Yes...cPanel will do it, which is why I asked. The OP said he was using FTP, which most definitely isn't going to get the databases. @jrbiz You can create and download a full backup from within cPanel, or backup the databases in cPanel and then FTP all the files to your home computer. Look for "Backup" from within cPanel and you should see all sorts of options. If you need any help, let me know.
Hi, Thanks again for this help. I went into cpanel and found the backup wizard and ran and downloaded a "full" backup. There was a warning in the instructions that a full backup cannot be used to restore a website? Does that mean that I should do the partial backups, as well? Sorry for my lack of tech knowledge and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this. Perhaps I can return the favor on the sales/marketing side of things for you sometime in the future. (I have been a high tech sales/marketing exec for 20+ years.)
I definitely appreciate it, but no worries. Some day I'll need help and somebody will do it too, I'm sure. The full backup cannot be restored by YOU, which is why it's confusing. It has to be restored by the host, unless you have a VPS or dedicated server, in which case you can do it yourself. They would take that file and restore it for you. That contains literally everything...the files, the databases, the emails, all the settings, etc. The home directory backup contains everything in /home. That you can restore yourself from any cPanel hosting account. If you are just looking for the site itself and not emails, etc., you could download a copy of each database (also under backups) and then FTP the files to your home computer.
Okay, thanks. I will do the partial backups, as well, just to be safe. I really appreciate your help!
99.9% uptime, 24/7/365 support, large bandwidth and disk space and true cPanel use as well as good security are all good areas to check to make sure you are choosing a top web hosting provider. Rule number one of hosting and website upkeep should always be to take your own backups. Many top host will provide you with daily backups but keeping your own copy is the best practice.
Good quality hardware, reliable, scalable, secured servers, uptime guarantee, 24/7 fast support services, fully managed hosting, variety of addons etc are important customers are looking for.
Sharing of my past experience with my hosting provider, you will need a really good sales support and technical support team and make sure they collaborate well with each other. Also a good add on will do too, as my hosting provider are providing an integrated add on with third party CDN provider and give away a great cache software of their own which is really blitzfast if you combine them, this is definitely the kind of competitive advantage you should have and show on your sales page to generate sales.
Thank you very much for the reply's and offers. will listen to them when we will finally offer hosting services abroad.