Site backups with XCloner

Watchful integrates with XCloner to help you manage and schedule backups of your WordPress websites from the Sites Dashboard.

Once configured, you can select a remote storage destination, schedule automatic backups, and start backups directly from Watchful.

Before you begin

Make sure that:

• XCloner is installed, activated, and configured on your WordPress website.
• Your WordPress website is connected to Watchful.
• You have administrator access to XCloner on your website.

If you have not installed XCloner, download the plugin from the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Before proceeding, run a manual backup from XCloner to confirm that the backup system is working correctly.

Configuring XCloner

Before configuring XCloner in Watchful, you should set up your preferred backup storage destination.

Although XCloner can store backups locally on your website’s server, we strongly recommend storing backups remotely. This helps protect your backups if the website or hosting server becomes unavailable.

To configure remote storage:

1. Log in to your WordPress administration area.
2. Navigate to Site Backup > Remote Storage.
3. Select your preferred remote storage provider, such as Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Drive, or SFTP.
4. Enter the credentials and other settings required by your storage provider.
5. Enable the remote storage destination using the available switch.
6. Save your settings.

You can configure multiple remote storage destinations if needed.

Before proceeding, navigate to Site Backup > Generate Backups and create a manual backup to verify that XCloner is working correctly.

Adding an XCloner backup profile to Watchful

Once XCloner is configured, you can add it to your site’s backup settings in Watchful.

1. Log in to Watchful and open the Sites Dashboard.
2. Select your WordPress website to open its site drawer.
3. Select Site Details to open the Edit Site modal.
4. Scroll to the Backup section.
5. Select Add profile +.
6. Expand the new backup profile and select XCloner as the backup plugin.
7. Enter a descriptive Profile name to identify the backup configuration in Watchful.
8. Under Backup Plugin/Extension, select XCloner.
9. Select your preferred remote storage destination from the available options.
10. If desired, enable the option to delete the local backup after it has been transferred to remote storage.
11. Configure the backup schedule as described below.
12. Select Save & Close.

The remote storage options available in Watchful depend on which destinations have been configured and enabled in XCloner.

You can create additional backup profiles if you need different backup schedules or storage destinations for the same website.

Running a backup manually

After configuring the integration, run a manual backup from Watchful to verify that everything is working correctly.

1. Open the Sites Dashboard.
2. Select your WordPress website to open its site drawer.
3. Select Start Backup to open the backup modal.
4. Select the configured XCloner backup profile and select Start backup.
5. Monitor the backup status and confirm that the operation completes successfully.

You can also select Add to backup queue if you prefer to have Watchful process the backup in the background.

See Choose a backup method in Watchful for details on manual, queued, and scheduled backups.

You can also open XCloner on your WordPress website to review the completed backup and confirm that the archive was created. If you configured remote storage, verify that the backup was successfully transferred to the expected destination.

Scheduling automatic backups

Watchful can automatically trigger XCloner backups according to a schedule you define.

In the XCloner backup profile you created above, locate Task scheduler and choose the desired frequency:

• Hourly — Run backups at a regular hourly interval.
• Daily — Run a backup each day.
• Weekly — Run backups on selected days of the week.
• Monthly — Run backups on a selected day of the month.
• Never — Disable automatic scheduling for the profile.

Depending on the frequency selected, additional scheduling options become available.

For daily, weekly, or monthly backups, configure the available day and time settings. Choose a time when your website typically receives the least traffic to reduce the impact of backup activity.

If you configure multiple backup schedules, avoid running them simultaneously. Leave sufficient time between backups for each operation to finish.

Select Save & Close to apply your changes.

Monitoring stale backups

Watchful can notify you when a website has not completed a successful backup within a specified period. This helps identify failed or missed backups before they become a problem.

After configuring your automatic backup schedule, enable stale backup detection for your website.

Follow the instructions in Monitor stale backups to configure the stale backup interval and notifications.

Set the stale backup interval slightly longer than your scheduled backup frequency to allow for normal delays without generating unnecessary alerts.

For example, if your backups run every 7 days, you might set the stale backup interval to 8 days.

Troubleshooting

If Watchful cannot start an XCloner backup, check the following:

1. Confirm that XCloner is installed, activated, and working on your WordPress website.
2. Verify that your website is connected to Watchful.
3. Confirm that the remote storage destination is configured and enabled in XCloner.
4. Check that the selected remote storage destination is available in the Watchful backup profile.
5. Verify that your remote storage credentials are valid and that sufficient storage space is available.
6. Run a backup directly from XCloner to rule out a problem with the backup plugin itself.

If backups fail or stop unexpectedly, review the XCloner backup logs for more information.

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