Course Backup Management Strategies for Moodle

Moodle can automatically create compressed course archive files, but managing those backup files is non-trivial. At CSU Monterey Bay we implemented a backup management strategy similar to Apple’s “Time Machine™” whereby daily backups are maintained for 28 days, then weekly backups are maintained for six months, and then one final archive of the course is maintained for two years, after which the archive is copied to an area to be downloaded and burned to DVD. These backups are maintained on a separate server from the LMS, on a networked file share that use inexpensive, slow disks.