backup

Jan

2011

Clone and Backup ready – new Multiple Streams Theme

I’ve just been testing out the final v1.0.0 release of the Clone and Backup plugin, and it works a treat.

After all the comments we received about hosting requirements we decided that this first version shouldn’t be just limited to cPanel.

Now I love cPanel as it has some really cool features in it, but I know that not everybody is as big a fan as I am.

So we decided that for v1 of the plugin we’d skip the cPanel centric attitude and instead create a version that would work with any hosting platform.

I do have to say that we haven’t tested with other hosting platforms (such as hSphere), but because of the approach we’ve used we can see no logical reason for it not working just fine.

(Please raise a support ticket at http://support.plugingreat.com/ if you have problems with the plugin.)

However, there’s always a trade-off when you want to do things for a broader audience.

In this case it means you have to go create the database and user/password at the destination site. This will take you about 2-3 minutes if you don’t do it very often and probably less than 60 seconds once you’ve done it a few times.

At any rate, if you’ve just registered a new domain and assigned a web host, it’s very likely that you’re already going to be logged into your web control panel. Yep?

That’s the logic we’ve used when thinking about this.

So by going with that trade-off, it means you cant (yet) get the plugin to auto-create a database for you with cPanel. The next step for us is to add in that cPanel functionality as I think it will address 80% of our intended audience.

And it will certainly make things easier for me too. 😉

Then we’ll investigate hSphere and any other popular and common web hosting platforms that we get asked to look at.

This means that if your host uses a proprietary web control panel then it’s unlikely that we’ll provide a streamlined database creation method for it. You’ll have to stick with the generic v1.0.0 method.

Okay?

How it works is like this.

#1 – You create and maintain a copy of WordPress somewhere and we suggest on a sub-domain for convenience. We also suggest this installation has no posts/pages/comments and has all your favourite themes and plugins installed and activated and up to date.

So you have a fully functional copy of WordPress that you’re going to use as your master.

#2 – You take out a new domain or sub-domain (or use an existing one if you like) and while going through your normal admin functions to set it all up, you also create a database for WordPress on that domain, and assign a user and password with full permissions. Your web host is responsible for explaining this to you if you don’t already know how to do it.

#3 – On your master copy of WordPress go to the PG WP Clone admin function and fill in the 6 boxes – destination site, FTP user and password, database name, user/password and click the “Clone This Site” button.

After 15-30 seconds – it may take longer depending on the number of themes/plugins/files etc – your new WordPress installation will be complete and you will be given a link to visit your new installation.

All the login details, active plugins and theme etc for your new WordPress installation will be the same as your master.

🙂

You can now go back to your personal download page and grab the plugin only, with the docs to follow in a day or so. I wanted to get the plugin out to you as quickly as possible for test and feeedback.

It’s easy to use.

(If you didn’t bookmark your personal download page, then please raise a support ticket at http://support.plugingreat.com/ and someone will look it up for you.)

If you don’t have the Clone and Backup plugin, you can still get it with a ten dollar discount at $27.00 from here.

***

Finally… The latest in the Multiple Streams Themes is now complete, and on Tuesday at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST) I’ll be running a 50-copies-only sale at $10.00.

I had this theme designed for my own personal use on the free Page Template Plugin site (available soon), but it’s so good I decided to release it as one of the Multiple Streams Themes.

It’s a “softer” cleaner brighter theme in light blue and white, and I’m also tempted to use it on my personal blog as it contains all the features I want that my current theme doesn’t. So don’t be surprised if you see it change in a few days when I decide for sure. 😉

It comes with a hefty selection of pre-designed banners including blank JPEGs and PSDs for them, plus umpteen sidebars, a selection of built in page templates, plus plugins (Ads Manager, Redirection, Squeeze Page Templates), and a set of theme options too.

The theme options allow you to turn on and off the header, top boxes and top and bottom ad areas, change footer text and add analytics code if you don’t have the Script Manager plugin.

And of course the theme supports the WP 3.x features of custom menus, custom header, and background. That last one allows you to further lighten the feel of the theme or darken it down if that’s your preference.

It’s really nice… 😉

WordPress Clone and Backup

Update: The sale is now LIVE and is currently $27.00.

***

One of my developers is almost done with a plugin that will enable you to create an identical copy of one of your existing WordPress sites onto another.

It’s an incredible time saver.

