Backup and restore

Superlite includes built in tools for creating and restoring complete site backups.

Open:

Tools → Backup & restore

From here you can download a backup of the current site or restore a previously created Superlite backup.

Creating a backup

Open Tools and select Backup & restore.

Under Create backup, select:

Download backup

Superlite creates a ZIP file and downloads it to your computer.

The backup is designed to contain the information needed to restore the Superlite site later.

What the backup contains

The backup includes:

• Page content
• Site configuration
• Users
• Revisions
• Original media
• Media data
• Module data
• Installed themes
• Installed modules

The backup therefore includes more than the visible page content.

If you have installed additional themes or modules, they are included so that they can be restored together with the rest of the site.

What the backup does not contain

Superlite does not include generated public HTML or cache files in the backup.

These files do not need to be backed up because Superlite can generate them again from the stored content and configuration.

Secrets and runtime specific information are also excluded from the portable backup.

This includes information that should remain specific to the current installation rather than being transferred with the site.

Backup verification

A Superlite backup contains a manifest and SHA 256 checksums for the files in the archive.

These are used when a backup is restored.

Superlite checks that the archive contains the expected files and that they have not been changed or damaged before replacing the current site data.

You do not need to manage these checksums yourself.

Keeping backup files

The backup is downloaded to your computer as a ZIP file.

Store important backups somewhere separate from the web hosting account.

This ensures that you still have the backup if the website or hosting account itself becomes unavailable.

It can also be useful to create a backup before making significant changes to the site.

Restoring a backup

Open:

Tools → Backup & restore

Under Restore backup, select the Superlite backup ZIP you want to restore.

Then choose:

Restore backup

Superlite asks you to confirm that you want to restore the backup and replace the current site data.

Do not continue unless you intend to replace the current Superlite data with the contents of the selected backup.

What happens during restore

Superlite validates the complete backup before replacing the current data.

It checks the backup format, file list and checksums.

The existing site data is kept temporarily as rollback storage while the restore is being performed.

Only after the backup has passed validation does Superlite activate the restored data.

If the restore cannot be completed correctly, Superlite is designed to avoid leaving the installation partially replaced.

Restoring users

Administrator accounts are included in the backup.

When a backup is restored, the administrator accounts from that backup become the accounts used by the restored site.

After a successful restore, Superlite returns you to the login screen.

Log in using an administrator account that existed in the restored backup.

This is important if the current installation and the backup contain different administrator accounts or passwords.

Rebuilding after restore

After activating the restored data, Superlite rebuilds the public website.

Published pages are generated again from the restored content and active theme.

Superlite also rebuilds sitemap.xml and robots.txt.

You do not need to manually publish every page again after a normal successful restore.

Restore rebuild errors

If the backup itself is restored successfully but Superlite cannot rebuild the public site afterwards, the administration interface displays a warning.

In that situation, check the system log before making additional changes.

The restored CMS data may already be active even though generation of the public website failed.

Restoring an older backup

A backup records which version of Superlite created it.

Superlite can restore backups created by a compatible current or older version.

If the backup was created by a newer version of Superlite than the version currently installed, Superlite will refuse to restore it.

Update Superlite first and then try the restore again.

This prevents an older CMS version from loading backup data created for functionality it may not understand.

Automatic backup before an update

Superlite also creates a backup automatically before a core update.

When an update is installed through:

Tools → Updates

Superlite creates a pre update backup before replacing the core files.

This backup is stored in the protected Superlite data directory.

The automatic update backup is separate from the portable ZIP you download manually from Backup & restore.

For a backup you want to keep yourself, use Download backup.