The words of the interface in a few sentences, in alphabetical order. Every term names the article that explains it in detail.
A to E
| Term | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| Backup | A backup contains the database and the files of your website, as the backup plan defines it. It is stored at one or more targets. | The “Backup” page |
| Backup plan | A backup plan bundles when a backup runs (rhythm and time), what it contains, where it goes and how many backups stay. An active plan runs on its own, a paused one only when you start it. | Backup plans: tile and form |
| Catalog | The catalog is stored at every target next to the backups. It names the website, carries the fingerprint of the installation and lists the good backups at this target. | The website has moved or is a copy |
| Check | Check backup reads a backup the way a restore would read it, and writes nothing back. The result: readable and complete, or damaged or incomplete. | Check a backup |
| Connection test | Test connection writes a small file to the target, reads it back, compares it and deletes it again. | The “Targets” page |
| Debugging | Debugging for 24 hours writes detailed lines into the log and switches itself off after 24 hours. | Get help: support report, troubleshooting and diagnostics |
| Diagnosis | Four jobs that check the server and the plugin without creating a backup. One of them is the probe run. | Get help: support report, troubleshooting and diagnostics |
| Disconnected | A target is disconnected when its stored credentials are no longer usable, for example after a changed database password. Backups skip the target until you enter the credentials again. A target with a sign-in at Google or Dropbox is disconnected when the provider no longer accepts the stored consent. There you enter nothing again: you click Connect again. |
Renew the credentials of a target Store backups in Google Drive Store backups in Dropbox |
| Exclusions | Rules for files and folders that never go into a backup, for example caches. The rules apply to the whole website and to every backup plan. | Define what gets backed up |
| Extended and Compact | The two views of every page except the Overview. Extended shows more tiles and fields; what you may do with a backup is the same in both. | How the interface is laid out |
F to M
| Term | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| Fingerprint | The fingerprint of an installation consists of the address of the website and its path on the server. It is in the catalog at every target. If it does not match this installation, the plugin writes and deletes nothing there until you decide. When setting up a target, the identifier of a certificate or server key is also called a fingerprint. | The website has moved or is a copy |
| Good backup | A backup with the status Complete or With warnings. Only good backups count for retention, at every target where they are stored completely. | When a backup fails or ends with warnings |
| ID | Every target has a fixed ID: the target type and a running number, for example local-1. The ID never changes, even if you rename the target. On the command line you name a target by its ID or its name. A backup plan also has an ID, for example plan-1. |
Manage targets with WP-CLI |
| Import | A downloaded backup comes back into the list as a file, on this or on another website. An imported backup is never deleted automatically. | Import a backup from a file |
| Job | A backup, a restore, a check or a probe run runs as a job: in many short steps. Only one job ever runs at the same time. | Progress, messages and log |
| Leftovers | Folders at a target that an aborted job left behind and that will never become a backup. The plugin cleans them up itself after every good backup. | Check backups at a target and clean up leftovers |
| Locked | A locked backup is never deleted automatically and is not counted for Max. backups. It can only be deleted by hand after Unlock backup. A lock stands in front of the date. | Protect a backup from deletion |
| Log | Every job writes its own log. What belongs to no job goes into the general log: connection tests, changed settings, the schedule. The log of a job is kept for 30 days by default. | Read the log |
| Main tile | The topmost tile of a page: a coloured edge on the left, a large symbol, a title, a few lines and below them the buttons. The messages of the page appear directly below it. On the pages Overview and Targets it is called the status tile. | How the interface is laid out |
| Manual | manual is the name of the group of backups without a plan. A backup without a plan exists only via the command line. The group has its own number: Max. backups without a plan. | Define how many backups are kept |
| Max. backups | This many good backups stay per plan and per target, default 7. When a new backup is complete and checked, the oldest beyond this number is deleted. | Define how many backups are kept |
| Maximum time per step | This is how long a step of a job works at most before it saves its state and ends: 5 to 20 seconds, default 20. | Adapt the plugin to your server |
N to S
| Term | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| Overdue | A plan is overdue when its last good backup is older than its rhythm plus tolerance. The tolerance is half the rhythm, at least 6 hours: a daily plan is overdue after 36 hours. | Set up email notifications |
