hourly WordPress Backup – you should skip certain tables from your DB

Warning: please consider this post only if you have advanced skills in DB backups. Else, data loss may occur. Do not implement this, if you don't have a daily full backup!

You have a full daily backup. The next logical step is hourly. However, doing a full DB backup, each hour can be a bit overwhelming for the server. Also, a full DB may contain data, that are not even relevant from hour to hour. So, why we advocate on not doing a full backup....when we're talking all day long about doing backups? Its simple: not doing any backups and doing full backups each hour are the far left and far right points of the scale. You should not jump from no backups to hourly backups. The implications, cost, and long-term repercussions are astronomical. Stick to simple, then expand to more complex.

So, again, you have a full daily backup. That works. That is stored in a safe place. The next logical step is hourly WordPress DB backup. When you implement this, take into consideration, that for this step not safety, but speed is the main factor. Yes, you want to restore. Yes, you do a backup to be able to restore. But, if you save 1 minute from each daily backup, then you eliminated 24 minutes per day from high load. If your backup takes 5 minutes (average runtime) and you save 50% (by ignoring specific tables), you shaved 60 minutes of high-load from your server's daily struggle. And this is most useful when your visitors are at peak times.

1. Logs

   You have a daily full backup. Then you can ignore logs. From security to user activity, everything. The argument is this: would you sacrifice your logs from the last backup to have a restore point better, than your daily full backup? Because you have your daily full WordPress DB backup and your last hourly DB backup. Your server crashed. Restore the full backup, then add the last successful hourly. Voila, you have sacrificed logs since the last full backup - to save everything else since the last full backup. Totally worth it, when you consider lost posts/pages versus lost logs.




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2. Statistics

   You have a daily full backup. Then you can ignore statistics. From visitors to ads revenue, everything. The argument is this: would you sacrifice your statistics from the last backup to have a restore point better, than your daily full backup? Because you have your daily full WordPress DB backup and your last hourly DB backup. Your server crashed. Restore the full backup, then add the last successful hourly. Voila, you have sacrificed statistics since the last full backup - to save everything else since the last full backup. Totally worth it, when you consider lost posts/pages versus lost statistics.

3. Comments

   You have a daily full backup. Then you can ignore comments. From pending to spam or trash, everything. The argument is this: would you sacrifice your comments from the last backup to have a restore point better, than your daily full backup? Because you have your daily full WordPress DB backup and your last hourly DB backup. Your server crashed. Restore the full backup, then add the last successful hourly. Voila, you have sacrificed comments since the last full backup - to save everything else since the last full backup. Totally worth it, when you consider lost posts/pages versus lost comments.