JFB >> Security >> Database Backups

Unlike virtually every other existing free host, Jcink allows it's members to create a back up of their forum whenever they want for free. (InvisionFree requires you to pay a fee based upon the size of your forum to allow you to back it up. Proboards, at the time of writing this, simply doesn't allow backups. )

Backups are extremely simple and normally only take a few minutes of your time to do (depending on the size of your forum and it's database.) So every admin should back up their database every couple days. You should keep the resulting SQL file on record someplace (that is easy to find) on your computer. You should also add date and time to the filename so you'll know when that copy of the database was taken.

So to take a back up of the database:

1. Log into the Admin Control Panel (if not already done).
2. On the left panel, scroll down and click on: “DB Management”
3. Then click on: “Database Back Up”
4. If you’ve already made a back up before then you’ll have to delete it in order to make the new one. So, in the right panel, just click “[ Click Here ]” to delete it. If this is the first back up or you’ve already cleared the old one, then click the button marked: “Start Back Up”
5. It is important that you do NOT close that browser/browser tab until the backup has been completed and you are presented with a .sql file. (The page may refresh quite a few times, well over a hundred, this is normal. It means the back up is working and being compiled.)
6. Once the file has been completed, right click on the link and select “Save as” or “Save to” (depending on browser) and save it to a location on your hard drive. (Preferably one you'll be able to easily locate.)

This file contains every aspect of your forum. (And if you imported it into a MySQL server with a program such as PHPmyAdmin you could see every part of the site. Except for the passwords which have been encrypted.)

In the event that your forum is cracked and tampered with, having a copy of the database is extremely valuable to both the user and Jcink. Because then, all you need to do is email Jcink a copy of the database dump (following the instructions from here) and he can restore it all for you.

To make your backups as clean (and as small) as possible, you may want to -

• 1. Go through your board logs. Delete any logs that don't matter to you, old admin logs, security logs, store logs, etc. This will make the database dump significantly smaller.
• 2. Check your skins, delete any old skins and things you don't need anymore. Check your wrappers, delete unused content.
• 3. Possibly think about using the delete shouts from end feature to clear old shouts out, if you don't want them anymore. This too makes significant impact on the database size.
• 4. Possibly delete any spam posts made on your forum. (Especially if a lot have been made.)