Solid Backups – NextGen FAQs

How do I create a local destination for my Backups? #

Solid Backups—NextGen will no longer utilize third-party cloud storage providers and will no longer slow down websites by taking up your hosted disk space with local storage. 

Instead, Solid Backups —NextGen utilizes the reliable and secure SolidWP cloud storage space where copies of your website(s) backup files can be downloaded from the Central Timeline page whenever needed. 

How long are backups retained? #

The backups created with Solid Backups —NextGen are retained based on your selection during enrollment. You can store backups for 7 days, 30 days, 120 days, or 1 year.

If you disconnect a site from Solid Central and that site is enrolled in Solid Backups – NextGen, the previous backups and other data associated with the site will be retained for 7 days before being permanently deleted.

Can I change the data center region used to store my backups? #

Solid Backups – NextGen now supports both US (default) and EU data center regions. You can update your region in Solid Central if needed—for example, to meet compliance requirements or adjust to new business needs.

How to change your backup region:

1. Log in to Solid Central.
2. From the Sites list, select the site you want to update.
3. On the Site dashboard, open the Backups – NextGen tab.
4. Choose a new data center region (US or EU) and save your changes.

From that point forward, all scheduled and manual backups will be stored in the newly selected region.

Important: Changing the data center region will permanently remove all backups stored in the previous region. Be sure to download a copy of your site’s latest backup before making this change to prevent data loss.

Can I migrate a site with Solid Backups – NextGen? #

Though there is no migration feature or wizard, there is a rather reliable way to do it using Solid Backups—NextGen.

To migrate a site, you’ll need to:

1. Enroll a site in Solid Backups —NextGen and allow at least one backup to complete.
2. Modify the enrolled site’s server credentials so that it connects to the new site server. Note: the new server must have a wp-config.php file in it
3. Initiate a site restore to the newly connected site server.

So, though no migration system is in place, following the steps above has successfully migrated websites to new server environments without issues. 

Why do you need SSH/SFTP access? #

Solid Backups – NextGen requires SSH (Secure Shell) or SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) access because these methods provide secure access to the server, ensuring that the software can communicate (backup and restore) to your server safely without exposing it to possible vulnerabilities from insecure methods or protocols.

SSH and SFTP methods also efficiently handle the transfer of large backups and restores and offer the flexibility to automate the backup and restore process.

Why can’t I connect as root? #

Solid Backups—NextGen For security reasons, does not support connecting to your server via SSH as root. It should not have root-level access to your server at any point.

We recommend creating a non-root user and use it to proceed with the connection.

Could server firewalls and other threat mitigation mechanisms cause problems with Backups – NextGen?  #

Yes, server firewalls and similar mechanisms can interfere with the functionality of Solid Backups – NextGen. 

We recommend adding Solid Central and/or Solid Backups—NextGen IPs to your mechanism’s allow list method.

For users using cPanel, if ConfigServer Security & Firewall is running WHM, here’s how to add the IPs to the allowlist.

What IP address(es) might need to be added to an allow list? #

Solid Backups – NextGen: 207.246.255.233 and 207.246.255.133

Solid Central: 207.246.254.118 and 207.246.255.233 and 207.246.255.133

Cloudflare Firewall vs Server Firewall #

Cloudflare WAF (or similar) filters web traffic before it reaches your server, while a server-level firewall manages direct access to your server. That’s why it’s recommended that you use both.

Allow listing in Cloudflare lets trusted IPs bypass the WAF and/or DDOS protections in place while allowing listing on a server level, which provides fine-grained control for direct access to the server.

I get the following error: Solid Backups could not verify the license of your site. Failed to preform license check #

This error indicates that wp-cli is either not installed or the user you have provided NextGen does not have the correct permissions to run wp-cli, specifically this command:

wp ithemes-licensing show solid-backups

Your host can help with getting wp-cli properly configured for NextGen by asking them to confirm that the above command can be run with the SSH/SFTP user that you have provided Solid Backups — NextGen.

Other possible causes:

• This error can also occur when the server’s PHP environment is missing the Phar extension. This is required for wp-cli to work, especially for the automated (non-interactive) connections NextGen uses. Your host will need to ensure that the server’s default PHP environment has the Phar extension enabled for all connection types.
• Another cause of this error is having this line defined on your wp-config.php file: require 'wp-salt.php'; which prevents WP-CLI from running properly outside the WordPress root directory, which NextGen relies on. To resolve this, update the line to require __DIR__ . '/wp-salt.php'; or reach out to your hosting provider and have them update it for you, so that WP-CLI can execute in non-interactive mode.

For detailed troubleshooting steps, see Troubleshooting Solid Backups – NextGen Backup and License Errors.

I get the following error: Solid Backups could not complete the requested backup. Solid Backups did not complete backing up your database. #

If your connection to Solid Central succeeds but the backup fails with an error about the database, the issue usually occurs during the MySQL dump or file archiving process.

Common Causes:

• The database user doesn’t have permission to lock tables or read all database contents.
• The server terminates the MySQL connection during large table exports.
• The backup process is interrupted by PHP memory or execution time limits.

Note: These technical details appear only in internal logs. If your backup fails repeatedly, share the error reference number with the SolidWP Support Team so they can review the log and identify the cause.

For detailed troubleshooting steps, see Troubleshooting Solid Backups – NextGen Backup and License Errors.

I enrolled my site to Solid Backups — NextGen, but nothing happened. What should I do? #

If you tried to enroll your site in Solid Backups — NextGen but nothing seemed to happen—no error message and no confirmation—the onboarding process may be looping because the site is already connected.

In this case, navigate to your Central dashboard and check if the site is listed on the Sites screen. If it appears there, follow these steps to double-check:

1. Click the domain to open the site’s settings.
2. Navigate to the Backups — NextGen tab to confirm if the site is already enrolled.
3. If it is, the system may be waiting for you to finish configuring your server credentials.