Beginning Drupal 8

Chapter 14 ■ Administering Your Drupal Site
Figure 14-5. The Manual Backups Directory and the file to restore
In this example, we could restore our system to the state it was in at the time we did the manual backup
by simply clicking the “restore” link for that backup file. If you have scheduled backups enabled and have not
manually backed up your system, the process described would be identical, with the exception of selecting
the “list files” link for the Scheduled Backups Directory. Clicking that link would reveal a list of backup files
that were automatically created based on the schedule that you set in the previous steps.
Restoring with Drush
Using drush from the command line provides a simple solution for those who are comfortable with the
command line. To restore the database only from a backup created using drush sql-dump simply execute
the following drush command from a command prompt while positioned within the directory structure of
your site (replacing example.sql with the name of the file you created using the sql-dump command):
drush sql-connect < example.sql
To restore an entire site from an archive-dump, use drush archive-restore , where
is the name of the archive that contains the code, database, and files.
Backing Up the File System
The Backup and Migrate module only backs up the contents of your Drupal database. The Drupal
installation itself, meaning Drupal core, all of the contributed modules you have installed, all of the themes
you have installed, any customizations you have made to modules, and any files that users have uploaded,
will not be saved by the Backup and Migrate module.
There are several options for backing up the file system:
• Simply copy the entire Drupal directory to another destination (for example,
download the site to your local PC if you are running on a hosted server).
• Copy the Drupal directory to a USB/CD/DVD if you are running on your local
desktop/laptop.
• In the case of a hosted environment, work with your provider to ensure that your
Drupal directory is being backed up often enough to ensure minimal disruption in
the case of a disaster.
• Use the command line and create an archive (e.g., tar) of the site.
Whichever scenario you choose, you should back up the file system on a frequent basis if users are
uploading and attaching files to content (even daily, just as you do with your Backup and Migrate schedule),
and in a case where you do not allow file attachments and uploads, it is still a good idea to back up your file
system on at least a weekly basis (due to module updates).
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