Websites with frequently changing content often require a specialized backup process. Typically, multiple site backup schedules are used to make sure files, media, comments, transactions, blog posts and other content are backed up regularly.

Watchful can now help schedule these specialized backup procedures by allowing up to three different backups to be scheduled for each site in your account. 

When to use multiple site backup schedules

For sites that do not change much, a single backup schedule once per day, week or month is probably sufficient.

But if your site is changing often, multiple backup schedules can be used to make sure the data you need is safe. E-commerce sites are one kind of site that typically uses 2 different backup schedules. Here are two backup schedules you might find for an E-commerce site:

• Weekly — A full site backup each week that includes files and the database. This backup will take some time and resources, so it’s usually performed when the site traffic is low.
• Daily — A daily database backup that only includes the tables with transaction information. This is much faster than a full-site back and can be performed at any time.

How to schedule multiple backups in Watchful

Adding a second or third backup schedule for a website in Watchful is the same as adding the first one. Start by editing the site details. Then, use the new add profile button (see below) to choose the backup frequency and other backup details.

Note that we recommend at least one hour between the time of day selected for backups. This prevents two backups from occurring at once.

Full details on configuring multiple backups can be found on our knowledge base.

Selecting a profile when backing up manually

In addition to scheduled backups, you may also back up sites manually from the sites dashboard.

If you have configured multiple profiles as described above, these will be available when you launch a manual backup session as shown below. Check out the documentation for taking manual backups for full details.

A premium feature

Multiple backup profiles is a feature of Watchful Premium. If you’d like to schedule multiple backups, please upgrade to Premium.