WordPress Backup to AWS S3
DailyBkup pushes backup archives directly to your AWS S3 bucket so your team controls data residency, retention rules, and lifecycle transitions from your own AWS account. This page covers a practical setup approach for teams that care about restore reliability, not just backup completion.
Fast setup flow
AWS side
- 1. Create a dedicated S3 bucket for backup objects.
- 2. Create IAM credentials with scoped backup permissions only.
- 3. Generate access credentials and store them securely.
DailyBkup side
- 1. Add S3 provider credentials and verify connectivity.
- 2. Configure schedules and retention by site criticality.
- 3. Run backup, then validate restore in staging.
Operational best practices
- Use dedicated object paths per client and site for faster recovery and lower incident confusion.
- Review lifecycle policies monthly to balance retention requirements and storage costs.
- Run restore tests on schedule, not only after incidents, to confirm backup usability.
- Set alert routing so failures are acknowledged by the right owner quickly.
How to design S3 backups for restore speed
S3 setup is often treated as a one-time credential task, but restore speed depends on policy design. Use structured prefix naming that reflects client, site, and environment. This lets your team locate the correct checkpoint quickly during incidents and lowers the risk of restoring the wrong archive.
Retention should follow business recovery needs. If your recovery point objective is aggressive, set schedule frequency accordingly and keep enough history for rollback confidence. Avoid one generic policy for all sites. Ecommerce, membership, and brochure sites rarely need the same cadence.
Lifecycle transitions should be planned, not guessed. Keep recent backups in faster access classes for recovery operations and move older generations based on legal or business retention requirements. Cost optimization matters, but not at the expense of restore readiness.
Agency and multi-site implementation notes
If you run many sites, build a small policy catalog instead of custom settings per project. A simple model is three tiers: standard, high-change, and mission-critical. Each tier gets a defined schedule, retention window, and restore verification rhythm. This standardization reduces support overhead and speeds onboarding for new client sites.
Use dedicated IAM credentials and key rotation policy for backup operations. Avoid shared credentials across unrelated systems. During audits or security events, scoped keys make review and remediation much faster.
Document the full restore path in your runbook, including who approves restores, where checkpoints are validated, and what post-restore tests are required before reopening traffic. Strong backup systems are operational systems, not only storage systems.
Related resources
One-Time Cloud Setup
Get help with secure credential setup and cloud-side policy baselines.
Cloudflare R2 Guide
Compare S3 and R2 for cost profile, policy control, and restore operations.
Backup for Agencies
Apply consistent multi-client workflows and lower operational variance.
Restore After Hack Workflow
Use a structured recovery path when urgent security incidents happen.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need one S3 bucket per website?
Not always. Many teams use one bucket with strict prefixes by client and site. Separate buckets are useful for strict compliance or ownership boundaries.
What IAM scope is recommended for backup credentials?
Use least-privilege permissions limited to required bucket paths and backup actions. Avoid broad account-level permissions when possible.
How often should S3 restore tests be performed?
At least monthly for standard workloads and more frequently for high-risk or high-change sites. Always test after major infrastructure changes.
Can I use both S3 and another provider at the same time?
Yes. DailyBkup supports multi-cloud workflows, which can help with policy redundancy and regional strategy.
S3 policy checklist before production go-live
A stable S3 backup rollout should pass a simple policy check: scoped IAM permissions, deterministic object prefixes, tested restore checkpoints, and alert routing with clear escalation ownership. If any of these are missing, backup completion metrics can look healthy while recovery confidence remains weak.
Review this checklist whenever you add large client workloads, change hosting providers, or adjust retention. Small policy drifts are common and can create major restore delays if they are not caught early.
Plan your S3 rollout
Start with a controlled pilot, validate restores, and then scale policy templates to all managed properties.