What must a website backup contain?
A complete backup needs everything required to recreate the working website. For a typical content-managed site, that means the database and the website files. The database often holds pages, settings, users, orders or form records; files include the application code, themes, plugins, configuration and uploaded media.
Some parts may already be reproducible from source control or a deployment system. That is useful, but it does not usually replace changing content, customer data, uploads and environment-specific configuration. Document what is backed up and what must be rebuilt elsewhere.
How often should you back up a website?
Base frequency on the acceptable data loss, not a generic schedule. A brochure website updated monthly may need a different plan from a shop taking orders throughout the day.
| Question | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| How often does content or data change? | The maximum interval between automatic backups that may be sensible. |
| What happened since the last backup? | What could be lost: edits, enquiries, bookings, orders, accounts or configuration. |
| How quickly must the site return? | Whether the restore process, access and people can meet the required recovery time. |
| Could a fault go unnoticed? | Why several daily, weekly or monthly recovery points may be safer than one overwritten copy. |
Very frequent database changes may need technology beyond a nightly archive. Equally, keeping minute-by-minute copies of a largely static site can add cost without meaningful benefit.
How many backups should you retain, and where?
Keep enough recovery points to cover both obvious failures and problems discovered later. A single backup that is replaced every night may also copy a damaged or unwanted change before anyone notices.
At least one copy should be separate from the live hosting environment and protected by appropriate access controls. If the live server and its only backup share the same account, credentials or storage failure, they may be lost together. The NCSC advises keeping backups separate and restricting access to them.
When do you need automatic and manual backups?
Automatic backups
Protect routine changes on a consistent schedule. They should report failures and retain enough history for the recovery plan.
Pre-change backups
Create a known recovery point before a substantial update, migration, import or release. Confirm that it completed before work begins.
A manual download to one person's computer is difficult to operate as the main plan. It can be a useful additional copy for a planned change, provided it is stored and deleted appropriately.
What should a website restore plan define?
- Which files, databases, configuration and external data are covered.
- Backup frequency, retention periods and storage locations.
- Who receives and acts on backup-failure alerts.
- Who can authorise and perform a restore.
- How credentials and encryption keys needed for recovery are accessed.
- How often a representative restore is tested.
- Which pages, forms, orders, bookings and integrations are checked afterwards.
- What the hosting or maintenance agreement excludes.
Restore ownership is one of the practical differences to clarify when comparing website hosting and maintenance. A hosting snapshot may protect infrastructure while website-level recovery remains your responsibility.
Do managed hosting and maintenance include backups?
They often include some form of backup, but the term alone does not define frequency, retention, location, coverage or restore assistance. Ask for those details in writing and confirm whether restoring the site is included or charged separately.
The comparison of cheap hosting and managed hosting explains why responsibility matters as much as infrastructure. Probeck's Hosting & Support and Website Maintenance & Support services can define the backup and recovery work appropriate to the website.