Forum Backup In Laymans terms

[Lightnb]

I am trying to backup my forum. I went over all of the official documentation, and read some posts here relating to the subject, but they are all way beyond my comprehension, and assume too much knowledge on the part of the user.

If somone could please give me simple step by step instructions to backup a board it would be greatly appreciated. If there is a way to do it automatically, on a pre-determined schedual, that would be even better.

Thanks,

Nick

[raxafarian]

What don't you understand? Do you have ssh/telnet access? Backing up the MySQL database 'is' backing up the forums. If you store attachments in the file system, you should back them up too.

You do not have to backup the actual files in your /forums directory (unless you modified them)... just keep the file you downloaded from vbulletin.com. Those files do not change during operation of your forums. All posts, colors, users, etc. are kept in the database. The database IS your forum. Back it up! Best way is using mysqldump via telnet/ssh. The documentation is straightforward about it.