| Pre-check | Before a restore writes anything, the plugin checks nine points. Every point ends with OK, Warning, Blocked or Not checked. A warning does not stop the restore, a blocked point does. | The restore precheck: every point explained |
| Probe run | A job without data that measures the server: how long a step survives, which task sources arrive, at what speed the work folder writes and how much memory there is. | Adapt the plugin to your server |
| Restore | A restore puts a backup back onto this website: the database, the files or both. | Restore the website from a backup |
| Retention | Retention deletes old backups so that the targets do not fill up. This happens after every good backup. The newest good backup always stays. | Define how many backups are kept |
| Rhythm | How often a backup plan runs: every 1, 2, 4, 6 or 12 hours, daily, weekly or monthly. | Schedule backups automatically |
| Rollback | After a restore the previous state is kept for 7 days. During that time you can keep the restore or undo it; after 7 days it is kept automatically. As long as a rollback is open, no new restore starts. | Keep or undo a restore |
| Root | A named area of the website, for example the database, the plugins or the uploads. A backup stores its files by roots; a restore puts every root where the website keeps that folder. | Define what gets backed up |
| Scheduler | A task source triggers the plugin: it starts the next step of a running job or makes the plugin check whether a backup plan is due. The plugin checks whether a plan is due on WP-Cron, on the wake event, as long as the Overview or Backup page is open, at the end of every job and on WP-CLI, including via a system cron. A running job is also continued by the self-request. None of them is mandatory. | Start backups on time: set up a system cron |
| Scope | What a backup contains or a restore puts back. In the form of a plan the field is called What is backed up; the default is everything. | Define what gets backed up |
| Self-request | At the end of every step the server calls itself. This way a job keeps running, even without visitors and without an open page. | Start backups on time: set up a system cron |
| Snapshot | With Back up the database as a snapshot, all tables are backed up as of the same moment, even if the export takes several steps. This applies only to tables of the type InnoDB. The default is on. | Backup plans: tile and form |
| Status of a backup | Complete: every target has the whole backup. With warnings: the backup is there, but for example a file could not be read. Failed: no target has the backup. Aborted: you stopped the backup. | When a backup fails or ends with warnings |
| Status tile | The topmost tile of a page when it names a state. On the Overview, colour, symbol and title say how the backups of your website are doing; on the Targets page, whether all targets are usable. | The “Overview” page |
| Step | Web servers often end a running PHP program after about 30 seconds. A job therefore works in many short steps: each one saves its state and ends, the next one continues there. | Adapt the plugin to your server |
| Structure only | Of a table that is backed up as structure only, the rows are missing in every backup. You choose this yourself, table by table; by default every table is backed up in full. Only the plugin’s own tables are always backed up as structure. | Define what gets backed up |
| Support report | A text for a request to support: details on website, server, plugin and the last jobs, without credentials and without server paths. Nothing is sent automatically. | Get help: support report, troubleshooting and diagnostics |
| System cron | An entry in the schedule of the server that calls the plugin regularly. The line the plugin names for this does so every five minutes. A system cron makes scheduled backups independent of visitors. | Start backups on time: set up a system cron |
T to Z
| Term | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| Target | A configured storage location of a target type with its own name and its own settings. You can set up several targets of the same target type. | The “Targets” page |
| Target type | The technique with which a target stores: Local folder, FTP / FTPS, SFTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3, S3-compatible, Google Drive or Dropbox. | Which target suits you? |
| Targets and space | A tile of the Extended view on the pages Backup and Targets. For each target it names the backups, the used and the free space, and for each plan the number of backups in relation to Max. backups. | Define how many backups are kept |
| Usable | A target is usable when its last connection test succeeded and it is neither disconnected nor removed. Only usable targets can be chosen in a plan. | The “Targets” page |
| Wake event | A one-off event that the plugin sets exactly to the earliest next run of all active plans. | Start backups on time: set up a system cron |
| Work folder | The folder of the plugin on the web server in which a backup is built. From there every finished part goes to the targets right away and is deleted in the work folder. | The “Settings” page |
| WP-Cron | The schedule of WordPress. It runs only when someone visits the website. If the website has no visitor and no system cron around the scheduled time, a scheduled backup is missed. | Start backups on time: set up a system cron |