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Back up, update, restore

The safe routine for keeping a Tiger site current: take a backup, apply updates, check the site, and know how to roll back if something's wrong. Everything here runs from the admin, so it works on shared hosting with no shell access.

1. Take a backup

Open Admin → Backup (/backup) and run a backup with:

  • Database and Media ticked — your content and uploads.
  • Modules and Platform ticked too before an update — your app code and configuration.
  • Include secrets on, if the backup stays on this server. Your site's encryption key and password pepper live in that file, and a restore without them can't read encrypted settings. Leave it off for an archive you'll store somewhere less trusted, and keep a separate copy of application/configs/local.ini.

Download the zip if you want an off-server copy. A backup you start by hand is kept until you delete it.

For an automatic routine, switch on the schedule on the same screen: a daily backup, keeping the last 7.

2. Update

Open Admin → Modules → Update (/system/updates). It lists everything with an update waiting: TigerCore and each installed module. Click Update, or Update All.

Updates replace only Tiger-owned code (vendor/ and the module folders). Your content, settings and your own modules are untouched. Database changes that come with an update apply automatically.

Paid modules update through their license: an active license updates normally; a lapsed one shows "renew to update" and keeps running the version you have. Nothing is ever switched off.

With a shell, the equivalent is:

composer update webtigers/tiger-core
bin/tiger migrate

3. Check the site

Look at what matters to you, not just the home page:

  • a few public pages, including one deep link (a blog post, a product);
  • sign in and open the admin;
  • anything you use daily — a form, the shop checkout, the editor.

Hard-refresh your browser if a style looks stale. Tiger cache-busts its assets, but your browser may still hold the old file.

4. If something's wrong: restore

Open Admin → Backup, choose the backup you took in step 1, and Restore. You'll be asked to type RESTORE to confirm, because a restore overwrites live data.

Restore is built to fail safe:

  1. The site goes into maintenance mode while it runs.
  2. Before overwriting anything, it makes a safety backup of exactly what it's about to replace. If the restore fails partway, that safety backup is your way back.
  3. The database is restored first, then files, so a database failure leaves your files untouched.

You can restore the whole archive or just some of it — for example, the database only. To restore on a new server, upload the zip on the Backup screen instead.

If it's a security issue, report it to security@webtigers.com. Otherwise, contact WebTigers support.

Keeping your own code safe across updates

  • Put your custom work in your own modules (application/modules) and themes, never inside vendor/ — anything there is replaced on update.
  • Change behavior by extending Tiger: config overrides, subclasses, your own module. Don't edit Tiger's files.
  • Keep your app in git. A backup protects your data; git protects your code and shows exactly what changed.