🎉 WordPress Backup to Yandex Cloud: mysqldump, rclone and Telegram Notifications

Running a site on WordPress is great, but data reliability and security are a priority. Regular backups protect the project from errors, attacks, and failures. In this guide we’ll look at how to create an automatic WordPress backup using:

• mysqldump — for the database,
• rclone — for uploading to Yandex Cloud,
• curl — for notifications in Telegram.

🛠️ Step 1. Creating a Local Backup

1.1 Checking WordPress Configuration

The wp-config.php file is located in the site root (/var/www/ваш_сайт/wp-config.php):

define('DB_NAME', 'ваш_db_name');
define('DB_USER', 'ваш_db_user');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'ваш_db_password');

Write down the database connection parameters.

1.2 Backing Up Site Files

mkdir -p /home/backup/
cd /var/www/ваш_сайт/
tar -czf /home/backup/wp_files_$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz .

This produces an archive with themes, plugins, and media files.

1.3 Backing Up the Database

mysqldump -u ваш_db_user -pваш_db_password ваш_db_name | gzip > /home/backup/wp_db_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

To avoid storing the password in the command, create the file ~/.my.cnf:

[mysqldump]
user=ваш_db_user
password=ваш_db_password

Permissions:

chmod 600 ~/.my.cnf

Now:

mysqldump ваш_db_name | gzip > /home/backup/wp_db_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

In /home/backup/ there will be two files: wp_files_YYYYMMDD.tar.gz and wp_db_YYYYMMDD.sql.gz.

☁️ Step 2. Setting up Yandex Cloud and rclone

2.1 Installing rclone

sudo apt update && sudo apt install rclone -y

For other systems see rclone.org.

2.2 Obtaining Access Keys

1. Sign in to the Yandex Cloud Console.

2. Create a service account in IAM.

3. Create a static access key and note:

   • Access Key ID
   • Secret Access Key

Do not publish the keys.

2.3 Configuring rclone

rclone config

• n — create a new remote.

• Name: yandex_storage.

• Type: S3.

• Provider: Amazon S3 Compliant Storage.

• Enter:

  • access_key_id: your key
  • secret_access_key: your secret
  • endpoint: https://storage.yandexcloud.net

🚀 Step 3. Uploading the Backup to Yandex Cloud

Create a bucket, for example wp-backups-example.

rclone copy /home/backup/ yandex_storage:wp-backups-example/ --log-file /home/backup/rclone.log

To automatically remove old archives enable Lifecycle Policy in the bucket settings (for example, delete files older than 30 days).

📬 Step 4. Telegram Notifications

4.1 Creating a Bot

1. In Telegram open @BotFather.

2. Send /newbot.

3. Get the token:

   123456:ABC-DEF1234ghIkl-zyx57W2v1u123ew11
   

4.2 Obtaining the Chat ID

Send a message to the bot, then run:

curl -s "https://api.telegram.org/botВАШ_ТОКЕН/getUpdates"

Find "chat":{"id":...} — this is your CHAT_ID.

4.3 Test Message

curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/botВАШ_ТОКЕН/sendMessage" \
     -d chat_id=ВАШ_CHAT_ID \
     -d text="Тестовое сообщение"

⏱️ Step 5. Automation with Cron

Create the file /home/backup/daily_backup.sh:

#!/bin/bash
SITE_DIR="/var/www/ваш_сайт/"
BACKUP_DIR="/home/backup/"
DB_NAME="ваш_db_name"
DB_USER="ваш_db_user"
DB_PASS="ваш_db_password"
RCLONE_REMOTE="yandex_storage"
BUCKET_NAME="wp-backups-example"
LOG_FILE="/home/backup/backup.log"
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN="ВАШ_ТОКЕН"
TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID="ВАШ_CHAT_ID"

send_telegram() {
    local message="$1"
    curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}/sendMessage" \
         -d chat_id="${TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID}" \
         -d text="${message}" >> "${LOG_FILE}" 2>&1
}

if [[ ! -d "$SITE_DIR" ]] || [[ ! -d "$BACKUP_DIR" ]]; then
    echo "Ошибка: директория отсутствует" >> "$LOG_FILE"
    send_telegram "Ошибка бэкапа: нет директории"
    exit 1
fi

cd "$SITE_DIR" || { send_telegram "Ошибка перехода в директорию"; exit 1; }
tar -czf "${BACKUP_DIR}wp_files_$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz" . || { send_telegram "Ошибка архивации"; exit 1; }
mysqldump -u "$DB_USER" -p"$DB_PASS" "$DB_NAME" | gzip > "${BACKUP_DIR}wp_db_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz" || { send_telegram "Ошибка дампа БД"; exit 1; }
rclone copy "$BACKUP_DIR" "${RCLONE_REMOTE}:${BUCKET_NAME}/" --log-file "$LOG_FILE" || { send_telegram "Ошибка загрузки в облако"; exit 1; }
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -type f -mtime +7 -delete
send_telegram "✅ Бэкап успешно завершён: $(date)"

Make it executable:

chmod +x /home/backup/daily_backup.sh

Add the job to Cron:

crontab -e

0 3 * * * /home/backup/daily_backup.sh >> /home/backup/backup.log 2>&1

✅ Recommendations

• Test restores. Verify that backups actually work.
• Use Lifecycle Policy. Delete old backups.
• Telegram secrets. Store the token and chat_id in a secure file.
• For large sites: consider incremental backups or plugins like UpdraftPlus and Duplicator.

Congratulations — your WordPress is now protected by automatic backups in Yandex Cloud with notifications in Telegram.