phpBB Weekly #020
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In celebration of the 20th episode of phpBB Weekly, we have switched to a new recording strategy. Those who listen live on TalkShoe will not hear the opening/closing theme music, but instead the show will be recorded locally, and then I will edit in the theme music (and any other applicable sounds) after the fact and re-upload the show. This will result in a faster turnaround time for episode releases and much higher sound quality. Enjoy!
What’s the one thing that everyone tells you to do when you have an active phpBB board, WordPress blog, Drupal website, or anything else? Back it up! In this episode, I cover a number of different ways to back up your files and your database–some of the methods are phpBB-specific, and some aren’t.
For backing up your files, just download them to your local hard drive via an FTP client or your webhost’s File Manager. For backing up your database, phpBB2 and phpBB3 have built-in backup tools which work with all of the databases that they support. While phpBB3 has a good backup system, I recommend Vic D’Elfant’s SQL Backup MOD instead for doing backups of your phpBB2 database. However, the SQL Backup MOD is only compatible with MySQL, so that option is not available to other databases. In addition, phpMyAdmin has an excellent Export tool which allows you to backup entire databases (not just phpBB) with a lot of flexible options. cPanel also has a Backups section which can automatically download a gzip of a database backup. Or, try generating a Full Backup to create a tarball of your entire webspace, files and database included.
Whichever method you choose, remember to have a regular time to run these backups, and always backup your board before you install MODs or update phpBB, so that you’re safe if something goes wrong.
The MOD of the Week is Registration Stopper for phpBB2 by Fountain of Apples (hey, I don’t talk about my own MODs that often, this is the first time in 20 episodes!), and the Style of the Week is Brushed Metal for phpBB3 by Robin Huurman.
Also, a shout out and a thank you to the Star Trek Guide Forums, who will be promoting phpBB Weekly in each of their upcoming newsletters! Thanks for helping to spread the word!
