Server backups + disaster recovery

SSy

• May 10, 2016 00:24

I've always had nightmarish experiences with server backups with regards to disaster recovery. I've always had to manually recreate accounts here and there and was previously using Plesk. Now that I've moved completely over to cPanel and WHM, I want to gain an understanding of backing up the entire server in a method that will make recovery very easy. I've read posts from people that suggest rsyncing data, but I'm not keen on that because I'd rather operate through WHM in a manner where a restore is completed by the system itself. Is this the preferred method, and is that how the WHM Backup system works? So, for example, ideally I'd setup the WHM backup system to create local backups of the system configuration and the sites. Then I'd rsync those to external locations whenever I wanted to. However, those initial local backups - are they all I need? As in, if the server were to die, using only those files and a fresh WHM install, would I be able to recover everything without issue? Secondly - do other customizations get backed up in this manner? such as customizations in: /var/cpanel/customizations/includes/ or /var/cpanel/easy/apache/custom_opt_mods? Thanks.

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  SSy

  • May 14, 2016 18:36

  The documentation and WHM interface seems to be fine with restoring individual accounts, but what about the system settings and what not? I see that a 'system' directory is created by the backup system as well as the 'accounts' directory. How do you restore the 'system' directory?

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  SSy

  • May 14, 2016 23:16

  It seems the built in backup system is meant to work on an account by account basis. However how does one backup the WHM configuration, such as packages, tweaks, all that stuff? And how does one restore these things in the case of disaster recovery?

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  cPanelMichael

  • May 27, 2016 18:33

  I've read posts from people that suggest rsyncing data, but I'm not keen on that because I'd rather operate through WHM in a manner where a restore is completed by the system itself. Is this the preferred method, and is that how the WHM Backup system works? So, for example, ideally I'd setup the WHM backup system to create local backups of the system configuration and the sites. Then I'd rsync those to external locations whenever I wanted to. However, those initial local backups - are they all I need? As in, if the server were to die, using only those files and a fresh WHM install, would I be able to recover everything without issue?

  
  Hello, Yes, this is the supported method of restoring accounts after a server failure. You can restore all accounts and most configuration data, however, keep in mind that all aspects of the server are not backed up, just the actual accounts and all of their data, along with specific configuration data referenced here: System Backups - Documentation - cPanel Documentation In addition, you can make additional backups using the method documented at: Back Up, Restore, or Transfer Configurations - Documentation - cPanel Documentation Thank you.

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