Creating a backup of your MyBB forum installation includes 2 major steps. Backing up the database and the web site files for it. Both steps are reviewed in details below.

Creating MyBB Database Backupdivider

By default there are 3 ways to create the database backup using the tools provided by FastWebHost and MyBB.

1. You can use the MyBB built-in functionality to create the backup.First of all you need to make sure which is the database used by your installation. This information can be acquired by checking the MyBB configuration file. The file in question is located directly under the MyBB folder:inc/config.phpThe information that you need is at the beginning of the file. Here is an example of how the database information is displayed:

 $config['database']['database'] = 'user_sgmybb';

In this case the database and the database username are the same – ‘user_sgmybb’.Note that user will be your cPanel username (all databases for your account will have this prefix) and sgmybb is the actual name you specified for the database. So in the particular case we need to create a backup for the user_sgmybb database. As mentioned there are 2 ways to create the backup using the tools provided by FastWebHost.

The other 2 options are available via the cPanel for your hosting account.

2. Use the cPanel backup functionality. To do so,  log in to cPanel for your account -> Backups. Under Download a MySQL Database Backup all databases for your hosting account will be listed. Click on the MyBB database name and a download window will pop up. Use it to download and save the backup locally to your computer. This is the preferred option for creating the backup.3. You can also use cPanel -> phpMyAdmin in order to create the backup of the database. Detailed tutorial how to do so can be found in our MySQL tutorial. Note that this option is relatively less reliable and you might experience issues downloading larger databases via phpMyAdmin.

Creating MyBB Website Files Backupdivider

Prior to downloading the web site files backup, it is recommended to create an archive of the files. It is not a mandatory step but it helps for easier upload/download. Downloading a single archive file will be always faster than downloading all files one by one.To create an archive of your MyBB installation files follow these steps:

  • login to cPanel for your account.
  • Choose File Manager.
  • Navigate to the MyBB installation directory (note that if MyBB is accessible directly via your domain name the installation directory is public_html).
  • You can use the ‘Select all’ button to select all files in the directory.
  • Click the ‘Compress’ button. You will be asked for the directory where you would like the archive saved.

To download the backup of your MyBB installation locally to your computer you can use either FTP client or cPanel -> File Manager.