WordPress Backup Tool for WP Engine

A lightweight shell script tool to create WordPress content backups via SSH. This tool connects to your WordPress server, creates a zip backup of important files and folders, and downloads it to your local machine with a date-based filename.

Features

• 🔐 SSH connection with key or password authentication
• 📦 Automated zip backup creation
• 📁 Backs up wp-content/uploads, themes, plugins, and wp-config.php
• 📅 Date-based filename pattern: YYYY-MM-DD.wp-content.zip
• 🏠 Downloads backup to your home directory
• 🧹 Automatic cleanup of remote backup files
• 🚀 Lightweight shell script implementation

Requirements

• SSH client
• SCP client
• zip/unzip utilities
• Bash shell

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/nelsonmiew/tool-wp-engine-wordpress-backup.git
cd tool-wp-engine-wordpress-backup

2. Make the script executable:

chmod +x backup.sh

Configuration

Set the following environment variables:

Required Variables:

• SSH_USER: SSH username for the remote server
• SSH_HOST: SSH hostname or IP address
• SSH_PATH: Path to WordPress installation on remote server

Optional Variables:

• SSH_PUBLIC_KEY: SSH private key content (if not set, will use password auth)
• SSH_MYSQL_PATH: MySQL path (for future database backup features)
• WP_BACKUP_INCLUDE_ONLY_FOLDERS: Comma-separated list of folders within wp-content to backup (default: "uploads,languages")
• BACKUP_DEST: Destination path for backup files on the remote server (default: "~")
• BACKUP_TAG: Optional tag to include in backup filename (default: empty)

Example:

export SSH_USER="your-username"
export SSH_HOST="your-server.com"
export SSH_PATH="/var/www/html/wordpress"
export SSH_PUBLIC_KEY="$(cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa)"
export WP_BACKUP_INCLUDE_ONLY_FOLDERS="uploads,languages"
export BACKUP_DEST="~"
export BACKUP_TAG="production"  # Optional

Usage

Run the backup script:

./backup.sh

What Gets Backed Up

The tool creates a zip file containing:

• Folders specified in WP_BACKUP_INCLUDE_ONLY_FOLDERS (default: uploads, languages)
  • wp-content/uploads/ - All uploaded media files (default)
  • wp-content/languages/ - WordPress language files (default)
• wp-config.php - WordPress configuration file
• wp-includes/version.php - WordPress version information

Excluded from backup:

• wp-content/cache/ - Cache files
• wp-content/tmp/ - Temporary files

You can customize which folders to backup by setting the WP_BACKUP_INCLUDE_ONLY_FOLDERS environment variable:

export WP_BACKUP_INCLUDE_ONLY_FOLDERS="uploads,themes,plugins"

Output

The backup file will be saved to the destination specified by BACKUP_DEST (default: home directory) with the format:

~/YYYY-MM-DD.wp-content.zip
~/YYYY-MM-DD.tag.wp-content.zip  # If BACKUP_TAG is set

For example:

• ~/2024-01-15.wp-content.zip
• ~/2024-01-15.production.wp-content.zip (with BACKUP_TAG="production")

The script will display the backup file location upon completion.

Security Notes

• SSH private keys are handled securely and cleaned up after use
• The tool uses standard SSH/SCP commands for secure connections
• Remote backup files are automatically deleted after download
• No credentials are stored permanently

Troubleshooting

Permission Errors

If you encounter permission errors, ensure your SSH user has read access to the WordPress directory and write access to create zip files.

Connection Issues

• Verify SSH credentials and server accessibility
• Check that SSH service is running on the target server
• Ensure firewall allows SSH connections

Missing Files in Backup

Some files may be skipped due to permissions. The tool will continue and report warnings for any inaccessible files.

Contributing

Feel free to submit issues and enhancement requests!