Backup is an integral part of data security. Creating backups ensures protection against the loss of valuable files, allowing for their restoration in case of failures, errors, or unexpected situations. In this article, we will explore the process of creating and restoring backups on our hosting platform. This information is also relevant for virtual/dedicated servers with the ISPManager4 panel.

On all shared hosting servers, data backup is performed automatically by the administration’s task. Administrative backups can be viewed in the Backup archives tab and are in the format admin-1_full-date-created. These backups are stored on a different server and do not occupy space on your hosting account. You can always download them to your PC by selecting the appropriate copy and clicking Download. Additionally, they can be used to restore your hosting account or its individual data.

Ond virtual and dedicated servers, administrative copies are not created. Therefore, to ensure the safety of your data, we recommend setting up your own backup task. You can find more detailed information about snapshots and backups for virtual servers here.

Setting up Backup Task in ISPManager4

You can independently configure a backup task in the ISPManager4 panel as follows:

1. Go to the Backup plan management tab. In the top right corner, click the New button.

2. In the open properties window for the future task, you can specify its settings: where to store your backups, which archiver to use, how often and at what time to perform it, and how many backups to keep before deleting/overwriting them. We recommend setting the backup execution time at night when the traffic to your sites is minimal. If desired, you can use the settings from the screenshot below.

3. You can also choose which specific data will be archived according to your task. To do this, select the existing task and click the Content button in the upper right corner. In the open window, you can add/remove data subject to backup under your task.

4. The task is created and configured. The next archive will be recorded in the period you specified when creating it. You don’t have to wait for this date; you can start the task execution out of turn. To do this, select it with the mouse and click the Backup button in the upper right corner.

Restoring from Backup

Restoration can be performed both entirely and partially.

If you choose a backup and click Restore, the entire account, all files, databases, and panel settings will be restored to the date when the copy was created.

You can also restore individual elements. If you select the backup and click Content (or double-click with the mouse), the elements of the backup will be opened.

For example, here you can double-click MySQL databases and then restore a specific database. Alternatively, you can go to Files - WWW and then select the folder of a specific site and restore only it. In this way, you can navigate to any folder and restore any individual file. In the screenshot below, only the directory with the files of the site example.theweb.place will be restored.