our step-by-step guide on How-to: Import A Website from Source Site (Auto Migration).

Way 1. Export to Localhost(web server)

With this way, you can export your website to localhost in zip(s). Then you can download it to your computer and import it to a different site. It is the stablest way to migrate a website.

Before exporting, you have the options to choose what content to export:

• WordPress Files + Databases
• Database only
• WordPress Files only
• Custom Content

And add a comment to the exported zip(s) for better identification(optional).

Here is our step-by-step guide on How-to: Export A Website to Localhost(Web Server).

Way 2. Export to Remote Storage

Export your website to remote storage. Once exported, you can go to the destination site of the migration, connect to the same remote storage and import the site. It is a premium feature for pro users only.

Before exporting, you have the options to choose what content to export:

• WordPress Files + Databases
• Database only
• WordPress Files only
• Custom Content

And add a comment to the exported zip(s) for better identification.

Here is our step-by-step guide on How-to: Export A Website to Remote Storage.

Way 3. Export to Target site(Auto Migration)

Export your website to the destination site directly. It is the fastest way to migrate a website.

You will need to generate a key on the destination site first, then paste and save it on the source site.

Before exporting, you have the options to choose what content to export:

• WordPress Files + Databases
• Database only
• WordPress Files only
• Custom Content

And add a comment to the exported zip(s) for better identification.

Here is our step-by-step guide on How-to: Export A Website to Target Site (Auto Migration).

Once the site is exported on the Export Site page, you can go to the Import Site page on the destination site to import the site.