According to an online etymology, dictionary backup (or to be more exact back up) means stand behind and support or just support. The noun meaning of the same word is reserve or standby. The meaning specifically related to the computing could be expressed as a copy or duplicate version of a file, program or entire computer system, retained for use in the event that the original is in some way rendered unusable.

To help you understand better the importance of having adequate backup strategies, a simple fact is that any server will fail at some point. Failure can be caused by numerous reasons but all causes can be divided in two major groups—hardware failures and software failures. Hardware can (and at some point will) fail due to reasons like design flaws, poor production quality commonly viewed in new types of devices with less than perfect quality assurance process, or simple wear out that happens usually after a component has reached the end of its projected useful life. Software failures are even more common. It is estimated that all software has at least a moderate amount of bugs. There are more chances for existence of undiscovered bugs in the more complex software. In 2002 the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released the results of a survey showing that software bugs and errors cost the US economy USD 59.5 billion per year. All this shows that it is not only recommended to have backup strategy but it is an essential process in having and maintaining a production Moodle server.

As a web application Moodle consists of three crucial elements that must be backed up:

You would also need to have clear and exact installation and configuration documentation that outlines the steps needed to setup your production server from scratch. But before going into all the details regarding that process let us see what Moodle itself offers in that area.