B&T's Tips & Scripts
How did you find this site?
  Search engine25 % 
  My webhost27 % 
  Another website29 % 
  Referral13 % 
  Other6 % 
The last vote was cast today
B&T's Tool Box
Password Generation
Length of Password
Include Numbers
Include Uppercase Letters
Include Lowercase Letters
Include Special Characters
Password Encryption for .htpasswd
Username
Password
Check HTTP status code
enter full url to be checked
Domain Name / IP Resolution
enter Domain Name or IP Address

B&T's Recommendations

Site5.com

Got (or getting) a Mac?

AppleChronicles.com

Helpful Links to Other Sites

PHP Documentation
Apache Server Documentation
MySQL Reference Manual
W3C Page Validation Tools
View your site in other browsers
American Registry for IP Numbers
Test Your Firewall
Test Your Connection Speed

B&T's Tips & Scripts is a collection of Tips & Scripts to help you build a better website.  The Tips & Scripts are targeted towards the native Apache PHP MySQL environment.  Check back frequently as there will be additions and modifications.  Please check our terms of use.
B&T's Tips & Scripts is a safe website.
No pop-up ads and no evil downloads.
Search Tips & Scripts
as current the latest index of this site
Tag Definitions Date - most recent update
- for advanced users
- topic rating
php5 - requires php5 or later
Have you had enough programming and website building for a while?
Need a break to clear your mind?
Go to PrettyWorthless.com, where you will find nothing of value.


   Using .htaccess  

  1. .htaccess Basics Mar 9, 2006
  2. Domain & subdomain pointing May 12, 2005
  3. Automatic subdomains Jun 17, 2007
  4. Undefined subdomains Jul 20, 2008
  5. Prevent direct access to a pointer or subdomain directory Aug 15, 2006
  6. Forcing or eliminating the WWW. Feb 9, 2005
  7. Fixing the trailing slash problem May 11, 2005
  8. Friendly URLs Mar 21, 2007
  9. Rewrites and https Dec 18, 2007
  10. Blocking traffic to your website Jan 2, 2005
  11. Anti-leech May 25, 2005
  12. Fancy default index page Jan 25, 2005


   Using .htaccess/.htpasswd Password Protection  

  1. Setting up password protection Feb 9, 2005
  2. Encrypt your password for .htpasswd Dec 21, 2007
  3. Auto Password Change and Email Notification Dec 21, 2007 php5
  4. Auto generate .htpasswd file Dec 18, 2007 php5
  5. Passing user authentication information to PHP Jun 13, 2004


   Coding Tips  

  1. HTML "One Liners" Nov 13, 2005
  2. PHP "One Liners" Apr 5, 2007
  3. JavaScript "One Liners" Aug 25, 2007
  4. CSS examples Sep 9, 2006
  5. SQL coding examples Aug 29, 2006
  6. AJAX example Sep 24, 2006


   Uploads and Downloads  

  1. File Upload Script Dec 20, 2007 php5
  2. Custom Download Page Dec 14, 2007 php5
  3. Tracking and Securing Downloads Dec 20, 2007 php5


   Mail  

  1. Form Mail Aug 19, 2007
  2. Obfuscate your email address Nov 12, 2006
  3. Read and auto-process mail Nov 12, 2004
  4. Auto-responder Dec 18, 2007 php5
  5. Display your email message count Jul 30, 2004
  6. Setting up SPF Records Jan 4, 2007
  7. Specify a return-path for generated mail Jul 18, 2006


   Working with Images  

  1. Watermark images Jul 14, 2007
  2. Resize images (create thumbnails) Jul 14, 2007


   Frequently Requested Website Functionality  

  1. Visitor Counter Dec 14, 2007 php5
  2. 404 Error Page (with reporting and logging) Dec 20, 2007 php5
  3. CAPTCHA Aug 19, 2006
  4. Poll (voting) Dec 17, 2007 php5   see it on this page
  5. Weather Jul 27, 2008 php5
  6. FAQ Page May 23, 2005
  7. Random/weighted banners, quotes & more Feb 9, 2005
  8. Load a random image (simple) Jan 20, 2004
  9. Image (banner) rotation Oct 15, 2007
  10. Simple "members only" pages May 13, 2005
  11. Replace banned words Apr 5, 2007
  12. Get the most recent file date Jan 30, 2006
  13. Moving (bouncing) Image Nov 10, 2005
  14. Sticky default values for an input Oct 22, 2006


