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Vicente G. Reyes
Vicente G. Reyes

Posted on • Originally published at vicentereyes.org

How to Manually Backup WordPress Sites via SSH

#wordpress #webdev #linux #tutorial

Backing up your WordPress site is one of the most important maintenance tasks you can do as a site owner. While plugins like UpdraftPlus or Jetpack make this easy, knowing how to do it manually via SSH gives you full control — no third-party dependencies, no bloat, just a clean archive you own.

This guide walks you through creating a full file backup of your WordPress site directly from the server using the command line.

Installing the Required Tools

Before connecting to your server, make sure the necessary tools are installed on your local machine.

macOS

macOS comes with ssh and scp pre-installed. No action needed — just open Terminal and you're ready to go.

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian) 

sudo apt update && sudo apt install openssh-client
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Windows

Option A — Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) (recommended):

wsl --install
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Once WSL is set up, ssh and scp are available inside the Linux shell.

Option B — OpenSSH via PowerShell:

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Client~~~~0.0.1.0
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After installing, ssh and scp will be available directly in PowerShell or Command Prompt.

Option C — GUI alternative: Install WinSCP for a drag-and-drop interface to transfer files instead of using scp.

On the Server

Your server should already have tar and mysqldump available. If for any reason they are missing, install them with:

# tar
sudo apt install tar          # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo yum install tar          # CentOS/RHEL

# mysqldump (part of the MySQL client)
sudo apt install mysql-client          # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo yum install mysql                 # CentOS/RHEL
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Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  • SSH access to your server
  • The server's IP address
  • Your SSH credentials (username and password, or an SSH key)
  • scp or an SFTP client installed on your local machine

Step 1: SSH Into Your Server

Open your terminal and connect to your server using SSH. Replace ip_address with your actual server IP:

ssh root@ip_address
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You'll be prompted for your password (or authenticated via SSH key). Once connected, you'll be inside your server's shell.

Tip: If you're using a non-root user, replace root with your username (e.g., ssh deploy@192.168.1.100).

Step 2: Create a Compressed Archive of Your Site

Your WordPress files typically live inside the public_html directory. The following command creates a compressed .tar.gz archive of the entire folder:

tar -czvf ~/public_html/backup-site.tar.gz -C ~/ public_html
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What each flag does:

Flag Meaning
-c Create a new archive
-z Compress with gzip
-v Verbose output (shows files being archived)
-f Specifies the output filename
-C ~/ Changes to the home directory before archiving

The backup file backup-site.tar.gz will be saved inside ~/public_html/.

Note: Depending on your site size, this may take a few minutes. Large media libraries will increase the archive size significantly.

Step 3: Download the Backup to Your Local Machine

Once the archive is created, exit the SSH session and run the following scp command on your local machine to download the backup:

scp root@ip_address:~/public_html/backup-site.tar.gz ~/Downloads/
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This securely copies the file from your server to your local ~/Downloads/ folder.

Tip: If you're on Windows, you can use WinSCP or the built-in scp command in PowerShell/WSL as an alternative.

Step 4: Don't Forget the Database

A full WordPress backup requires both the files and the database. Your files backup covers themes, plugins, and uploads — but your posts, pages, and settings live in MySQL.

To export your database, run this on the server:

mysqldump -u root -p your_database_name > ~/public_html/backup-db.sql
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Then download it the same way:

scp root@ip_address:~/public_html/backup-db.sql ~/Downloads/
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Replace your_database_name with the database name found in your wp-config.php file.

Step 5: Clean Up the Server

To avoid using up disk space on your server, delete the backup files after downloading them:

rm ~/public_html/backup-site.tar.gz
rm ~/public_html/backup-db.sql
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Restoring from a Backup

To restore, simply reverse the process:

  1. Upload the .tar.gz file back to the server using scp
  2. Extract it with: 
   tar -xzvf backup-site.tar.gz -C ~/
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  1. Import the database with: 
   mysql -u root -p your_database_name < backup-db.sql
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Final Thoughts

Manual backups via SSH are reliable, fast, and give you a portable snapshot of your entire site. For production sites, consider automating this process with a cron job or combining it with offsite storage like S3 or Google Drive.

A backup you never tested is a backup you can't trust — make sure to do a test restore at least once.

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