How to create a backup of your server, restore one when something goes wrong, and set up automatic backups on a schedule.
A backup is a saved snapshot of your server at a point in time. If an update breaks something, a plugin misbehaves, or you just want a safety net before a big change, a backup lets you roll things back. It is the cheapest insurance you have, so get in the habit of taking one before anything risky.
Creating a backup
- Open your server in the panel.
- Go to the Backups tab.
- Click Create backup.
- Give it a name you will recognise later, something like before 1.21 update, then confirm.
- Wait for it to finish. Larger servers take longer, and the backup shows as complete in the list when it is done.
How many backups you can keep, and how long they are held, depends on your plan. You can see your server's backup slot count on the Backups tab, and snapshots are kept until you delete them or reach that limit.
Restoring a backup
Restoring rolls your server back to how it was when that snapshot was taken.
- Go to the Backups tab.
- Find the backup you want in the list.
- Open its menu and choose Restore.
- Read the warning, then confirm.
- Wait for it to finish before starting the server again.
Important: restoring overwrites your current files with the contents of the backup. Anything created or changed since that snapshot was taken will be gone. If you are not totally sure, take a fresh backup of the current state first, so you can get back to it if you change your mind.
Scheduling automatic backups
You can have the panel take backups for you on a repeating schedule using the Schedules feature. A schedule is a task the panel runs automatically at times you set.
- Go to the Schedules tab.
- Click Create schedule.
- Give it a name, for example Nightly backup.
- Set when it should run. The timing uses cron style fields (minute, hour, day), so for a run every night at 4am you would set the minute to 0 and the hour to 4.
- Save the schedule.
- Open the new schedule and add a task.
- Choose Create backup as the task action, then save.
From then on the panel takes a backup on that schedule without you lifting a finger. It is worth checking back after the first run or two to confirm the backups are appearing in the Backups tab as expected.
Keep the plan limits in mind here. If your plan caps how many backups are kept, old automatic backups may be rotated out to make room for new ones. The Backups tab shows your slot count, and when it is full a new backup cannot be created until you delete an older one, so remove snapshots you no longer need.
Troubleshooting
- Backup fails or gets stuck: this can happen if the server is very large or low on space. Try again, and if it keeps failing, reach out on Discord so we can take a look.
- Cannot create a new backup: you may have hit your plan's backup limit. Delete an old backup you no longer need and try again.
- Scheduled backup did not run: check the schedule is enabled, that the timing fields are correct, and that the task action is set to Create backup. A tiny typo in the cron timing is the usual culprit.
- Restored but the change is still there, or the world looks wrong: make sure the server was fully stopped during the restore and that you picked the right snapshot. Restarting the server after the restore completes helps too.
Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.