Automated Backups with Bash Scripts

Data loss can destroy a business in minutes. In this article, we'll create a professional backup system that will protect your OpenCart store.

Backup Strategy

An effective strategy includes:

• Daily backups — database
• Weekly backups — full archive (files + DB)
• Rotation — removing old backups
• Remote storage — copy on another server

A backup you haven't tested is not a backup. Regularly test restoration!

— Golden rule of sysadmins

Database Backup Script

#!/bin/bash
# /home/deployer/scripts/backup-db.sh

# Configuration
DB_NAME="opencart"
DB_USER="opencart"
DB_PASS="your_password"
BACKUP_DIR="/home/deployer/backups/database"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
RETENTION_DAYS=14

# Create directory
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Backup
echo "[$(date)] Starting database backup..."
mysqldump -u$DB_USER -p$DB_PASS \
    --single-transaction \
    --routines \
    --triggers \
    $DB_NAME | gzip > $BACKUP_DIR/db_$DATE.sql.gz

# Check success
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "[$(date)] Database backup completed: db_$DATE.sql.gz"

    # File size
    SIZE=$(du -h $BACKUP_DIR/db_$DATE.sql.gz | cut -f1)
    echo "[$(date)] Backup size: $SIZE"
else
    echo "[$(date)] ERROR: Database backup failed!"
    exit 1
fi

# Rotate old backups
echo "[$(date)] Removing backups older than $RETENTION_DAYS days..."
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "db_*.sql.gz" -mtime +$RETENTION_DAYS -delete

echo "[$(date)] Backup process completed."

Full Backup Script

#!/bin/bash
# /home/deployer/scripts/backup-full.sh

# Configuration
SITE_DIR="/var/www/opencart"
BACKUP_DIR="/home/deployer/backups/full"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d)
RETENTION_DAYS=30

# Archive exclusions
EXCLUDES="--exclude='*.log' --exclude='system/storage/cache/*' --exclude='system/storage/logs/*'"

mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

echo "[$(date)] Starting full backup..."

# Database backup
/home/deployer/scripts/backup-db.sh

# Files backup
tar $EXCLUDES -czf $BACKUP_DIR/files_$DATE.tar.gz -C $(dirname $SITE_DIR) $(basename $SITE_DIR)

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    SIZE=$(du -h $BACKUP_DIR/files_$DATE.tar.gz | cut -f1)
    echo "[$(date)] Files backup completed: $SIZE"
else
    echo "[$(date)] ERROR: Files backup failed!"
    exit 1
fi

# Rotation
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "files_*.tar.gz" -mtime +$RETENTION_DAYS -delete

echo "[$(date)] Full backup completed."

Remote Server Synchronization

#!/bin/bash
# /home/deployer/scripts/sync-backups.sh

BACKUP_DIR="/home/deployer/backups"
REMOTE_USER="backup"
REMOTE_HOST="backup-server.com"
REMOTE_DIR="/backups/opencart"

# Sync via rsync
rsync -avz --delete \
    -e "ssh -i /home/deployer/.ssh/backup_key" \
    $BACKUP_DIR/ \
    $REMOTE_USER@$REMOTE_HOST:$REMOTE_DIR/

echo "[$(date)] Sync completed."

Cron Setup

# Edit crontab
crontab -e

# Daily DB backup at 3:00
0 3 * * * /home/deployer/scripts/backup-db.sh >> /var/log/backup.log 2>&1

# Full backup every Sunday at 4:00
0 4 * * 0 /home/deployer/scripts/backup-full.sh >> /var/log/backup.log 2>&1

# Sync daily at 5:00
0 5 * * * /home/deployer/scripts/sync-backups.sh >> /var/log/backup.log 2>&1

Restore Script

#!/bin/bash
# /home/deployer/scripts/restore.sh

BACKUP_FILE=$1
DB_NAME="opencart"
DB_USER="opencart"
DB_PASS="your_password"

if [ -z "$BACKUP_FILE" ]; then
    echo "Usage: ./restore.sh backup_file.sql.gz"
    exit 1
fi

echo "WARNING: This will overwrite the current database!"
read -p "Continue? (yes/no): " confirm

if [ "$confirm" = "yes" ]; then
    gunzip -c $BACKUP_FILE | mysql -u$DB_USER -p$DB_PASS $DB_NAME
    echo "Database restored successfully."
else
    echo "Restore cancelled."
fi

Backup Monitoring

#!/bin/bash
# Check for fresh backup

BACKUP_DIR="/home/deployer/backups/database"
MAX_AGE=86400  # 24 hours in seconds

LATEST=$(find $BACKUP_DIR -name "db_*.sql.gz" -mtime -1 | head -1)

if [ -z "$LATEST" ]; then
    echo "ALERT: No backup found in last 24 hours!"
    # Send email or Slack notification
    exit 1
fi

echo "OK: Latest backup found: $LATEST"

Conclusion

Now you have a complete backup system. Don't forget to periodically test restoration — a backup without verification provides no guarantees.