BackupBuddy Stash and Stash Live add even more functionality to BackupBuddy by adding secure, off-site storage for your backup files and real-time backup capabilities. In this post, we show you how to get the most out of BackupBuddy Stash and Stash Live.
The Difference Between BackupBuddy Stash and Stash Live
You may be wondering about the differences between BackupBuddy Stash and Stash live. Let’s break down a few of the differences:
BackupBuddy Stash
- BackupBuddy Stash is the secure, remote storage destination for your BackupBuddy backups.
- BackupBuddy, the plugin, runs a “traditional” backup and then zips up the backup on your website’s server
- Backups run when scheduled or manually initiated
- BackupBuddy then sends a zipped backup to BackupBuddy Stash server, using your allotted BackupBuddy Stash storage space (free 1GB for all BackupBuddy customers)
Stash Live
- BackupBuddy Stash is the real-time automatic backup service that works with the BackupBuddy plugin.
- Rather than traditional backups, Stash Live makes incremental backups and then sends files to Stash Live server
- Creates a “snapshot” of your site and a zipped backup on Stash Live Servers
- Continually monitors for changes to your website and then backs those changes up
- Great for websites that are large or have limited server resources (like if you’re on shared hosting). Stash Live was created to make it easier for sites to complete backups as the backup process is handled off of your website’s server.
When To Use BackupBuddy Stash (Traditional BackupBuddy Backups)
- You are not running an ecommerce site
- You post once a day or less
- Your server can handle zipping files*
*Many shared hosting servers have restrictions. Support can assist you with configuring BackupBuddy to work with your hosting environment.
3 Steps Every BackupBuddy User Should Take
1. License BackupBuddy
To license BackupBuddy, log in to your WordPress admin dashboard. After installing and activating BackupBuddy, navigate to Settings > Appearance > iThemes Licensing. Select your iThemes Product from the list, and then enter your iThemes username and password, then click License Products.
2. Update BackupBuddy
To update BackupBuddy, log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and visit. Dashboard > Updates. If a new version of BackupBuddy is available, click the update now link in to the version update notice.
3. Download importbuddy.php
From your WordPress admin dashboard, visit BackupBuddy’s Restore/Migrate page. Click Download importbuddy.php, enter a password, then click OK.
How to Set up BackupBuddy Stash
1. Go to Dashboard >BackupBuddy > Remote Destinations. Select BackupBuddy Stash (v3).
2. Enter your iThemes Username and click Submit.
Enter a Destination Name. Select the number of backups you’d like to store, of each type. Click Add Destination.
Go to BackupBuddy > Schedules. Name your Schedule and select the Backup Profile. Click + Add New Destination +.
Select your Stash Destination. Click Add New Destination +.
Check the box to delete local backup file (You’ll want to save server disk space!) Click + Add New Schedule.
Go to BackupBuddy > Remote Destinations. You will see the backup has run and been successfully sent to Stash.
How to Set up Stash Live
Go to Dashboard >BackupBuddy > Stash Live.
Enter your iThemes username and password. Click Save Settings and Start Backup.
Your Stash Live Snapshot will begin.
Why? The extreme time difference is caused by the overhead needed for sending individual files. There is a great deal of overhead for each and every file transfer. Since we are sending thousands of files instead of a single file, it takes much longer. Each file sent may take 1 or 2 seconds even for the smallest of files. This adds up when multiplied by thousands of files. Stash Live uses BackupBuddy’s Cron Kicker to keep the files moving along. Site activity or staying logged in on the Stash Live page will help guarantee that the Cron Kicker is moving the process along. Additionally, if no one is accessing the website and initiating crons, there’s no way for the Stash Live process to run itself. To combat this, we’ll periodically load your website when Stash Live is running to help keep the process going. However, this access is not made as often as it if you had the Stash Live page open.
Once your Snapshot is complete, Stash Live will begin monitoring your site watching for changes.
You can see available Snapshots in two places:
BackupBuddy > Stash Live
And from your Sync dashboard > Stash. (Login to the Sync dashboard here.)
Click on View Files next to the site you need to manually create a Snapshot for.
Click Create Snapshot. This will create a new Snapshot; you can also rescan the site and create a new Snapshot.
Download the Slides: Getting the Most Out of BackupBuddy Stash & Stash Live
Get BackupBuddy now
Each week, the team at iThemes team publishes new WordPress tutorials and resources, including the Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report. Since 2008, iThemes has been dedicated to helping you build, maintain, and secure WordPress sites for yourself or for clients. Our mission? Make People’s Lives Awesome.
