A target is the place where your backups are stored. Here you see the target types in comparison: what each one needs, how the connection is protected and what you have to watch out for.
A target type is the technology, for example FTP. A target is a set-up storage location of a target type with its own name and its own settings. The plugin does not create a target on its own: you set up the first target yourself.
The selection of target types
Open the Targets page and click Add target. The selection shows all target types.
- The target types that exist: Local folder, FTP / FTPS, SFTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3, S3-compatible, Google Drive and Dropbox.
- Dismiss closes the selection without creating anything.
If your server lacks something for a target type, it is greyed out and carries the label Not available on this server. Below the selection is the reason, for example a missing PHP extension.
- Not available on this server appears at the greyed-out target type, in the picture at SFTP.
- The line below the selection names the target type and what the server lacks for it.
The target types in comparison
Below the name of every target type is the link to the guide that shows the setup step by step.
| Target type | What you need | Connection | Special points |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Local folder Store backups in a local folder |
A folder on the server that the web server may write to. There are no credentials. | The plugin stores the backups in the folder. There is no login to a server. | You download only backups with a local copy in the browser. For local folders, the plugin knows the free space. A mounted network storage is also a local folder. |
|
FTP / FTPS Store backups on an FTP server (FTP / FTPS) |
Server, User name and Password. On the web server the PHP extension cURL, otherwise the FTP extension. | Port 21, for implicit FTPS 990. The default is FTPS with TLS. If the server does not offer TLS, the connection test fails: there is no silent fallback to a connection without encryption. | There is no anonymous FTP. FTP does not name the free space. |
|
SFTP Store backups on an SFTP server |
Server, User name and Password or a private key without a passphrase. On the web server cURL that can do SFTP. | Port 22. The connection is always encrypted. You confirm the key of the server at the first connection test. | SFTP is not FTPS: a protocol of its own on a port of its own. |
|
WebDAV Store backups via WebDAV |
Address of the folder, User name and Password. On the web server the PHP extensions cURL and DOM. | The rule is an address with https://. The plugin accepts an address with http://; password and data then travel in clear text, and the form and the connection test say so. | For Nextcloud, ownCloud, a web server with WebDAV, a NAS or a provider that offers WebDAV. If the account uses two-factor authentication, you need an app password there. |
|
Amazon S3 Store backups in Amazon S3 |
Bucket, Access key and Secret key. On the web server the PHP extensions cURL and DOM. | The connection is always encrypted. | The bucket must already exist; the plugin does not create one. It must not be public. |
|
S3-compatible Store backups in S3-compatible storage |
Address of the service, Bucket, Access key and Secret key. On the web server the PHP extensions cURL and DOM. | The rule is an address with https://. With http:// all data travel in clear text; the connection test then warns. | For every service with an S3 interface, for example Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, Hetzner Object Storage, DigitalOcean Spaces or MinIO on your own server. |
|
Google Drive Store backups in Google Drive |
A Google account. You do not enter credentials in the form: you sign in at Google and give your consent there. The admin area of your website must be reachable via https://. On the web server the PHP extension cURL. | The connection is always encrypted. The sign-in is brokered by the service auth.cloneworx.de, which stores nothing. | In your Google Drive, the plugin sees only the files and folders it has created itself. You choose the folder for the backups. What the plugin deletes is gone: it does not go to the trash of Google Drive. If Google no longer accepts the consent, the target is disconnected, and you connect it again. If you remove the target or connect it again, the plugin revokes nothing at Google: the previous access stays valid there. |
|
Dropbox Store backups in Dropbox |
A Dropbox account. You do not enter credentials in the form: you sign in at Dropbox and give your consent there. The admin area of your website must be reachable via https://. On the web server the PHP extension cURL. | The connection is always encrypted. The sign-in is brokered by the service auth.cloneworx.de, which stores nothing. | In your Dropbox, the plugin sees only its own folder under “Apps”. So there is no field for a folder. What the plugin deletes can still be restored in Dropbox for a while: 30 days or longer, depending on the plan of your account. If you remove the target, connect it again or delete the plugin with the switch that removes all settings, the plugin asks Dropbox to revoke the previous access. |
How to find your target
The target type depends on the storage you have:
- You have credentials for an FTP server: FTP / FTPS.
- Your provider gives you access via SFTP: SFTP.
- You use Nextcloud, ownCloud or another storage with WebDAV: WebDAV.
- You have a bucket at Amazon S3 or at another service with an S3 interface: Amazon S3 or S3-compatible.
- You have a Google account and want to store the backups in your Google Drive: Google Drive.
- You have a Dropbox account and want to store the backups in your Dropbox: Dropbox.
- You only have the server of your website: Local folder, preferably outside the website.
No cloneworx service in between
You choose the server or the service yourself. The plugin transfers the backups there and to nobody else. This also applies to Google Drive and Dropbox. Only the sign-in at Google or Dropbox runs through a service of cloneworx, auth.cloneworx.de: it brokers the sign-in and stores nothing. It never receives a backup or a file. More on this: Store backups in Google Drive and Store backups in Dropbox.
Why a target outside the website matters
If all your targets are usable but all of them lie in folders inside the website, the status tile of the Targets page is grey instead of green.
- All targets lie inside the website.
Below it, the tile names the reason: Backups on the same server, inside the website, are lost together with it and can be reached from the web if the folder protection fails. Add a target outside the website or on another server.
You have two ways to do this:
- A local folder outside the website. During setup, the folder browser starts in the home directory, the directory above the website. Backups there are usually not reachable from the web. But that is not necessarily so. If in doubt, check with your hosting provider or administrator!
- A target on another server. The target types FTP / FTPS, SFTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3, S3-compatible, Google Drive and Dropbox lead there.
A remote target can be public too
Make sure that nobody without authorisation can reach the folder or the bucket, for example via a web address or a sharing link. The plugin does not check this from outside: it never sends test requests to other people’s servers.
What applies to every target
- A target is usable only once its last connection test has succeeded. Before that, plans and backups do not use it.
- The backups are stored the same way at every target:
<folder>/cloneworx-backup-<code>/<backup>/. You do not create the folder of the plugin yourself. In Dropbox, the folder before it is the folder that Dropbox keeps for the app. - The plugin stores passwords, private keys, secret keys and the accesses to Google Drive and Dropbox encrypted. They never go back to the browser.
- Restore, check and finding backups read directly from the target, also from a remote one.
- Download appears in the menu of a backup only if there is a complete local copy. Backups that are stored only at a remote target you fetch with your own program for FTP, SFTP, WebDAV or S3. Backups in Google Drive you fetch in Google Drive, backups in Dropbox in Dropbox.
Several targets
You can set up several targets, also several of the same target type, for example three FTP servers. Where a backup goes you set in the backup plan. The free version allows two plans and one target per plan.
With your first target, the plugin creates the plan “Daily backup”. It is paused until you switch it on.
See also
- The “Targets” page
- Install and create the first backup
- Schedule backups automatically
- Download a backup
On the command line
WP-CLI not set up yet? How to install WP-CLI.
The list shows per target the identifier, the target type, the name, the state and the location. The last line names the target types and what the server lacks for a target type.
# Show targets and target types wp cloneworx-backup target list # Test the connection of a target wp cloneworx-backup target test local-1