Plesk 9.5.2 Backup Tutorial

By Joshua Knapp

In Plesk 9.5.2 there are two areas to set up automated backups.  In the first area, backups can be setup for the server configuration only or for the server configuration and its content.  When you first log in to Plesk 9.5.2 you will see this screen below:

From this screen you would click on Backup Manager), which brings up the Backup Manager menu (image 2). From within this menu you have the option to start a Back Up immediately, adjust or set up Scheduled Backup Settings, Upload Files to Server Repository, and adjust or set up the Personal FTP Repository Settings.   You will also be able to see what is currently stored in the Server Repository and/or the Personal FTP Repository, and view the Current Backup Tasks running.

To run a Backup immediately you would click on the Back Up button.

From here you would set up the prefix you want to add to the backup name in the first box.

Next is an area for optional comments about the backup.

The next option is Create multivolume backup. This option means if your backup file is larger than the specified volume size then Plesk will make more than one file to accommodate the complete backup.  Otherwise a single backup will be created.

The next option on the list is where to store the backup after it is created.   The options you have are Server repository (which will store the backup on the server itself – this can take up a lot of space and cause issues when the space runs out) and Personal FTP repository (if using this option it will need to be configured in the previous menu under Personal FTP Repository Settings).To set up the Personal FTP repository go back to the Backup Manager menu and click on and click on Personal FTP Repository Settings.

Above is the Personal FTP Repository Settings menu.

To set this up you will need the FTP information for the remote backup server provided by LP or alternative remote server FTP credentials that may be provided by the customer.  Please make sure when you are setting these up for customers you are using the correct FTP information.  If the correct information is not used the backups will fail (you can confirm the FTP credentials are correct by testing with Filezilla or another FTP client).  Also if the customer is using our remote backup server please let them know they are provided with 2 GBs of space for dedicated servers and 1 GB of space for VPS’. Once that space is full the backups will fail.

Enter the IP of the destination server and then the directory if there is a specific directory in which the customer wants to have the backups stored.  You do not need to specify a directory if a customer is using our remote backup server.

If there is an issue with the customer’s firewall when a backup is going to their Personal Repository try turning off Passive mode.

After filling in all the FTP information and turning Passive Mode on or off click Ok and the Personal FTP repository is set up in Plesk.

You can then go back to the Back Up option to proceed with backing up the server.

Now let’s finish running a Back Up of the server now.  Once back at the Back Up menu you will need to fill in any information you put in before you went back to set up the Personal FTP Repository.

Once you have selected where to have the backup stored you can specify an email address to receive notifications once the task is completed.

We now select the content we want backed up.  The first of the 2 options is Server configuration which only backs up the configuration of the server, and the other is Server configuration and content which includes the server configuration and the contents of the server.

Once you have selected the content you will need to find out if the customer would like to have the domains suspended while the backup is running or leave them active.

Now you click the Back Up button at the bottom and the backup process will start.

While this backup process is running you can check Current Backup Tasks to see that the backup is running and monitor the progress of it.

Once it completes you will be able to see it in the corresponding repository.

The Next thing we will go over is scheduling the backups. From the Backup Manager Menu click on the Scheduled Backup Settings icon.

This is the menu where you schedule the backups in at the top there is a check box to Activate the backup task.

Under that you will set the frequency and what time the backup should start.

The Backup settings area is similar to the previous Backup settings screen with an additional option to specify how many backups will be retained.  When setting this up please inform the customer that the server creates the backups on the server itself and they are then moved to the remote server.  So if the server does not have enough space the backup will error out.

Below the frequency option is the where you set the email address that you want any errors that occur during the backup task to be sent.

Now you will see the Backup content option again.  Select which you would like to back up and whether you want domains to be suspended while the backup is running.

Once you have finished click Ok.

A backup of the server and contents if you chose content at the frequency and time you chose.  Just a reminder if there is not enough space to run the backups they will fail.

Now that you have set up a server back up the domain backups are pretty much the same you will just have a few different choices and they have to be set up per domain.

To get to the Domains backup area you will click on Domain in the left pane then click the Domain you would like to backup.

From the domain menu you will look for the Backup Manager under Files.  Click on it and you will see the same menu you saw before when you did the Server Backup.

The difference between the Server Backup and the Domain Backup other then the obvious is the settings and selections you can choose to backup.

In the Domain Backup area instead of backing up the server configuration and content you will have the option to Backup the Domain configuration or Domain configuration and content.

You set this up the same way you did the Server backup.

To run a backup now you click on the Back Up.

Add a prefix then any comments you want.

Choose whether you want one backup or you want it to create a second backup after a certain Volume size is reached.

Choose where you want the backup to be stored in the Server repository or the FTP repository.  If you have not set up the Personal FTP settings you will have to set that up before you choose the Personal FTP repository option.  Please see the instructions I gave earlier on in the tutorial.

After you have chosen the location you would like to have the backups stored you have the option of entering an email address to get a notification that the backup is complete.

The next section is where you choose what you want to backup which is where the difference is.  In the Domain backup section you will choose whether you just want the Domain configuration backed up or the Domain configuration and the domain’s content.   If you choose the Domain configuration and content a drop down box will become available.

In the drop down box you will have 3 options to choose from All configuration and content, All configuration and content except mail or Only mail configuration and content.  The options are self explanatory.  Select the one you want to back up and then choose whether you want the domain suspended while the backup is running.

Once you have made the selections click backup and Plesk will create a backup for that domain.

To set up the Scheduled Backups for a Domain you do the same thing you did for the server backup except you will choose between backing up the Domain configuration or the Domain configuration and content.