Important
On a VPS or dedicated server, you are responsible for your own backups. Nothing on the machine is kept for you unless you arrange it.
That is the honest position, and it is the same at every provider that gives you root. Plan for it on day one, not after an incident.
What good looks like
- Off the server. A copy on the same machine dies with the machine. Send backups to another host, an object store or your own office.
- Automatic. A backup someone has to remember is a backup that stops happening. Schedule it with
cron. - Tested. Restore one, into a folder, once a quarter. An untested backup is a hope.
- Deep enough. Keep several days: damage is often noticed long after it happened.
Ways to do it
| Tool | Good for |
|---|---|
| cPanel/WHM backups | Whole accounts on a server running cPanel, to a remote FTP or SCP destination — see Back up and restore a site in cPanel |
| rsync over SSH | Files, incrementally, to any other machine |
mysqldump on a schedule | Databases, which a file copy alone can leave inconsistent |
| Website Backup | Sites you'd rather not script at all — off-server copies, restorable to a chosen day |
Tip
Back up the configuration too: web server, mail, firewall rules, cron jobs. Rebuilding a server is quick; remembering how it was set up is not.