The first WordPress backup plugin I’ll review is “Automatic WordPress Backup” by Dan Coulter for Volcanic Web Design. Why this one first? It starts with “A”.

What does this plugin back up?

• Database
• wp-config.php
• wp-content

Automatic WordPress Backup covers all the bases in terms of what it backs up – as you can see, you get a good deal of control over exactly what you’re backing up. All the important pieces are available.

Where does it it save the backup?

Automatic WordPress Backup only saves to one place – Amazon S3. As mentioned in What Should I Look for in WordPress Backup Plugins?, Amazon S3 is my first choice for where to save your backups. I recognize, however, that depending on your situation, you may want to save your backup somewhere else. Automatic WordPress Backup doesn’t give you that option – so if you want to back up to some place other than S3, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

How is the backup saved?

The backup is saved as a zip file in your S3 account. AWB creates a directory structure based on the url of the blog you’re backing up. In my case, the test blog I used is located at http://codesessions.net/tests/backups – so the backup zip file is located in awb/codesessions.net/tests/backups. The actual zip file is named according to the date it was created, so you should be able to pick exactly the backup you’re looking for when navigating S3.
As for the contents of the zip file – you get a few things. First, you get a full MySQL dump, which is very easy to import into your database using a tool like PHPMyAdmin. Second, you’ll get whichever files you chose to be backed up, in the directory structure they’re found in on your site currently. Lastly, you get a manifest text file with some information about the backup in question. Overall, exactly what I’d look for in the output of a good backup plugin – everything you need, nothing you don’t.

Will it run automatically?

Yes. You’ve got the option of daily, weekly, or monthly backups. The backup scheduler runs via wp_cron functionality, which has been known to be iffy on certain hosting setups – so make sure you keep an eye on it to make sure it’s running for a few days.

Do you have any control over how often backups are rotated?

Yes, AWB gives you options to delete old backups automatically. You can have it delete all backups older than a month, keep a monthly backup up to a year, and keep manual backups forever.

Does the plugin include a restore feature?

Yes – and it works great. Not only that, the plugin will automatically run another backup for you before restoring, just in case something goes wrong (or you restore the wrong backup). Keep in mind – because this is a plugin we’re working with, if the site is completely lost, you’re going to need to install wordpress, install the plugin, and then run a restore.

Does it work?

Yes. I tested backing up, restoring, and the scheduler, and all worked like a charm. As I mentioned before – keep an eye on the scheduler at first, because depending on your hosting setup, there may be some quirks there.

Other thoughts:

Some other notes about this plugin:

• AWB provides a great plugin requirements section that checks to make sure your hosting setup is up to speed to ensure everything will work smoothly. It’s a nice touch.
• AWB provides a functional (if unattractive) recent backups list. This makes it easy to make sure your backups are running properly.
• Again – AWB requires an Amazon S3 account. If you’re unwilling to pay for that, you’ll have to take another route.
• If something goes wrong when the plugin tries to fetch your S3 bucket information, things really go downhill. Instead of handling the issue gracefully, you end up with a page full of PHP warnings (depending on your hosting setup). This isn’t a terribly comforting situation. If you do see these (and I did, more than once), make sure your S3 credentials until the issues go away.
• When you first (manually) run a backup, it’s not entirely clear what is happening, if anything. It looks like that initial backup runs in the background (which is great), and the page you’re viewing updates with a small notice when the backup is complete. That’s exactly how I’d want it to work, but a more prominent notice stating that the backup is running would be helpful – on first glance, it appears nothing happened.

Overall Thoughts

Automatic WordPress Backup appears to be a great choice. There are some interface decisions that I’m not crazy about, and it gets a little rough around the edges if things don’t work exactly as planned, but it works, and does what you need it to do – and that’s the most important thing. I definitely recommend this plugin.

Have you used it? Do you have another choice? Let me know in the comments section.