VPS HOSTING

Backup and Restore Your VPS

Updated: December 2024
14 min read

Protect your data with regular backups. This comprehensive guide covers multiple backup strategies and restore procedures for your VPS.

Critical: Back Up Your Data

Server failures can happen. Hardware fails, software bugs occur, and human errors are common. The 3-2-1 rule: Keep 3 copies of your data, on 2 different storage types, with 1 copy offsite.

Table of Contents

  1. 1. Backup Methods Overview
  2. 2. File-Level Backups
  3. 3. Database Backups
  4. 4. Full Server Backups
  5. 5. Automated Backup Scripts
  6. 6. Restore Procedures

Backup Methods Overview

File-Level

Backup specific files and directories

  • • Fast and selective
  • • Small backup size
  • • Easy to restore single files

Database

Export database contents

  • • Consistent data state
  • • Can be automated
  • • Portable across servers

Full Server

Complete system image

  • • Everything included
  • • Fastest disaster recovery
  • • Large storage needed

File-Level Backups

Using rsync (Recommended)

Rsync efficiently copies only changed files:

# Install rsync
sudo apt install rsync -y

# Backup to local directory
rsync -avz --progress /var/www/ /backups/www-backup/

# Backup to remote server
rsync -avz --progress /var/www/ user@backup-server:/backups/www/

# Exclude certain files
rsync -avz --exclude 'cache' --exclude '*.log' /var/www/ /backups/www/

Using tar Archives

# Create compressed backup
tar -czf /backups/www-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /var/www/

# Create backup with progress
tar -czf - /var/www/ | pv > /backups/www-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz

# Extract backup
tar -xzf /backups/www-20241205.tar.gz -C /restore/location/

Important Directories to Backup

  • /var/www/ - Web files
  • /etc/ - Configuration files
  • /home/ - User home directories
  • /opt/ - Optional software
  • /root/ - Root user files

Database Backups

MySQL/MariaDB Backup

# Single database
mysqldump -u root -p database_name > /backups/db-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

# All databases
mysqldump -u root -p --all-databases > /backups/all-dbs-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

# With compression
mysqldump -u root -p database_name | gzip > /backups/db-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

# Exclude certain tables
mysqldump -u root -p database_name --ignore-table=database_name.cache > backup.sql

PostgreSQL Backup

# Single database
pg_dump database_name > /backups/pgdb-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

# All databases
pg_dumpall > /backups/all-pgdbs-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

# With compression
pg_dump database_name | gzip > /backups/pgdb-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

Restore Database

# MySQL restore
mysql -u root -p database_name < /backups/db-20241205.sql

# From compressed file
gunzip < /backups/db-20241205.sql.gz | mysql -u root -p database_name

# PostgreSQL restore
psql database_name < /backups/pgdb-20241205.sql

Important

Always test your database backups by restoring to a test database. A backup you can't restore is worthless!

Full Server Backups

Snapshot Backups (Control Panel)

X-ZoneServers offers snapshot backups via control panel:

  1. 1. Log into your client area
  2. 2. Navigate to your VPS
  3. 3. Click "Snapshots" or "Backups"
  4. 4. Create new snapshot (takes 5-15 minutes)
  5. 5. Restore from snapshot with one click

Pro Tip

Create a snapshot before major updates or changes. It's the fastest way to roll back if something goes wrong.

Manual Full System Backup

# Backup entire system (excluding /proc, /sys, /dev, /run)
sudo tar -czpf /backups/full-system-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz \
  --exclude=/proc \
  --exclude=/sys \
  --exclude=/dev \
  --exclude=/run \
  --exclude=/mnt \
  --exclude=/media \
  --exclude=/tmp \
  --exclude=/backups \
  /

# This creates a complete backup but will be large (10-50GB+)

Automated Backup Scripts

Complete Backup Script

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/backup.sh

Add this script:

#!/bin/bash

# Configuration
BACKUP_DIR="/var/backups"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
RETENTION_DAYS=7

# Create backup directory
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Backup web files
echo "Backing up web files..."
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/www-$DATE.tar.gz /var/www/

# Backup databases
echo "Backing up databases..."
mysqldump -u root -p'YOUR_PASSWORD' --all-databases | gzip > $BACKUP_DIR/databases-$DATE.sql.gz

# Backup configurations
echo "Backing up configurations..."
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/etc-$DATE.tar.gz /etc/

# Delete old backups (keep last 7 days)
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.tar.gz" -mtime +$RETENTION_DAYS -delete
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.sql.gz" -mtime +$RETENTION_DAYS -delete

# Log completion
echo "Backup completed: $DATE" >> $BACKUP_DIR/backup.log

# Optional: Upload to remote storage
# rsync -avz $BACKUP_DIR/ user@remote:/backups/

Make Script Executable

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/backup.sh

Schedule with Cron

# Edit crontab
sudo crontab -e

# Run daily at 2 AM
0 2 * * * /usr/local/bin/backup.sh

# Run weekly on Sunday at 3 AM
0 3 * * 0 /usr/local/bin/backup.sh

# Run twice daily (2 AM and 2 PM)
0 2,14 * * * /usr/local/bin/backup.sh

Restore Procedures

Restore Files

# Extract entire backup
tar -xzf /backups/www-20241205.tar.gz -C /

# Extract to specific location
tar -xzf /backups/www-20241205.tar.gz -C /restore/temp/

# Extract single file
tar -xzf /backups/www-20241205.tar.gz /var/www/index.html

Restore from Snapshot

  1. 1. Log into control panel
  2. 2. Navigate to Snapshots
  3. 3. Select snapshot to restore
  4. 4. Click "Restore" (server will reboot)
  5. 5. Wait 5-10 minutes for completion
  6. 6. Verify all services are running

Warning

Restoring a snapshot will overwrite ALL current data on your server. Make sure you have recent backups before restoring!

Disaster Recovery Checklist

  1. 1
    Assess the damage - what data is lost?
  2. 2
    Stop all services to prevent further damage
  3. 3
    Locate your most recent backups
  4. 4
    Test backups in a safe environment first
  5. 5
    Restore data systematically (databases first, then files)
  6. 6
    Verify all services are working
  7. 7
    Document what happened and improve backup strategy

Backup Best Practices

Frequency

  • • Critical data: Daily
  • • Website files: Daily or weekly
  • • Configurations: After changes
  • • Full snapshots: Weekly

Storage Location

  • • Never store backups only on the same server
  • • Use remote servers or cloud storage
  • • Keep 3 copies minimum (3-2-1 rule)
  • • Offsite location for disasters

Testing

  • • Test restores monthly
  • • Verify backup integrity
  • • Document restore procedures
  • • Time how long restores take

Retention

  • • Keep daily backups for 7 days
  • • Keep weekly backups for 4 weeks
  • • Keep monthly backups for 6-12 months
  • • Automatic cleanup old backups

Backup Checklist

  • ✓ Automated daily backups configured
  • ✓ Backups stored offsite
  • ✓ Database backups separate from files
  • ✓ Tested restore procedure at least once
  • ✓ Backup monitoring/alerts enabled
  • ✓ Documented recovery process

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