Backups

A backup is a copy of every file on the server. Take one before you change anything that matters, and you have a way back.

Open your server and click Backups.

Take one#

1. Click New backup.
2. Put something in Name if you want. Optional. Leave it blank and the date is used instead.
3. Click Create backup.

The server keeps running while it is packed, so a busy server packs a little slower. The row shows Packing while it works and Ready when it is done. The list updates itself.

Good names describe what you are about to do: before the plugin update, before wiping the map.

You can take six backups in ten minutes. That is plenty for normal use and it stops a runaway schedule filling your storage.

The limit#

The chip at the top shows how many backups you are holding and how many your plan allows. When they are all in use, download one you want to keep and delete it to make room.

If you need more room permanently, the Additional backup slot add-on raises the number. See Add-ons.

Restore one#

This is the destructive one. Read it properly.

1. Find the backup and click Restore.
2. Type RESTORE to confirm.
3. Click Restore this backup.

Every file on the server is replaced by the ones in that backup. Anything written since it was taken, including worlds, player data, logs and configuration, is gone and cannot be brought back.

The server is stopped while the files are put back, so expect downtime for as long as the archive takes to unpack. Once it is done, start it again from the Console.

If the current files might still matter, take a backup of them first. Then you have both and you can change your mind.

Download one#

Click Download on a ready backup. You get the whole archive.

This is the only way to get a copy of the server that survives the service going away, and the only way to take a complete copy of a folder off the server. Keep one somewhere of your own for anything you would hate to lose.

Delete one#

Click Delete and confirm. The archive is removed from our storage. The running server is untouched, but that restore point is gone for good. Download it first if you want to keep a copy.

What a backup covers#

Every file on the server. That is the files, the worlds, the plugins, the mods and the configuration.

Databases are not included. If your plugins keep data in a MySQL database, a backup of the files does not cover it, and restoring the files does not roll the database back. Export the database separately. See Databases.

A backup is also not a snapshot of a running state. It is taken while the server runs, so a world being written to at that moment may be caught mid-write. For a clean copy of a world, stop the server first, then take the backup.

Automating it#

A schedule can take a backup on its own, so you can have one every night without thinking about it. Set the schedule to stop the server, take the backup and start it again if you want the clean version.

Remember the limit. A nightly backup with a limit of three means you hold the last three nights, no more.

There is no backup lock#

Some panels let you mark a backup so it cannot be deleted. This one does not. Nothing stops a schedule or a team member removing a backup you wanted to keep, so download the ones that really matter.