Why it is Crucial to Back-Up Your VPS Hosted Websites

The safety of website data is very important to anyone that runs a site, especially those that have E-Commerce pages. Clients entrust their sensitive information to these companies with the idea that it will be well protected and nothing bad will happen to it. It’s distressing when something goes wrong with the systems and this data is accidentally lost or corrupted. For this reason, it’s crucial to back up your systems, which can be done to a separate storage VPS. But this isn’t the only reason why every website owner should do this.

Why are they necessary?

There are many ways one can lose all their important information. Everyone, even big sites, can encounter these issues:

• Page hacking
No matter if the site is big or small, there’s always a high risk of a cyber-attack. Every day hackers come up with new ways and tools to infiltrate a system and gain access to such sensitive things as login credentials, credit card information, personal data, and more. Some even up their malicious behaviour and make sure to completely crash the webpage. That’s why it’s vital to back up this data on a trusted, isolated storage VPS.

• Accidents
In the end, it’s the people that control what happens on their VPS systems. They choose what updates to implement, what files to transfer, and more. Naturally, they make mistakes that can end up in accidental file deletion and, in turn, a shutdown of a website. The consequence of this is a significant decrease in traffic, unhappy visitors and even serious monetary loss. Backups to storage VPSs help remedy this by being always available, thus users can recover the previous data and keep the site running without experiencing notable damages.

• Some updates can crash the site
Regular system updates are imperative as they install all the necessary latest features and security patches that ensure the performance of the systems. But sometimes, certain updates can create a bug which often results in slowed website loading times or even a temporary crash. Potential visitors are likely to click away from a page that takes too long to load. A proper backup in a storage VPS can help avoid this customer loss.

• Virus & Malware
Third-party software, themes, and plugins create an enjoyable environment to run your VPS site, and they have beneficial features for both users and visitors. But, downloading these kinds of applications from a shady page can result in viruses, malware, trojans, and other malicious software. These corrupt all the sensitive data and can even delete it. This can end with serious trouble for a company and a massive loss of public trust. Having your files backed up in a storage VPS will help avoid this situation.

• System disaster
No machine is completely secure from external, physical damage. Things like natural disasters or accidents, like fires, can happen in any place. Usually, one would lose data from this but thankfully, this can be avoided by backing up your information in a remote, secure place. Choosing a provider with extra security measures is also a must. Their data center facility should be built in following the Uptime Institute requirements and have such things as fire detection systems, extinguishers, fire-resistant walls, and 24/7 physical/video surveillance.

These are the probable causes of data loss, and they can happen to anyone, at any time. To avoid the serious damage these will cause, every user, company that runs VPS hosted websites should look into several options on how to back up their information.

Ways to back up your data

There are two main backup solutions people can choose from. Users can do:

• Full backups
These are done daily, and all server data is stored to a chosen storage VPS. Individual files can be recovered, but these are mostly used for full server recovery. They usually take some time to complete.

• Incremental backups
These update changes to the system files and their frequency depends on the user. With this, multiple restore points are created, so targeted data for recovery can be found throughout several backups.

Of course, the best option is to implement them both as they will ensure an easy restoration of whole system information and separate files. It’s strongly advised to automate these and choose several different storage locations to ensure the maximum availability of the backups. Automated backups can be done through Rsnapshot, a handy utility tool that takes periodic snapshots of your machines via SSH. Through the command line, users can choose where they want to store the copies and how many should be done.

Website data is exceptionally valuable, especially for those that run E-Commerce websites. Losing it or damaging it in any way can very easily result in the loss of clients, public trust, monetary loss, and it may even end a business. They can be protected with proper backups and increased system security. Implementing a good backup strategy and choosing an appropriate storage VPS will decrease the risk of experiencing these problems. It should be noted though, that not all storage solutions have backup services, but they can be ordered along with the usual VPS plan.