CodeGuard

Connect your website

First, connect your site by giving CodeGuard your ftp/sftp/MySQL information. It’s that easy.

The first step in activating CodeGuard is to connect your website or database with our servers. There are several options available, and the right one depends on your level of sophistication, goals, and server configuration. At a high level, you really have two choices: (1)FTP/SFTP or (2) MySQL.

If you want to configure FTP/SFTP and MySQL backups, you have two options: use our cPanel or Plesk plugins, which will create an FTP user and password for you automatically, or enter the credentials yourself, manually.

Initial Backup

Now we take an initial backup of your site. During the process, you’ll be able to view real-time updates on its progress.

The initial website or database backup is a complete data retrieval of all files that CodeGuard has access to. Depending on the number of files and total size, the initial backup can take up to 72 hours. After this first backup, future backups are differential, both in the files that are transferred and the files that are stored on your behalf. CodeGuard relies upon a queueing system and our backup process is not unlike FedEx package pickup and delivery. Our process is so similar, in fact, that we modeled our user experience after their process.

The four main steps of the initial backup are (i) process initiation (ii) file pick up (iii) file transit, and (iv) final delivery. Process initiation contains verifying the credentials and transmitting them to CodeGuard. File pick up begins with an analysis of the file structure and creation of a git repository on our cloud. The transit process begins after the file structure has been analyzed and the list of the files to be transmitted is finalized.

Monitoring

Now we monitor your site daily for changes, and send a change alert email to you if there are any.

CodeGuard notifies you anytime anything changes within the source code of your website. Additions, modifications, and deletions between each version of your website can be viewed in your dashboard. Email notifications are also sent to inform users of what has changed. This is accomplished through two main vehicles: the front-end comparison analysis engine, and version control systems on the back-end.

To reduce the loads on our users’ servers, CodeGuard only transmits the files that have changed, as opposed to complete backups each time. The way CodeGuard determines which files have changed is with our comparison analysis engine. This engine lists and then compares the files with the previous backup. If any changes are found, only the changed files are transmitted.

Backup again

After monitoring we continuously backup your site again and again if we detect changes.

If the monitoring process detects any changes to the website source code, the files that changed or were added are transmitted to the CodeGuard repository. If any files are deleted, a record of the deletions is also transmitted to the repository. For deletions, those files are removed from the repository; additions are added and changed are overwritten to form a new version of the backup, which is shown within the user’s dashboard.

Since database files can be reduced to small sizes, CodeGuard transmits the entire database, which is compared with the previous version; if changes are found, a new version appears in the user’s dashboard.

Restore your data

Finally, you can restore your site back to any previous version with the click of a button.