This is what you can do:-

Maintain a single up to date default blog on a sub-domain.
Add all your favourite themes and plugins to your default blog.
Then in a few seconds copy it to a new site.
Repeat.

Then when you need a new blog creating, all you have to do is enter the FTP and cPanel details of the target site and click go.

A few seconds later your target site contains an exact copy of your original blog and all you have to do is tweak a few things like the name and tagline etc, and you’re ready to go.

I guess you could also use it in reverse to back up your existing live blogs to a backup site on another sub-domain too.

It’s certainly something I’ve wanted to be able to do for a long time and I know there are a few unsatisfactory alternatives out there, but I didn’t feel that they fit my exact requirements.

There’s one that’s an expensive monthly service, and another that’s a Windows application. There’s also a plugin out there, but I think it’s a little too expensive for what it does – maybe if it had a few extra features it would be worth it.

Anyway…

The developer reckons the beta will be ready Wednesday or Thursday next week, and when it’s done I’m going to add it directly to the affiliate scheme at full price as I know it will be a very popular plugin and plenty of people will want to promote it.

But…

In the tradition of the past 12 months and because I like to regularly say thank you for being a subscriber, I’d like to offer it to you at a hefty discount on pre-order.

In return, I’d like a little feedback please. Things like how easy it was to install and use (once you get it), how much time it will save you, any enhancements needed (I’ve already thought of some cool upgrades for later versions), and so on.

Does that sound reasonable for such an amazingly cool and very useful plugin?

The plan is that I’ll make 50 available on pre-order for $10.00 tomorrow (Friday 7th) at 6.00pm GMT, then raise the price to $12.50 for the next 25 and $15.00 for the next 25 before setting the final price at $27.00 (maybe even $37.00, we’ll see).

This gives you the chance to get this plugin at the lowest price it will ever be for a very short time.

An important note though…

I’ve had lots of people miss these deals and then write to me asking if I could give them the same deal at a later date.

I never do as that’s just not fair is it?

First come, first served, be there or be square. You know the score. 😉

Until tomorrow…

-Frank Haywood

Oct

2010

Keep Your Business Safe With Portable Apps

Hard disk failures and theft are a fact of life. It’s not a case of if, it’s a case of when is it going to happen to you?

But neither of these events need to be a disaster. You can easily turn them into an incident or even a hiccup.

One of the things I really dislike about Windows is when Microsoft introduced the registry when they released Windows 2000. I don’t care what arguments they have for it being a good idea, as far as I’m concerned it’s a bloody nuisance as it means that apps are no longer self-encapsulated in their own folder.

That means that if your hard drive crashes and you have to reinstall Windows, you also have to reinstall all your apps too. So what should take an hour to reinstall Windows and then another 30 minutes to recreate links to all the apps on your second drive, can take several days before you get everything back to the way it was before the crash.

Of course if you’re like me and you’ve made your system partition as small as possible and you take full partition backups every so often, then you can be up and running quickly. But it takes a fair bit of technical skill to know what you’re doing and re-partition your drives, and it’s definitely not for everybody.

But of course Microsoft bloat and madness got a little bit worse when they introduced the /winsxs/ folder in Vista, making whole partition backups take much longer for zero benefit. Don’t get me started.

However, there’s a partial solution to the problem in the form of PortableApps. These are free tools that will run from a memory stick and don’t need to be installed on your PC. Aha!

So if your PC goes bye-byes, all you need to do is re-install Windows, and most evberything else will work immediately from your memmory stick. You can even copy it all to another hard drive or partition in your system if you like, in order to speed things up – you don’t need to run it all from a memory stick, just make sure it’s in synch with your hard drive every day or so and you’re fine.

There are lots of free tool that come with the PortableApps platform including FireFox, Opera, and Chrome browsers, OpenOffice, and Skype to name a few. And there are pretty much variants of most of the key apps you need to run too.

So what you can do is get a cheap memory stick and external hard drive, PortableApps with PortableFireFox, PortableKeePass, and PortableToucan to synch and back it all up – all of them free.

http://portableapps.com/
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable
http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/keepass_portable
http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/toucan

Then it doesn’t matter if your PC is stolen or terminally crashes. As long as you still have your USB stick and backups of your key data and bookmarks (FireFox has an excellent bookmark backup), you can restore everything you’ve lost.

It’s happened to me and got me out of trouble.

It’s seriously worth a look over the weekend.

-Frank Haywood