Server Backups

Introduction

Backups are essential for protecting your server data. This guide will walk you through creating manual backups, scheduling automatic backups, and restoring your server when needed.

Creating Manual Backups

Manual backups allow you to create a snapshot of your server at any time.

Steps:

1. Log in to the Dashboard.
2. Select your server from the server list.
3. Click on the Backups tab in the server navigation bar.
4. Click the New Backup button.
5. Configure your backup settings:
   • Backup Name: Leave empty for an auto-generated timestamp name, or enter a custom name to identify this backup
   • Exclude Patterns: (Optional) Add patterns to exclude specific files or folders, one per line:
     • *.log - Excludes all log files
     • cache/* - Excludes everything in the cache folder
     • node_modules/ - Excludes the node_modules directory
   • Select specific files/folders: (Optional) Choose individual items to backup instead of backing up everything
   • Lock backup from deletion: Enable this option to prevent accidental deletion until manually unlocked
6. Click Create Backup to begin the backup process.
7. The backup will appear in your backups list with a Pending status while it’s being created.
8. Once complete, the status will change to Done and you can download, restore, or delete it (unless it’s locked).

Backup creation time depends on your server size. Large servers may take several minutes to backup.

Scheduling Automatic Backups

Automatic backups help ensure your server data is regularly protected without manual intervention.

Creating a Backup Schedule

Steps:

1. From your dashboard, navigate to the Schedules tab.
2. Click New Schedule.
3. Configure your schedule settings:
   • Schedule Name: Give your backup schedule a descriptive name (e.g., “Daily Backup”)
   • Interval: Choose how often the backup should run:
     • Daily: Runs once per day
     • Weekly: Runs once per week
     • Monthly: Runs once per month
   • Run every: Select the time interval:
     • 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes
     • 1 hour, 2 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours
   • Run even when server is offline: Enable this option if you want backups to run regardless of server status
4. Review the Schedule Preview to confirm your settings (e.g., “Runs every 30 minutes”).
5. For advanced users, use the Advanced Options (Cron Expression) to create custom schedules.
6. Click Create Schedule to save the schedule.

Times are shown in your set timezone but stored in UTC. The system automatically converts them for display.

Adding a Backup Task to Your Schedule

After creating a schedule, you need to add a backup task:

1. From the Schedules tab, locate your newly created schedule.
2. Click the Tasks button next to your schedule.
3. Click New Task to add a task.
4. In the New Task modal, configure the following:
   • What should this task do?: Select Backup (Create a backup)
   • Execution Delay: Choose when the task should run:
     • Runs immediately (default)
     • 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds
     • 1 minute, 2 minutes
5. Click Create Task to add the backup task to your schedule.

Your schedule will now show “1 tasks” and display the next run time. For example: “Every 30 minutes (in 15 minutes)” with “Next run: Nov 6, 10:00 AM (in 15 minutes)”.

Managing Your Schedules

From the Schedules tab, you can see all your schedules with the following information:

• Schedule Name: The name you gave the schedule
• Frequency: How often it runs (e.g., “Every 30 minutes”)
• Status: Whether the schedule is active (e.g., “Scheduled”)
• Next Run: When the schedule will execute next
• Tasks: Number of tasks in the schedule

Available actions:

• Tasks: View and manage tasks within the schedule
• Run: Manually trigger the schedule immediately
• Edit: Modify the schedule settings
• Delete: Remove the schedule

Restoring from Your Backups

Starting a Restore

To restore from a backup:

1. Navigate to the Backups tab in your dashboard.
2. Locate the backup you want to restore from the list.
3. Click the Restore button next to the backup.
4. A modal will appear asking you to choose the restore type:
   • Full Restore: Restores your entire server from the backup
   • Selective Restore: Choose specific files or folders to restore

Full Server Restore

To restore your entire server:

1. Click the Restore button on your chosen backup.
2. Select Full Restore from the modal.
3. Confirm the restoration when prompted.
4. Wait for the restoration process to complete.

Full restore will overwrite all current server data. Make sure you have a recent backup before proceeding if you want to preserve any current data.

Selective File Restore

To restore only specific files or folders:

1. Click the Restore button on your chosen backup.
2. Select Selective Restore from the modal.
3. Browse through the backup contents to find the files you need.
4. Select the specific files or folders you want to restore.
5. Confirm your selection and wait for the restoration to complete.

Selective restoration is useful when you only need to recover specific configuration files or folders without overwriting your entire server. This is perfect for recovering accidentally deleted files or reverting specific changes.

Managing Your Backups

From the Backups tab, you can perform several actions on your backups:

• Download: Download the backup to your local computer
• Restore: Restore your entire server from this backup
• Selective Restore: Browse and restore only specific files
• Lock/Unlock: Toggle the deletion lock to protect or allow deletion
• Delete: Remove the backup (only if not locked)

Node Routine Backups

In addition to your own backups, Falix performs routine backups of all paid servers on our EU#-O, US#, SG# & AU# nodes for disaster recovery purposes.

If you need to restore your server from our routine node backups:

1. Contact our support team.
2. Provide your server details and the approximate date/time you’d like to restore from.
3. Our team will review the request and determine if we can restore from the available backup periods.

Pricing:

• First extraction: Free
• Additional extractions: €4.00 per extraction

We may be able to restore your server from routine backups, but availability depends on our backup schedule. Backups are stored in specific periods, which means the restored data may not reflect your server’s most recent state. Node routine backups are maintained for disaster recovery and are not a replacement for your own backup strategy. We strongly recommend regularly creating your own backups for maximum data protection and control.

Backup Best Practices

To ensure your server data is properly protected:

• Create backups before major changes: Always make a manual backup before updating plugins, changing configurations, or making significant modifications.
• Keep multiple backup versions: Don’t rely on just one backup. Maintain several recent backups in case you need to restore from an earlier point.
• Test your backups: Periodically verify that your backups can be successfully restored.
• Download important backups: For critical data, download backups to your local computer for additional security.
• Use exclude patterns wisely: Exclude large temporary files, logs, and cache folders to reduce backup size and time.
• Lock critical backups: Use the lock feature to protect important backups from accidental deletion.
• Schedule regular automatic backups: Set up a schedule to ensure you always have recent backups available.
• Monitor your schedules: Regularly check that your scheduled backups are running successfully.

Backup Limitations

Please be aware of the following limitations:

• The number of backups you can store simultaneously may be restricted by your plan.
• Backup creation time depends on your server size.
• Locked backups cannot be deleted until manually unlocked.
• Schedules must have at least one task to execute.

Need Help?

If you encounter any issues with backups or need assistance with restoration, please contact our support team.

Our team is here to help ensure your server data remains safe and recoverable.