Backup and migration: export, restore and move a site

The Backup & migration tab (Baza Helper > Backup & migration) packs your site into one .zip archive that Baza Helper can restore on any WordPress site, with the site address changed on the way. Export and import run in small steps of about ten seconds each, so large sites work too.

Create a backup

1. Open the Export the site card.
2. Tick what to include: Database, Media library (uploads), Themes, Plugins, Must-use plugins and Translations.
3. Give the backup an optional Name and press Create backup.
4. Find it under Backups on this server and press Download to keep a copy off the server.

Import or restore

In Import or restore you can bring an archive in four ways:

• drop it on the drop area, click to choose a file, or paste it from the clipboard. .zip and .sql are accepted; a plain .sql file has no manifest;
• Download from address: the server fetches an archive from a link you type;
• the incoming folder: for a large file, put it there by FTP or your hosting file manager and it is listed under Waiting to be imported;
• an archive already saved on this server, with Restore in the backups list.

Older .bbcz archives are still accepted. When the archive is ready, choose what to restore: Replace the database and Restore files, optionally Save a copy of the current database first.

Change the site address

Fill Old address and New address to move to another domain. Every occurrence of the old address in posts, options and widgets is changed, including inside serialized data, with the lengths recounted so nothing breaks. Leave both the same to keep addresses. The post guid values are not touched. A different table prefix is mapped, and roles and meta keys follow it.

What happens during an import

1. Files are unpacked first (checked for unsafe paths) into uploads, themes, plugins, mu-plugins and languages. The Baza Helper plugin folder itself is never overwritten.
2. The database is imported, with Baza Helper kept active right after the options table.
3. The address is replaced.
4. Roles and meta keys are adjusted to the new prefix and the rewrite rules are reset.

While an import runs, the site answers other requests with a 503 so nothing writes to half-imported data. The import is authorised by a job token because the users table is replaced.

Important to know

• The database, users and passwords of the site are replaced by the archive’s. After the import you sign in with the account from the archive.
• Multisite is not supported and is refused.
• FTP or SFTP push and pull, schedules and retention are not part of the tool yet.
• Backups are kept in uploads/baza-helper-backups, protected by an .htaccess file.