How to Create Secure FTP Backups in cPanel
Backing up your website data is crucial as you never know when something might go wrong. Although the web host normally takes measures to backup data, you should never put the fate of your important information in someone else’s hands. Who knows, a disaster might occur that takes down their entire network. If something like this happens, your data is gone with no way to recover it – unless you perform regular backups. Contrary to popular belief, performing backups of your website data isn’t difficult at all, especially when relying on a feature-rich control panel.
Backing up with cPanel
The backup feature in the cPanel control panel provides you with the ability to download zipped copies of your files from the server to your local hard drive. This can be copies of your entire website or home directory, MySQL databases, certain email configurations or simply a portion of your site. Keep in mind that you cannot schedule automatic backups of your site as this must be handled behind the scenes by the server administrator. With that said, let’s go over the steps required to manually perform secure FTP backups in cPanel.
Backup Instructions
- Login into your cPanel account.
- On the cPanel main page, locate and click on the “Backups” icon.
- From the Backups main page, find and click the “Download or Generate a Full Backup” button.
- Next, you must access the drop-down menu and choose where you want the backup copy to be saved. Your options are as follows:
Home Directory
Remote FTP Server
Remote FTP Server (Passive mode transfer)
Secure Copy (scp)
- Since you are looking to create a secure FTP backup, choose the “Secure Copy (scp) option and continue with the steps below.
FTP/SCP Settings
After choosing a destination, you will need to enter the following information:
Email Address – The email address where confirmation will be sent once the full backup is complete.
Remote Server (FTP/SCP only) – The name of the host server where the backup file is being sent. This could either be a host name or IP address.
Remote User (FTP/SCP only) – The username that will be associated with the remote server where the backup file is being sent.
Remote Password (FTP/SCP only) – The password that will be associated with the remote server where the backup file is being sent.
Port (FTP/SCP only) – The port of the remote server where the backup file is being sent.
Remote Dir (FTP/SCP only) – The directory name of the remote server where the backup file is being sent.
- After entering the required information, click the “Generate Backup” button.
You will then be presented with a message letting you know that once the full backup has been completed, a notification will be sent to the email address you specified.
After receiving the confirmation, click on the “Go Back” link. You should then see an entry in cPanel that reads “Backups Available for Download”.
That’s it. Your secure FTP is now complete. From here, you can download the full backup file at your leisure.
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