How to Set Up and Manage Remote (Off-site) Backups in CloudPanel?

[Nemesis]

I’d like to use Remote Backups (off-site backups) for my CloudPanel-managed websites. How do I set this up with services like Amazon S3, Dropbox, or Google Drive? Also, how can I restore these backups later if needed?

 

[Rootali]

CloudPanel supports Remote Backups (off-site backups) using popular storage providers such as Amazon S3, Wasabi, DigitalOcean Spaces, Dropbox, Google Drive, Hetzner Storage Box, SFTP, and other providers compatible with Rclone.

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Setup Remote Backups​

1. Set Instance Timezone
Ensure your instance timezone is correct so the backup runs at your intended time.

2. Select and Configure Storage Provider

• Navigate to Remote Backups, select your preferred storage provider (e.g., Amazon S3), and click Continue.
• Example (Amazon S3 Setup):
  • Log in to your AWS Management Console.
  • Create an S3 Bucket and generate AWS Access Keys (Access Key & Secret Key) with restricted S3 permissions.
  • Enter the details in CloudPanel's Remote Backup configuration form and click Save.

3. Test Your Backup

• Click on the button "Create Backup" (top right) to create your first backup.
• Verify your backup file is successfully uploaded to your storage provider.

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Excluding Files or Directories from Backups​

• By default, backups include all sites and their entire home directories, excluding .ssh, logs, and tmp folders.
• To exclude specific directories or files, add their paths to the Excludes field.
• To exclude an entire site from backups, add:
  
  

  /home/$site-user/

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Restoring Files from Remote Backups​

To restore files, first download your site's backup file (backup.tar) from your remote storage provider, then follow one of these methods:

Method 1: File Manager (Recommended for backups < 2 GB)​

• Log in to your site's File Manager.
• Upload backup.tar into the tmp directory.
• Right-click on backup.tar → select Extract.
• Copy and replace the necessary files from the extracted backup.

Method 2: SFTP/SSH (Recommended for backups > 2 GB)​

• Upload backup.tar via SFTP into your site's ~/tmp directory.
• Log in via SSH with your site user and extract the backup:
  
  

  tar xf ~/tmp/backup.tar

• Copy and replace the necessary files from the extracted backup.

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With this setup, your websites remain safely backed up off-site, and restoration becomes straightforward if ever needed.