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Using cPanel for PHP Version & Backups

Login to WHM

To login to your account go to:

  • HOST: http://nodeXXXX.myfcloud.com/whm
  • USER: XXXX
  • PASS: XXXX

I don’t know what your username and password are. If you aren’t sure, you can message FastCloud to tell you or reset for you.

Type the HOST address in your web browser. Replace XXXX with your FastComet number. You’ll use your USER NAME and PASSWORD in a moment.

If you get this screen, don’t worry. Go ahead and click ADVANCED and then click PROCEED to 123.456.789.123 (your IP address)
Next you’ll come to this screen. Enter your USERNAME and PASSWORD. As mentioned above, if you’re not sure, check with FastComet.

Accessing cPanel

Once you enter WHM (“Web Host Manager”) click on ACCOUNT INFORMATION and then LIST ACCOUNTS. To the right you’ll see a list of your cPanels. In your case there should just be 1: JPIC. Click on the cP logo to go to that cPanel (“Control Panel”)

Changing PHP Version

At your cPanel you’ll see a number of categories with a number of options in each. The 2 you’re interested in for now are SOFTWARE > MULTI PHP MANAGER and FILES > JetBackup 5.
In MultiPHP Manager you can check the website you want to change PHP versions on. In your case philosophyofjazz.net and then go to the upper-right and select the version you want, 7.2, 7.4, 8.0 from the dropdown. Then click the APPLY button.

If you go to a higher PHP version and your site has issues or won’t load at all, come back here and change back to an older version of PHP where your site software will run.

Backups – Using JetBackup 5

Then you can go back to cPanel home and then to FILES > JETBACKUP 5. If you click on HOME DIRECTORY…
10 days worth of backups that you can Restore, or if you like, download a local copy. On Day 11, the oldest version is deleted.
Once you select which dated backup you want to work with you can Restore your entire cPanel, or you can “Change Files Selection” to pick a specific piece to Restore. Even though there is a “Download” button, FastComet does not allow downloading through JetBackup5. If you try to use it you’ll get an error message that you’re not allowed to do that.

Backups – Downloading Local Copies

You shouldn’t really need local copies as FastComet seems quite reliable and JetBackup5 covers you in case of any unusual circumstances.

Reasons you might want a local copy:

  • Just for peace of mind
  • Since JetBackup5 only covers the last 10 days, if something was corrupted or lost more than 10 days ago, it would be lost. FastComet has assured me that file corruption on their end is nearly impossible. Even so, if you somehow made a mistake and didn’t realize it for a few weeks, a local copy would help. Realistically, if I’d accidentally deleted a paragraph, page, or image, I’d rather recreate it than mess with reinstalling an entire database of all the pages or file structure of all the images. People do restore all the time and it’s not generally a problem. I’m skittish in that it’s not something I normally do. Insurance against some sort of massive mistake might not be a bad idea.

Downloading a copy of your Database

In this cPanel example I have 3 databases: letters2_17, letters2_wp402, and letters2sky_compa. I’ve clicked on “letters2_wp17” and next I’ll click the Export button.
“Custom” Export has a lot of options! It’s probably easiest to select “Quick” Export, and then press GO. Then you’ll get a dialog box asking where you want to save the file. Pick a location and you’re done!

Downloading Files

Your Database contains the text on your pages and other content for your wiki. You also have “Files”, like all the images you’ve uploaded.

This time go to Files > File Manager
Click on the files you want – in this case, under “Home” I’ve clicked on all the files in “compassh2.org”. Then click Compress. You can use any compression type you like. Apparently, TAR is the smallest. You can accept the default file name and then click the Compress Files button.
After compression, the Home directory now has the file “compassh2.org.tar” which contains all the files from compassh2.org. Select this file, and click Download, and you’ll again get a dialog box asking where you want it to go.

As far as I know, Your Complete Database, plus All Your Files, is your whole Wiki Website. It’s worth your while to double-check that with FastComet to make sure nothing is missing.

Confirm Everything with FastComet Tech Support

That’s the best of everything I know. But I’m an artist, not a server technician. I appreciate how critical your content is. Please verify with FastComet that the content you want to be backed up is indeed backed up and useable for a restore if necessary. I’m sure you recall the multiple occasions where we paid LiquidWeb for backup services and then when we needed them we were told that the backup server was configured wrong and we had no backup copies at all.

Backup cPanel FastComet PHP WHM
Glenn Zucman

Artist & Arts Educator based in Los Angeles.

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