Backup space
Managed servers
If you have our managed hosting service, then 50GB of backup space is included, and we will install and configure our backup script.
Caution
Our backup script takes a daily snapshot of all your filesystems. This kind of backup makes efficient use of our high performance always-online, offsite-mirrored backup space, and allows us to restore your service rapidly in the case of disaster. Please note, though, that we don't keep any historical backups. So if you delete a vital file, or your website is defaced, those changes will be copied to the backup space within 24 hours. This script is part of a backup regime, but not a complete solution.
Other servers
If you have ordered backup space, authentication is via ssh protocol. Many systems can then be used on top of ssh, such as scp, sftp, rsync, sshfs, or git. You will need an ssh key to authenticate which must be uploaded to the control panel backup page before you can access the backup space.
Using our script
If you want to use our backup script, you're welcome to do so. Please read the Caution above.
On Debian or Ubuntu servers, you can install mythic-backup from our repository:
wget -qO- https://mirror.mythic-beasts.com/mythic/support@mythic-beasts.com.gpg.key | apt-key add - echo deb http://mirror.mythic-beasts.com/mythic mythic main > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mythic-beasts.list apt-get update apt-get install mythic-backup
We also have a yum repository, for CentOS and RedHat servers. (Details to follow.)
After installing, you'll need to set
CUSTOMER=username and SERVER=server in
/etc/mythic/backup.conf, and copy the ssh key from
/root/.ssh/id_mythic_backup_rsa.pub to the
control panel backup page.
Manual backups
If you don't want to use our backup script, then you can roll your own backups
using for example scp or rsync. The backup server hostname will be displayed
on the control panel backup page,
and your username is the name of your backup space prefixed with your account number and an underscore,
usually the same as the short name of your server. If your
backup space is called 1234_foo, on backup-server you can log into the backup server
with this command:
ssh 1234_foo@backup-server.mythic-beasts.com
To copy a file to the backup server, using scp:
scp my_backup.tar.gz 1234_foo@backup-server.mythic-beasts.com:
You could also use rsync:
rsync -a --numeric-ids --rsh="ssh -T -a -oPasswordAuthentication=no -i/root/.ssh/id_mythic_backup_rsa" --rsync-path="rsync --fake-super --numeric-ids" /home/foo/Documents 1234_foo@backup-server.mythic-beasts.com:
In this example we are using the --fake-super option to store
permissions in the extended attributes of the file system. This allows you to
store full uid, gid, and permission information along with all your files,
without requiring root access to the backup server.
If you make your own backups, please make sure that you know how to restore from them!