Category: Backups

Rsync Backup

The Rsync Backup is another type of offsite backup. It is a pull service unlike FTP backup/repo. This backup service will pull the files from your production server. It uses SSH connection and is more flexible. The process creates full and incremental backups. You can also set the backup interval to hourly, daily, weekly or monthly. Rsync Backup is also good for large sites or huge amount of files.

Features:

  • Interval – hourly, daily, weekly or monthly
  • Full and incremental backups
  • SSH connection
  • For large sites with too many files
  • No file size limit

Please submit a ticket for us to configure for your server.

Additional notes:

  • While the Rsync Backup can backup large sites with many files the process will take longer depending the number of files and size of files. For large sites it could take hours for the backup process to complete.
  • No offsite backup

FTP Repo

Our FTP Repo service can be used for storing your archives or backups that does not need to be accessible via web browser. Ideal for long term storage or infrequently accessed files. It is also good for temporarily storing your web site that need to hold for development and plan to restore in the future.

Features:

  • No public web/http/https access
  • Shared Environment
  • Redundant Storage (RAID)
  • 1gb max upload file size
  • FTP access
  • Offsite Backup

Use Cases:

  • Offsite backup for small sites
  • Archive storage

Additional Notes:

– The offsite backup is stored in another data center for disaster recovery or hardware failure. It is NOT meant for reverting files or data in case you accidentally deleted a file in your repository.

Managing your backups

Backups are meant for disaster recovery. They are used to restore as much data that is possible to recover. IT IS NOT meant for reverting codes/content or data in the database unless there is no other way. We recommend getting a dev/staging site or dev/staging server.

Restoring from a backup will restore your entire site to the backup date.

It is very important to manage your backups. Please keep in mind that we only provide the storage and manage the storage servers. We do not make any guarantee on backup data/file integrity. Backup systems are very complex. As much as possible you need to keep your backup size small. Large backup sizes usually get corrupted.

To create a backup in your hosting panel:

user > (webuser) > login as (webuser) > backup >create backup

To download your backups:

Log in to your offsite backup via FTP.

To adjust the backup time or frequency (using admin user):

cron > “sudo /usr/local/vesta/bin/v-backup-users” > edit

You can change the cron time/schedule to fit your needs.

To change the backup count/total (using admin user):

packages > your web package > edit

Backups: 3

Change “3” to your desired total number of backups to be generated.

Optimizing your backup:

1. Offload/Separate your media files into another storage

Uploading your photos/images/video/music to another storage system will make your site size very small. You can use our Storage Servers or other external storage.

2. Exclude directories

In your hosting panel

user > (Webuser) > “LOGIN AS (WEBUSER)” > backup > backup exclusions > configure

Web Domains:
yourdomain.com:public_html/wp-content/uploads

In the example entry above it is the WordPress media directory. Most of the files in the “uploads” directory are user uploaded content. Images and other media files are hard to compress making the backup size huge and prone to data corruption.

3. Remove unused files or archives

In best practice, you should not store files or achives inside the “public_html” or even inside your user root directory “/home/yourwebuser”. The backup system will process all files inside each web user directory.

IMPORTANT:

Keep your site size including the database less than the available disk space of your server. If you your available space is 10gb then your site should be less than 10gb.

Free Offsite Backups

Our Free Offsite Backups uses FTP protocol. It is used as repository for your backup files. It is on a shared environment. You can configure the backup frequency/interval from your hosting panel.

Features:
– 20gb disk space
– Redundant Storage
– 200gb bandwidth
– 10gb network
– 100mb max file size
– FTP access to download archive/backup files

Recommendations:

  • We recommend getting our Managed Backup Servers specially if your site is getting big.
  • If you are in a tight budget and your backup site is hitting the limits of our Free Offsite Backup you can get the FTP Repo.
  • Optimize your backup – learn more

Important Notes:
– We do not guarantee anything on our backup servers or services. We only provide the storage and setup. We are not responsible for any data loss or corrupted files. You are responsible for your backup files, data integrity and checking if the backup process is working.

Managed Backup Servers

To get Managed Backup Servers just simply create Storage Servers from the dashboard. Then submit a support ticket if you wish for us to configure to your server or site.

Our automatic offsite backup service can be configured to daily, weekly or monthly for extra data protection. It is very important to have offsite backups in case of server issues, so you can restore important data.

It is recommended to have your backups outside your server in the event of hardware failure.

For large sites specially with large size database, too many photos/images, large size video files and archive files such as zip and tar files we recommend getting our backup server. It is very affordable and is dedicated environment.

If you are exceeding the limits of our free offsite backups, you will be notified to get the backup server.

We suggest minimizing the size of your site for more reliable backups. Big backup files are more prone to corrupted backup archives. If your site or database is getting near a giga size, then its time to plan for backup servers or services.

Backups are not meant for reverting codes, content or an upgrade of your script. There are other tools for that. However if you really need to restore important data then you could do so. We do not however offer restoration of specific data. You will need to do it yourself or hire a professional.

We do not give any guarantee on backups. We only offer the servers or storage.

We monitor all backup servers and manage its system.

Things you need to know: