Chapter 7. Site Management

Throughout the book we've explored the possibilities of using WordPress in an education setting. Self hosting a content management system, such as WordPress, requires administrators to perform regular site management. In this chapter we'll walk through the processes of backing up our database, improving site performance, securing our WordPress installation, and keeping WordPress up-to-date. Performing proper site management will ensure that our students have a seamless experience using our site.

Site backups

WordPress stores our site's content within a database. Backing up our database will prevent the loss of pages, posts, and comments in the event of a database error.

While our database can be backed up manually, it should not surprise you to learn that there are many plugins that will automate the process. The WordPress Database Backup plugin by Austin Matzko (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/) will allow us to not only download database backups...