# Complete recovery

This recovery procedure has been tested a few times, but your configuration might vary considerably from this example. Here we will use a local installation case, using PhpMyAdmin and a backup of the Chamilo root directory. For a remote server, it would require SSH / SFTP or FTP access to the server.

This recovery might be necessary after you mistakenly delete some or all of the Chamilo databases, or after serious damage has been caused on your server by a cracker.

1. Copy the backup file into the root directory (/var/www) and unzip it. Keeping the same directories structure allows you not to loose some of the pre-configured access path to some data.
2. Import the database backup from PhpMyAdmin (after removing the previous database if it was still present).
3. Connect to your site and check everything is in order.

The backup contains users, passwords, courses, learning paths, and all the resources of your portal.

We actively recommend taking automatic backups on **another** server at least once a day for critical Chamilo servers.


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.chamilo.org/1.11.x/admin-guide/backups/readme.3/complete_recovery.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.