Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Hosting Software and Control Panels : Hosting Software and Control Panels Tutorials : Plesk Backup

[AllanMar]

I was wondering how i could go about backing up each clients data into seperate files..i know i can do it by specifying a list of clients in a file..but i need the list auto generated of all the clients in plesk... Any ideas?

[123x]

No its Not posible

[n3tpreneur]

To automate this process is not possible but if you tok about backing up the whole account it is possible ...

[Georgecooldude]

how can u back up the whole account?

[gbjbaanb]

I'd recommmend backing up the entire server, all domains, and all clients. You can selectively restore a client/domain out of this single backup if you need to.

I know you can backup each domain into a separate file - from the domain's control panel. I really don't think you can simply automate backing up each client's data into separate files.

I suppose you could select the client ids from the MySql database that Plesk stores client info in, if its really necessary.

[Georgecooldude]

Where is the option to backup the entire server?

[gbjbaanb]

backup the entire server? You mean something like:

tar -zcvpf /archive/full-backup-`date '+%d-%B-%Y'`.tar.gz \
--directory / --exclude=mnt --exclude=proc

what do you need Plesk for to do that?

[rogueserv.com]

There ya go. I was about to say: "Why not just do it in Linux? It's really easy." However, gbjbaanb already took care of that.

[DoobyWho]

Can you use this to backup to a 2nd hard drive (mounted on /home2) ?

Also - don't you have to run mysqldump?

[gbjbaanb]

no, in that example you'll be backing up *everything* on the root directory, mysql database files and everything. Obviously, you may not want this, and obviously you may want to stop mysql first - that backup command isn't designed to perform regular backups of a running server. (ie, you'd want to stop mysql first, as well as httpd and your mailserver)

If you want a simple point-and-click interface to server backups, try 4psa http://www.4psa.com/products/4psatbackup.php or http://www.4psa.com/products/4psacbackup.php

(and yes, I know its pants that Plesk doesn't provide this kind of functionality out of the already expensive box)

[zovae]

actually (i dont know how old this thread is) but plesk does have a utility to backup the entire plesk setup (say for a re-install or something...). its located in>> /usr/local/psa/bin and the file is called psadump, this backs up all your plesk settings, mysql, and file server files. there is another app called psarestore which will restore it later on too.

most 7+ plesk servers come with it built in now, but you can dl it off the plesk site too...

[gbjbaanb]

I think all plesk servers come with it, it's part of plesk 7. Whilst it works (its a command line app BTW), doesn't mean that it is easy to use - try restoring a single domain after you're backed up the entire server - or that it has the kind of point-and-click interface that would make sense for a user-orientated control panel.

That 4psa has a separate solution does indicate that the plesk standard backup util is missing some features - features 4psa has provided. eg. The original post wanted to know how to backup each client into a different file.. difficult to do with psadump.

[zovae]

ah, so 4psa is a free release?

[gbjbaanb]

No, 4psa is the name of a company that makes add-ons for Plesk. Look for yourself, http://www.4psa.com