How Reliable Is CodeGuard Backups?
CodeGuard’s systems perform at 99.9% levels. Recent tests conducted indicate that out of 1,000 websites tested, only 1 encountered an issue.
How Secure Is CodeGuard Backup?
CodeGuard relies upon industry best practices to protect customers’ data.
All backups and passwords are encrypted, secure connections (SFTP/SSH/SSL) are utilized if possible, and annual vulnerability testing is conducted by an independent agency.
To-date, there has not been a data breach or successful hack or attack upon CodeGuard.
How Long Has Codeguard Been Around?
CodeGuard was started in 2010, inspired by problems faced by small business owners.
Technology angel investors and venture capitalists funded CodeGuard in the early stages and the company is now profitably growing – so there is no need to worry about your backups going anywhere!
Where Are The CodeGuard Backups Stored?
Backups are stored on Amazon Web Services Simple Storage System, known as S3. S3 boasts object durability levels of 99.999999999%, achieved by storing redundant copies of data across multiple geographies and facilities.
S3 is not the cheapest alternative for data storage, but it is one of the most reliable.
Are The CodeGuard Backups Encrypted?
CodeGuard data is stored on Amazon Web Services (AWS) is stored utilizing Server Side Encryption (SSE).
AWS handles key management and key protection for us, with one of the strongest block ciphers available, 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256).
How Are Passwords Stored In CodeGuard?
Two different types of passwords are stored on CodeGuard system – the customer account passwords to log into CodeGuard, and passwords for customer server credentials (FTP/SFTP, MySQL).
The customer account passwords are stored with a one-way salted hash.
At rest, these passwords reside in Amazon’s Relational Database Service (RDS).
Customer server credential passwords are stored in RDS with RSA 2048-bit key encryption.
I Already Use Web Hosting Magic Backup. Won’t That Protect Me?
It is true that we do randomly back up our data on a certain days every week.
But mistakes happen.
We also do not back up suspended accounts.
What happens if your data is compromised and you have put in tons of work the other day before this happened?
You asked us a for a backup (which by the way is free up to 3 GB) and lo and behold, what we have is a week out of date.
CodeGuard provides safe, offsite backup that is 100% independent from what we provide as a complimentary service.
Will CodeGuard Work With My Website Or Blog CMS?
Yes – CodeGuard works the same way regardless of the type of website or platform you use! CodeGuard is compatible with most popular Content Management Systems like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and Magento.
If the platform you use meets the following above criteria, CodeGuard can be used for your website and database backup needs:
- You must have access to your website’s SFTP credentials in order to connect to CodeGuard.
- Your site must use MySQL or MariaDB database.
- If you are on unmanaged VPS or dedicated server customer, you should whitelist the following CodeGuard IP addresses so that we can remotely connect to your database:
- 54.236.233.46
- 54.236.233.28
- 54.174.91.34
- 54.174.153.212
- 54.174.115.171
How Does Backup Work?
All file content is retrieved for the first backup using the “get” command over SFTP.
Disk I/O is utilized as each file is retrieved and transferred to our servers.
CPU and memory needs are minimal.
Subsequent backups are differential and do not entail transferring all content.
This is achieved by utilizing the “ls – list” command and examining the metadata for each file: name, size, timestamp, file type, permissions, and last modified date.
If any of these have changed, or a new file has been added, CodeGuard will transfer the changed or added file to their servers.
If a file has been deleted, CodeGuard take note and adjust our repository accordingly.
Since only changed file content is transferred, the vast majority of subsequent backups cause minimal memory, CPU, and I/O server needs.
How Does The Restore/Undo Work?
When a customer seeks to restore a previous version of their website, the first thing CodeGuard does is to check the live website to see what content is on it.
This enables us to quickly push (or pull) the differences to or from your site.
For instance, you might experience a hack that changes your .htaccess file and nothing else.
Rather than reload your entire site, CodeGuard would simply replace the infected .htaccess file with your old clean copy.
Will It Bog Down My Server?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: See “How It Works” section, or the “How It Works” question on this page.
Will I Have To Set Up Cron Jobs To Use CodeGuard?
Nope.
What Credentials Will I Need?
Our system does these automatically once you have paid for your CodeGuard Backup services.
For general maintenance, you can either access CodeGuard via your Web Hosting Magic billing system or manually configure CodeGuard with the following information:
- Website URL
- Hostname/IP Address
- SFTP Username
- SFTP Password
- Port Number
- Root Directory
How Do I Reset My Password?
If you have forgotten your password, visit the password reset page to request a reset.
You will need to supply the email address associated with your CodeGuard account.
What If I Forgot The Email I Use For Login?
If you have forgotten the email address that you use for login with CodeGuard, we recommend that you contact our support team. Our support staff will help you get access to your account again and straighten out any other issues!.
