How do I perform backups and restores in the Plesk control panel?

Answered by:  Taylor Giddens, Aplus.Net Technical Support

 The Backup/Restore page enables you to manage the domain backup/restoring and gives you access to operations on dump files.

IMPORTANT

The backup/restore functionality is accessible only if the backup utilities are installed on your server.

You access this page clicking on the BACKUP button at the Domain administration page.

The Backup/Restore page displays the list of domain dump files, and the following dump information is available: modification date, dump file name, size.

The list of dump files can be sorted by Modification date, Dump name, Size in ascending or descending order, clicking on the name of the respective sorting parameter in the list header. An arrow will show the order of sorting.

You can search through the list for a certain pattern. It may help you in case you have a great number of dump files in the list and you need to work with a particular one. To search through the list, type the pattern string into the text input field and click SEARCH. If there were any items found matching the entered pattern string, they will all be displayed in the form of a reduced list. The button SHOW ALL will revert to displaying the whole list.

To view the dump file information, click on its name in the list. The domain configuration information will be displayed. From that page you can also restore the domain from the dump.

The MAKE DUMP button on this page is used to back up domain. This is explained in detail in the following section.

You may also wish to save a dump file on your local machine. To do that, click on the appropriate diskette icon next to the Sel column of the list. After that you will need to specify the location on your local machine and the file name for the downloaded dump file to be saved, and then click Save.

To delete one or more dump files from the list, check the corresponding checkboxes and click the REMOVE SELECTED button.

To upload a dump file to the server, specify a file location using the Browse button, then click UPLOAD.

Backing up domain data

To back up a domain, follow these steps:

1.      Click on the MAKE DUMP button at the Backup/Restore page. The Domain dump creation page appears.

2.      Enter the dump file name in the appropriate text input field.

3.      Select the create dump file option using the radio-button, type in your comments in the Comments text field.

4.      Click BACK UP.

NOTE

To download a dump file to your local machine without storing it in the dump repository, select the do not create domain dump file, only download option. Specify the dump file name, type in your comments in the appropriate fields, click BACK UP.

Restoring a domain

You can restore a domain using the previously created dump file. To restore a domain, follow these steps:

1.      Click on the BACKUP button at the Domain admninistration page page. The Dump files management page appears.

2.      Select the desired dump file from the list clicking on its file name.

3.      The dump file information page will open displaying the domain configuration to be restored.

4.      Click on the RESTORE button at the bottom of the page.

NOTE

During backup/restore processes, the domain status is automatically switched to "DISABLED" and all of its services are not available.