Backup & Restore ​

How do I move a user to a new server? ​

The current restore function accepts backups generated by both VestaCP and HestiaCP.

1. Create a user backup on the old server.

   bash

   v-backup-user username

2. Copy the generated tarball to the new server and place it in /backup.

   bash

   scp /backup/username.2020.01.01-00-00.tar [email protected]:/backup/

3. Restore the backup on the new server. You can restore to a different user by changing the username in the command.

   bash

   v-restore-user username username.2020.01.01-00-00.tar

User accounts that do not exist will be created.

What kind of backups are able to be restored? ​

Currently HestiaCP only support restoring backups made using:

1. HestiaCP
2. VestaCP

How to edit the number of backups? ​

To edit the number of backups, please read the Packages and Users documentation. You will need to create or edit a package, and assign it to the desired user.

Not enough disk space available to preform the backup ​

For safety reasons, Hestia takes into account 2x the user’s disk usage when creating a backup. Therefore, before starting a backup, we check how much disk usage a user has left. If you encounter this error, you can do one of the following to solve the issue:

• Reduce the amount of backups saved per user saved.
• Move the backups to a remote storage.
• Move the backup folder to a different drive.
• Split up the user in multiple users.
• Exclude certain folders or mail accounts from the backup.

What is the difference between zstd and gzip ​

zstd was developed by Facebook as a replacement for gzip. During our testing, we found a significant speed increase and lower disk space usage when compared to gzip.

For more information see the zstd repo.

What is the optimal compression ratio ​

The higher the number how better the compression ratio. During our testing, we discoverd that zstd level 3 is similar to level 9 for disk space, however it is much faster. zstd level 11 took about the same time, but gave us a smaller size. Levels higher than 19 should never be used, as zstd then becomes terribly slow.

What kind of protocols are currently supported ​

Currently supported backup protocols are:

• FTP
• SFTP
• Rclone, which supports up to 50 different cloud providers. See its documentation

How to setup an FTP backup server ​

Login via SSH and run the following command as root:

v-add-backup-host 'ftp' 'remote.ftp-host.tld' 'backup-user' 'p4ssw0rd' '/path-backups/' 'port'

How to setup an SFTP backup server ​

Login via SSH and run the following command as root:

v-add-backup-host 'sftp' 'remote.ftp-host.tld' 'backup-user' 'p4ssw0rd' '/path-backups/' 'port'

If using public and private keys (recommended):

v-add-backup-host 'sftp' 'remote.ftp-host.tld' 'backup-user' '/root/id_rsa' '/path-backups/' 'port'

How to setup Rclone ​

First, download Rclone. The easiest method is to run this command:

sudo -v
curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

Once the download and installation is complete, run rclone config as the root user and then select the option n. Follow the instruction on the screen, then save when completed.

To verify if it is working run as intended:

echo "test" > /tmp/backuptest.txt
rclone cp /tmp/backuptest.txt $HOST:$FOLDER/backuptest.txt
rclone lsf $HOST:$FOLDER

And see the file has been uploaded

rclone delete $HOST:$FOLDER/backuptest.txt

Once the config has been saved you can setup Hestia with the following command:

v-add-backup-host 'rclone' 'remote-name' '' '' 'Bucket or Folder name' ''

v-backup-user admin

For example:

rclone config

Current remotes:

Name Type
==== ====
r2 s3

To use the "R2" endpoint use

v-add-backup-host 'rclone' 'r2' '' '' 'folder'

For Blackblaze use

v-add-backup-host 'rclone' 'b2' '' '' 'hestiacp'

How to change default backup folder ​

For security reasons, symlinks are not allowed. To change the default backup folder, you can do the following:

1. Make sure backup folder is currently set to /backup.

2. If it has something in it, delete it and recreate it. You can use an FTP client or type mkdir /backup in the console.

3. Mount the desired folder to /backup, using mount:

   bash

   mount --bind /path/to/new/backup/folder /backup

For a permanent fix you should add a record to fstab, so this folder would mount on your system boot:

1. Open /etc/fstab.

2. Add the following line to the end:

   bash

   /path/to/new/backup/folder /backup none defaults,bind 0 0

3. Save the file.

How to extract .zstd file ​

Follow the instructions below or use WinRAR 6.10 or later to unpack .zst files.

How to extract the domain_data.tar.zst in windows using zstd.exe ​

1. Download and unzip zstd.exe. It is available on the zstd GitHub.

2. To decompress the backup, use the following command:

   batch

   {dir_to_zstd}\zstd.exe -o {dir_to_file}\{file}.tar.zst

   For example:

   batch

   C:\Users\{user}\Downloads\zstd-v1.4.4-win64\zstd.exe -d c:\Users\{user}\Downloads\admin.2021-06-27_05-48-23\web\{domain}\domain_data.tar.zst

   Output:

   batch

   C:\Users\{user}\Downloads\admin.2021-06-27_05-48-23\web\{domain}\domain_data.tar.zst: 61440 bytes

3. Use your preferred program to untar the resulting tarball, and you are done. In this case, the tar was outputted to:

   batch

   C:\Users\{user}\Downloads\admin.2021-06-27_05-48-23\web\{domain}\domain_data.tar