WP Backup (Auto)

Yes, I'd be happy to show you how to automate your WordPress backups using a Bash script and Cron! 🤖

This setup runs silently in the background and saves your backups to the destination you already established (~/wordpress-backups).

1. Create the Backup Script

First, we'll create a script file (e.g., wp-backup.sh) in your home directory or a dedicated scripts folder.

The Script (`~/wp-backup.sh`):

#!/bin/bash

# Configuration
BACKUP_DIR="/home/YOUR_USER/wordpress-backups" # <-- Update 'YOUR_USER'
WORDPRESS_DIR="/srv/http/wordpress"
DATABASE_NAME="wordpress"                      # <-- Update if needed
DB_USER="root"
DATE=$(date +%F)

# 1. Create the backup directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# 2. Export the Database
# NOTE: This will prompt you for the DB root password when run manually.
# For cron, we'll use a .my.cnf file (see Step 3)
mysqldump -u $DB_USER -p $DATABASE_NAME > $BACKUP_DIR/db-$DATE.sql

# 3. Copy WordPress Files
cp -r $WORDPRESS_DIR $BACKUP_DIR/site-$DATE

# 4. Clean up old backups (optional but recommended)
# This keeps the last 7 daily backups
find $BACKUP_DIR -type d -name "site-*" -mtime +7 -exec rm -rf {} \;
find $BACKUP_DIR -type f -name "db-*.sql" -mtime +7 -delete

echo "WordPress backup completed for $DATE."

Make it Executable:

Save the content above and make the script runnable:

chmod +x ~/wp-backup.sh

2. Set Up Passwordless Database Access

For the script to run automatically via Cron, it cannot prompt for the MySQL password. The safest way to handle this is using a MySQL configuration file (.my.cnf).

Create/Edit the file:
```
nano ~/.my.cnf
```

Add the credentials:

[mysqldump]
user=root
password=YOUR_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD # <-- Put your actual password here!

[mysql]
user=root
password=YOUR_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD # <-- Put your actual password here!

Secure the file: This file contains a plain-text password, so restrict access immediately:
```
chmod 600 ~/.my.cnf
```

3. Schedule the Backup with Cron

Cron is a job scheduler that runs commands at specified times. We'll use it to run the script daily.

Open the crontab editor:
```
crontab -e
```
Add the job: Paste this line at the bottom. It schedules the script to run every day at 3:00 AM.
```
# m h dom mon dow command
0 3 * * * /home/YOUR_USER/wp-backup.sh # <-- Update 'YOUR_USER'
```
- 0: Minute (0)
- 3: Hour (3 AM)
- *: Day of the month (Every day)
- *: Month (Every month)
- *: Day of the week (Every day)

The backups will now run automatically! You can check the ~/wordpress-backups/ directory the next morning.