Update: all these Multisite features have now been released!
BackupBuddy, the 3-in-1 backup, migrate and restore solution from PluginBuddy has taken Multisite features to a whole new level. BackupBuddy now integrates the ability to migrate sites between, to, or from Multisite networks or standalone sites! You can now backup and move your site around freely whether standalone or Multisite. These features – which make BackupBuddy even more of a game changer – is now available in BETA. If you tried out our Multisite version of BackupBuddy, all features from it and many more are now merged into BackupBuddy itself.
Here are some of the new solutions you’ll be able to perform with BackupBuddy.
*Be sure to watch the video below to see how quickly you can move one site into another. The development team was even impressed!
With the soon-to-be-released updates to the Beta version of BackupBuddy, you will be able to:
Restore a multisite
Migrate an entire multisite
Migrate a single site into an existing multisite
Migrate one multisite into another existing multisite
Migrate a multisite into a single site
Duplicate a site within a multisite
Check out the video to see just how fast you can do this!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQgns5mQNB4&feature=[/youtube]
Stay tuned for more BackupBuddy Multisite announcements...
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Very encouraging and exciting developments with the new upcoming release! You guys rock.
The migration features will come in very handy.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for some individual sub-site backup/restore functionality for near future…
I’m really looking forward to this! The ability to migrate into and out of a multisite are exactly what I am looking for.
This is officially the kitchen sink of backup solutions and probably the best multisite plugin ever.
This sounds awesome! I think the extraction of a single blog from multisite into a standalone site will be huge!
Any idea if there is a limit to the size of the multisite install that this will work with? The demo seemed fairly small. Will it be able to handle a multisite with thousands of blogs?
An update everyone: all these features have now been released and are available instantly (as beta) in your Member’s panel.
Details on some things: http://pluginbuddy.com/5-reasons-to-love-backupbuddy-with-new-wordpress-multisite-support/
Thanks SiteSubscribe, Bill, Jason and Marty for the support!
Also, Marty, in the end, it all comes down to the size of the Multisite and how much your host’s configuration can handle the size and the processes for the backup. We can also always answer in detail on our forums after looking at your specific details.
Thanks again everyone!
Thanks Bes!
I probably would not be able to use it to back up the whole site then, but it still sounds like a chance to offer individual blogs a backup and export solution.
One other quick question…
Will site admins be able to select what is possible to export for blogs? For example, I would want to be allow users to export their content and all uploads but not themes or plugins.
If not, this would definitely be a roadblock for my use and I imagine others with similar sites. Do you have a public forum area for feedback and feature suggestions? I was not able to find a way into your forum?
Thanks!
Hi Marty,
Thanks for the follow-up question!
1 : You can offer feature suggestions or feedbacks in the Pre-Sales forum for now http://ithemes.com/support/pre-sales-and-other-inquiries/ We may create a new public category for feedback and feature suggestions.
Good idea suggestion, btw!
2 : Site admins will be able to export blogs without themes and without plugins via the 2 following options:
2A : Tools –> Export menu. This is the easiest option and available by default on all WordPress blogs.
2B : Disable all plugins, switch over to TwentyEleven, and then request the Network Admin to make the backup for them.
3 : Site admins will never be able to make BackupBuddy backups on a Multisite Network Activate. We have this rule specifically for the following reason:
Network Administrators have access to everything, and they are the user roles responsible for allowing any plugins, themes and having full security control over the network(s). That is the job of the Network Administrator user role in a Multisite.
Site admins are there to do stuff within the limits imposed by Network Administrators. That is the purposeful limitation of the Site Admins user role, built into WordPress, allowing Site Admins access to a lot of local things (including Tools –> Export) but not any important thing that can have privacy or security issues (Full BackupBuddy backups which will allow them to have access to all plugins or themes).
It would be a great security issue if Site admins were allowed access to BackupBuddy on a Network Activate Multisite option. If Site Admins want a specific backup (outside of 2A above), they can ask Network Admins and Network Admins can make/send those backups for them.
If BackupBuddy was installed individually on a site (NOT as a Network Activate), then of course Site Admins can do 2B above themselves.
Does that make sense? Please let me know.
Does BB’s multisite function currently give me the ability to backup & restore individual subdomain sites of my network? I’m not clear that this works yet…?
Bet,
Sorry for the delayed response.
A site in a network isn’t a site per se in the sense that it is a self-contained standalone WordPress installation. BackupBuddy pieces together a lot of information when exporting to create a self-contained site that can be migrated, restored, and/or imported.
Since this is the case, we just call the “Backup” of a site an “Export”, because it literally is in a way building an export file that you can use with BackupBuddy.
Since the site is part of the network, I recommend that you always have a current backup of your entire network.
If a site were to go south, you can restore the entire network. Alternatively, you can migrate the network to a development environment, export the site, and import/overwrite the site using BackupBuddy.
Additionally, as it has come up before, there will likely never be scheduled/automated “exports” of these sites.
BackupBuddy runs in the background when creating these Backups, and if a network has a dozen, hundred, or even thousands of sites, all of these sites could theoretically try to export themselves all at the same time. This will result in tremendous load on the server, suck up server space, and possibly amount to a huge bill if the backups were stored on a cloud server such as S3 and Rackspace.
Hope that helps!
I am tempted to buy your plugins. I like to ask about BackupBuddy. Can it export only users and blogs/comments and transfer to other server? The reason is I like to create a new theme and new plugins like new. I like to save users and blogs/comment to be transferred.