   Using PHP  

  1. Creating a custom php.ini file Dec 18, 2007 php5
  2. Copying the php.ini file Dec 18, 2007 php5
  3. Deleteing php.ini files Dec 18, 2007 php5
  4. Clean up your PHP scripts Nov 11, 2005
  5. Regular Expression Rules Mar 22, 2006


   Website Managment  

  1. Tips for keeping your website secure Jan 24, 2006
  2. Using Cron Sep 13, 2005
  3. Website Monitoring Dec 19, 2007
  4. Automated Site Backups Dec 19, 2007
  5. Automated MySQL Backups Dec 19, 2007
  6. Server-to-server file transfer December 16, 2006
  7. MySQL Error Notification Dec 20, 2007
  8. Find File and Directory Sizes Dec 14, 2007 php5
  9. Deleting session files Aug 9, 2006
  10. FTP made easy Mar 1, 2006
  11. Search and Replace Dec 14, 2007 php5


   Other Tips  

  1. URL Validation Feb 8, 2008
  2. Stop direct links to web pages Jan 22, 2004
  3. Ensure your page is not opened in a frame May 5, 2005
  4. Masking your URL in the Address Bar Jul 20, 2004
  5. Ban or allow IP Addresses (without using .htaccess) Jan 19, 20008
  6. Using Cookies Sep 24, 2006
  7. View your website in different resolutions Jan 2, 2005
 

Back to Top     Print this Tip

Automated Site Backups

Here is a php script that will create a compressed backup of your website files, creating a different file each day for a month (then start over) so you have 30 days of backups.  It will email you with a backup confirmation.  Run it every night using cron to kick it off.  You should download the backup files from the server on a regular basis.

You can download this script as a .txt file.  Remember to rename the file as a .php file.

- - Start Script Here - -
<?php
$emailaddress = "XXXXXX@yourdomain.com";
$path = "/full_server_path_to_file_goes_here"; // full server path to the directory where you want the backup files (no trailing slash)
// modify the above values to fit your environment
$target = $path . "/backup" . date(d) . ".tar.gz";
if (file_exists($target)) unlink($target);
system("tar --create --preserve --gzip  --file=".$target." ~/public_html ~/mail",$result);
$size = filesize($target);
switch ($size) {
  case ($size>=1048576): $size = round($size/1048576) . " MB"; break;
  case ($size>=1024);    $size = round($size/1024) . " KB"; break;
  default:               $size = $size . " bytes"; break;
}
$message = "The website backup has been run.\n\n";
$message .= "The return code was: " . $result . "\n\n";
$message .= "The file path is: " . $target . "\n\n";
$message .= "Size of the backup: " . $size . "\n\n";
$message .= "Server time of the backup: " . date(" F d h:ia") . "\n\n";
mail($emailaddress, "Website Backup Message" , $message, "From: Website <>"); 
?>
- - End Script Here - -

If you want to exclude a directory, add the --exclude parm to the tar command as shown in the example below (which will exlcude the public_html/audio directory):
system("tar --create --preserve --gzip --file=".$target." --exclude ~/public_html/audio ~/public_html ~/mail",$result);

Please note that this script is very resource intensive.  Do not run it more than once a day, and do not run it at peak times.  If you have a large site the script may timeout depending on the server settings, but the backup may still be created.
  • Before using cron, run the script from your browser to make sure it works as anticipated.
  • Set a cron job to run the script once a day (at an odd time - like 4:23am - to minimize server load issues).
  • This example backs up the public_html and mail directories.
  • The backup file (named backup.XX.tar.gz) will be created in your root directory (above public_html).
When you run this script you will likely get the message "tar: Removing leading `/' from member names".  This is normal, the script is using the settings that most people would want to use.  You can read more about this message, what it means, and alternatives here

Rate This Topic



 
You are visitor 444,578
Last week there were 3,536 visitors
Copyright ©2004-2008