Knowledgebase

Staring at the fateful WSOD (White Screen of Death)? Plugin update went haywire? Let's get you back online!

We run the latest stable version of JetBackup across our Shared and Server platforms. It's quick, easy & reliable.

If you're facing the need to restore a website, it's wise to get an idea of what's happened and if it needs restoring.

For instance, here are some example scenarios and potential resolutions:

1. Plugin update went wrong, now the site loads as blank/white
   1. Rename plugin folder to have "-1" on the end, then retry
   2. If that brings the site back, try updating over-the-top
   3. Note: Make sure you over-write then rename it (no -1)
2. Theme update went wrong, now the site loads broken/empty
   1. Check if your theme offers easy roll-backs - Divi does this
   2. Determine whether there was previous custom code on-site
3. Uploaded files via File Manager or FTP = potential permissions issue
   1. Our team can run our Permissions Fixer which should sort it
   2. Rule of thumb is 755 for folders and 644 for files, though:
      1. Make sure you consider stricter for config/etc files
4. Unsure about what happened? Try to use WP's debugging tools - ref:
   1. https://wordpress.org/support/article/debugging-in-wordpress
   2. Note: Disable ALL debugging functionality once all is resolved!
5. Still stuck? Not relevant? Go ahead with using JetBackup via cPanel
   

If your changes that led to the problem were via WP-Admin (ie. changing product/post/etc) then only a DB restore should be needed.

However, if you were making other changes (ie. plugin/theme updates/installations/etc) then there will have been file/folder changes too, so you will likely need to restore both the impacted files and database.

RESTORING: Website Files (public_html, etc)

1. Login to cPanel, then click on File Backups under the JetBackup section
2. Select the most recent backup date (restore point) BEFORE the incident
3. Using the JetBackup File Manager, navigate to & then select files/folders
4. Add it to the Queue so that JetBackup can download it from our platform
5. Go back to cPanel's home page, then click on Queue under JetBackup
6. Once it's complete, the job will reflect the status. Check the site!

RESTORING: Database (MariaDB / MySQL)

1. Login to cPanel, then click on Database Backups underneath JetBackup
2. Select the most recent (& safe) backup date (for the impacted database)
3. Acknowledge the prompt to start the backup's download to your account
4. Go back to cPanel's home page, then click on Queue under JetBackup
5. Once it's complete, click on Download to save the SQL file locally
6. EITHER create a new database OR decide to re-use the existing
   1. Creating a new one? Follow this KB article firstly!
      1. cPanel > phpMyAdmin
      2. Go to the Import tab (top bar)
      3. Select the downloaded SQL backup
      4. Upload it to restore the contents
      5. Amend wp-config.php (DB name, etc)
      6. Delete the old DB via cPanel > Databases
   2. Re-using the existing DB? cPanel > phpMyAdmin
      1. Left-side menu: Click on the SQL database
      2. Below the table listing, select all tables
      3. Then, execute "Drop" from drop-down
      4. Finally, click the Import tab (top bar)
      5. Select the downloaded SQL backup
      6. Upload it to restore the contents
7. Now that you've restored the DB, it's time to test the website again.
   1. Still having problems? That's what we're here for - let us know!

Do you have feedback about this article or the JetBackup system? Please write to us!