Setting up clean URLs

The steps outlined in the video for enabling mod_rewrite (which is the Apache program that makes "Clean URLs" otherwise known as "search engine friendly URLs" possible), are not generally necessary (though handy to know, if you do need to troubleshoot). The steps outlined in the video were necessary due to the .htaccess file being missing from earlier in the installation. Please ensure you read and follow the advice in the previous section of this guide regarding properly installing Drupal's files on a Mac or other Unix-based operating system.

Backing up your Drupal site

So long as your database is relatively small, phpMyAdmin will suffice for backing up. However a larger database has the potential for causing phpMyAdmin to time out before completing the backup, causing the backup to fail. If this happens, you can run the mysqldump command using the OS X Terminal, or Windows command prompt, which will not time out with large databases. Also, while you cannot do this on your "live" Drupal site once it is uploaded to your hosting company's server, while working on your local server Drupal's database is stored in a directory on your computer, which can be copied and pasted to backup whenever you want (in MAMP, the location is /Applications/MAMP/db/mysql/yourdatabasename).

If you're using a Mac as in the video, in order to ensure that all hidden files (such as .htaccess) are properly included when you backup your site, I'd encourage you to right click (control click) on your Drupal installation's folder and choose Compress "yoursitename". That will immediately make a compressed copy of your site, including the hidden files. You won't need to make a copy of the files first.

Restoring your Drupal site from backup

It's important to note that you should never "test" your database backup by removing your real database and importing the backup in its place. Learn more about how to safely test the integrity of your backup "without" risking your real data: (add link to article)

Updating Drupal

This video outlines how to update Drupal core from one version to another, as well as how to update a module. As with originally installing Drupal, the .htaccess file was left out accidentally, so you will want to keep that in mind.

Through it is recommended in the UPGRADE.txt file that comes with Drupal, in practice it is not actually necessary to disable all contributed modules and themes before running a "minor upgrade", for example 6.3 to 6.4 (and on a complex Drupal site would become an significant hassle to do every time if it were required). When you upgrade to a new "major" version of Drupal (for instance 5 to 6) however, then you should definitely disable all contributed modules and themes before upgrading.

Regarding updating a module, one step was left out, which was to run update.php after copying the new module's files (update.php is responsible for updating the database tables of modules as well as Drupal core). Not all modules require database updates every time you upgrade them, but many often do. It is a good habit to always run update.php after installing a new update for a module.