Freshet Studio Backup

wp-config constants

The screen sets one thing: how often backups run. Everything else is an optional constant in wp-config.php, above /* That's all, stop editing! */. All of them are optional, and a constant always takes precedence over the screen.

None of these values is written to the database, and none is shown on screen. The database holds only the schedule chosen on the screen and the result of the last run.

Reference

Turning backups on and off

define( 'FRESHET_BACKUP_ENABLED', false );

Connecting Dropbox on the screen turns backups on. FRESHET_BACKUP_ENABLED overrides that either way: false switches a connected site off, true switches on a site that uses your own Dropbox app, or no Dropbox at all (backups then stay on the server only).

Off is complete: no scheduled event, and an event that arrived in a database copied from another site is removed on the next page load. Run backup now refuses and says why.

true, 1, 'yes' and 'on' all read as true; anything else as false.

How often

define( 'FRESHET_BACKUP_INTERVAL', 'weekly' );

A name ('hourly', 'twicedaily', 'daily', 'weekly') or a number of seconds. A number below 3600 is raised to an hour; anything that is neither falls back to 'daily'.

With the constant set, the screen shows the schedule but cannot change it. Without it, the screen's choice applies, and a site that never chose runs daily. 'twicedaily' (every 12 hours) and custom intervals are available only through the constant; the screen offers every hour, every 6 hours, every day and every week.

Which tables

define( 'FRESHET_BACKUP_ALL_TABLES', true );

By default a backup holds every table starting with the site's table prefix (on multisite, the network's base prefix). With true, every table in the database is included: useful when another application shares the database and its tables should be in the same backup.

The local folder and how many it keeps

define( 'FRESHET_BACKUP_DIR', '/home/example/backups/www.example.com' );
define( 'FRESHET_BACKUP_KEEP_LOCAL', 3 );

Without FRESHET_BACKUP_DIR, the plugin picks a folder next to the website's folder where it can, and one inside wp-content where it cannot. Wherever the folder is, a folder a URL could reach is checked before every backup, and no backup is written when the check fails. Where backups go explains the order and the check.

FRESHET_BACKUP_KEEP_LOCAL takes a whole number of 1 or more; anything else means the default of 3. With Dropbox working, the folder is normally empty: each backup is deleted once Dropbox has verified it.

How many Dropbox keeps, and where

define( 'FRESHET_BACKUP_KEEP_REMOTE', 30 );
define( 'FRESHET_BACKUP_DROPBOX_PATH', '/production' );

FRESHET_BACKUP_KEEP_REMOTE takes a whole number of 1 or more; anything else means the default of 7. Only this site's backups in its folder are counted and removed; other files there are never touched.

FRESHET_BACKUP_DROPBOX_PATH is a folder inside the app folder. The default is the site's host, /www.example.com, so several sites can share one Dropbox account without mixing.

Your own Dropbox app

The screen connects through the Freshet Backup app on Dropbox. To use an app of your own instead, set all three:

define( 'FRESHET_BACKUP_ENABLED', true );
define( 'FRESHET_BACKUP_DROPBOX_APP_KEY', 'paste the app key' );
define( 'FRESHET_BACKUP_DROPBOX_APP_SECRET', 'paste the app secret' );
define( 'FRESHET_BACKUP_DROPBOX_REFRESH_TOKEN', 'paste the refresh token' );

They are used only when all three are set, and then they take precedence over a connection made on the screen. FRESHET_BACKUP_ENABLED is needed alongside them, because only a connection made on the screen turns backups on by itself.

To create the app, at the Dropbox App Console choose Create app, then Scoped access and App folder, so the app sees only its own folder under Apps/. On its Permissions tab, tick files.metadata.read and files.content.write and nothing else, and submit before you issue a token: a token only carries the permissions the app had when it was issued. The plugin never downloads, so it does not need files.content.read, and a leaked token cannot read a backup. Then issue a refresh token for that app (an offline-access authorization, exchanged with the app key and secret) and paste it as above.

Put these lines where only the live site reads them. In a wp-config.php that is shared with a development copy, a copy that reads them backs up into the same Dropbox folder. The connection the screen makes does not have that problem: it is written inside a check for this site's own addresses.

FRESHET_BACKUP_DROPBOX_APP_KEY set on its own, without a secret or token, does something else: the screen's Connect button then connects through your app instead of the Freshet Backup app, with the same three steps.

Set by the screen, not by hand

FRESHET_BACKUP_CONNECT_APP_KEY and FRESHET_BACKUP_CONNECT_TOKEN are what Connect Dropbox writes into wp-config.php, between a Freshet Backup begin and end marker and inside a check for this site's own addresses. Disconnect Dropbox takes them out again. Leave them alone; editing them by hand is how a connection stops working. They grant access to your Dropbox, so do not paste them into email or chat.