Publishing is the act of copying content from your local master copy (offline) to your webhosting server (online). Backing up is the act of copying content from your webhosting server (online) to a local backup copy (offline). In case of emergency, you can use an offline copy to replace the online copy. If you value your website, you should never, ever, find yourself with only one copy of it. You should always have a backup. Many people rotate among several backups, in case something becomes broken and they do not notice it right away.
Incremental Backup: Rsync
Rsync is an amazing program that uses an algorithm invented by Andrew Tridgell, an Australian Ph.D. student, around 1999. It has since become a very popular way to back up and publish. The idea of incremental copying is based on the hope that the source copy and the target copy are already very similar. Therefore, all that remains is to find the differences and make corrections.
Mac OS X and Linux
The OS X operating system and the Linux operating system are both based on Unix. As such, they have a lot in common. We can run rsync directly from the command line in either OS X or in Linux
Downloading (Backing Up)
Normally when we download, we are making a back-up copy of something that has already been published on the web. To download the public_html directory from abc.com, and to save it on the local machine at /backups/abc.com, you could use the following command
Uploading (Publishing)
Normally when we upload, we are publishing something that was developed locally. To upload everything in the version1 directory on the local machine to the public_html directory at abc.com, you could use the following command.
Some people recommend that all your development be done locally, and that your online copy is just that, a copy. But there are times that you might want to do things online first, and then make a backup. In that case, your online version is the original and your local is a backup copy. Having that backup means that you can recreate your website using another hosting provider, or you can reinstate your website if it has been defaced by hackers.
Microsoft Windows: DeltaCopy
Some people recommend that all your development be done locally, and that your online copy is just that, a copy. But there are times that you might want to do things online first, and then make a backup. In that case, your online version is the original and your local is a backup copy. Having that backup means that you can recreate your website using another hosting provider, or you can reinstate your website if it has been defaced by hackers.
One of the first things you will want to do after logging in for the first time is change your password. At first, your website will not be very valuable, and the password you use will not matter much. As your website gains value, you should make sure your password is appropriately difficult to guess.