How Do I Make My Password Secure?
CodeGuard takes password security very seriously, and we encourage you to do the same.
Here are some general guidelines to follow while creating a password:
Make it long
The longer the better.
One of the most common password cracking techniques online is a method known as “brute force” attacking.
Basically, the attacker will randomly try to guess as many different password combinations as they can in a short amount of time, hoping to eventually get lucky and “guess right” on what the password may be.
Password crackers are generally good at looking for common patterns as well, so it is probably best to avoid such combinations like “abc” or “123.”
Make it unpredictable
Variety is also a good technique to use when thinking of a good password.
This means that using uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, symbols and punctuation marks all in the same password are very good rules to follow.
If we look back at our average password cracker, if they were to know that a person’s password only consisted of lowercase letters, the number of combinations they would have to try before they guessed a password correct would decrease significantly.
So the more variety of characters you use, the harder it will be for an attacker to guess your password.
Make it memorable
It would be awesome if all of us could have unique passwords like “kh30.e”79JK039;/;&&“, but let’s face it, those are really hard to remember.
So what else can be done? Just remember that long passwords are still always the best way to go.
If it is easier to remember words, then try picking four random words out of your head and stringing them together.
An example could be, “billiards hippie pineapple juice.”
They are four random words that are strung together, making a really long password (29 characters long!) but it is also much easier to remember. These are called passphrases, and to make a passphrase even more secure you could try capitalizing some of the words or entering some numbers at the beginning or end.
Whatever password you end up choosing, rest assured that CodeGuard has taken every precaution to make sure that your passwords are stored safely, and kept far away from the hands of a password cracker.
A few final tips would be to not include personal information in your password (birthdate, name, phone number) or keep it on a sticky-note attached to your computer monitor.
Why Was My Credit Card Declined When I Wanted To Pay For CodeGuard?
There are a few reasons why your credit card may be declined on our payment page.
The most common reason is that the credit card number, CVV, or expiration date that was entered is incorrect.
Make sure to double check that these values are correct before trying again.
The payment processor that we currently use has had occasional problems with credit cards that are overseas.
You might also see this error if your issuer is not a participator. CodeGuard currently accepts all major credit cards such as Visa, American Express, MasterCard, and Discover.
Feel free to contact billing support for further help if it is needed.
We will do whatever we can to make sure your account is created successfully, and your websites are on their way to being protected!
How Are The Features Different Between Plans?
All plans allow for daily automatic backups, monitoring, and restores without limitation.
The main difference is that with the Pro plan you are allowed the option of a concierge restore.
A concierge restore is when the CodeGuard eveloper team takes personal time to oversee the process of your restore from beginning to end to ensure its success.
What If I Want To Switch Plans?
Switching plans is easy.
At any time you have the option to upgrade to a different plan through the customer dashboard when you log in.
Can I Backup Multiple Websites?
Yes, you can! Multiple websites can be backed up with CodeGuard.
Do CodeGuard Have A WordPress Plugin?
Yes! For those using WordPress we have a WordPress plugin for daily automatic website/database backups and automatic restore.
Setup takes less than 1 minute.
Do You Backup Databases?
Yes, we do. You have several options in backing up your databases.
CodeGuard can connect directly to your MySQL database, typically through Port 3306, or by tunneling over SSH with your FTP credentials or different credentials.
How Does Databases Backup Work?
A mysqldump command is executed each time we retrieve the database content.
Most MySQL databases are not large enough to create noticeable server load.
What Credentials Will I Need?
For adding your MySQL database, you will need the following information:
- Database Name
- Database Hostname or IP
- MySQL Username
- MySQL Password
- MySQL Port (Typically 3306)
If you are tunneling through SSH, you will also need the following information:
- SSH Username
- SSH Password
- SSP Port (22)
Will I Need To WhiteList Any IP Addresses?
If you are an unmanaged VPS or dedicated server customer, you will need to whitelist the following IP addresses:
- 54.236.233.46
- 54.236.233.28
- 54.174.91.34
- 54.174.153.212
- 54.174.115.171
What Types Of Databases Does CodeGuard Back Up?
At this time, CodeGuard is compatible with MySQL and MariaDB databases.
There are different types of MySQL database storage engines such as MyISAM and InnoDB, and CodeGuard is compatible with all of them.
There are some limitations with the MyISAM storage engine.
We can also back up a MariaDB database.
MariaDB is a community-developed fork of MySQL that has intentions of continuing high compatibility with MySQL databases.
Because of this compatibility, CodeGuard backups work well with MariaDB databases.
A few common database types that is not CodeGuard compatible with at this time are PostgreSQL, SQLite, and MongoDB.
Connections to MySQL databases are available through direct MySQL connections or by tunneling over SSH.
