Backup and maintenance overview

Drupal sites run as a result of an interaction between four components:

• The database

• The core codebase

• The contributed modules and themes directory, along with the settings.php file

• The files directory

In practice, we will back up the module, theme, and file directories together, as they all reside in the sites directory. However, when it comes to updating the site, it is helpful to think of them as separate from one another. When upgrading sites, we treat the core codebase, contributed modules, and contributed themes in different ways.

Also, as part of your backup and maintenance strategy, you should create a document that lists all of the critical usernames and passwords for your site.

This list of critical data includes:

• Username and password of UID1 on your site

• Username, password, and database name of your database

• Username and password for FTP (or preferably SFTP) access to your site

• Username and password for SSH (or shell) access to your site

At the risk of...