Snapshots: keep a state and go back to it

Snapshots are in the Snapshots tab. At the top you see how many you have and how many your plan allows (usually 3).

Create a snapshot

1. 1

   Press Create snapshot.

2. 2

   Give it a label (up to 40 characters), such as “Before the upgrade”, or keep the suggestion with the date.

3. 3

   Confirm. The server keeps running.

The disk is saved, not the memory: whatever only existed in memory is not in the snapshot.

Going back

Go back sets the disk to the snapshot's state. Everything changed since is gone afterwards, and the server restarts. You confirm by holding.

Deleting

Delete removes the snapshot; the server itself stays as it is. When the limit is reached, delete an old one before you create a new one.

Automatic snapshots

Below the list you set a schedule: Daily at a time (night is recommended), Every 6 hours, Weekly on a day, or Custom schedule with a cron line in German time. You also choose how many automatic snapshots are kept, at most as many as your plan has places.

• Once that number is reached, the oldest automatic snapshot is deleted. Snapshots you created yourself are never deleted by the schedule.
• If your own snapshots take every place, no automatic one is created; you are notified.
• So that not every server writes at once, each server starts a few minutes after the chosen time (up to 30). The page shows the exact next time.
• At most one automatic snapshot an hour.
• If there is too little free space on our storage right now, a snapshot is not created, automatic or by hand. Your server keeps running normally, we are notified, and you see it on the page and in your notifications.
• Every run is in the server's Activity. If one fails, you get a message on the channels you chose for “Backup failed”.

Safety copy before risky changes

Before the rescue system starts and before an app is put onto the running server, the portal makes a snapshot as a safety copy by itself. It takes none of your snapshot slots, is marked “Safety copy” in the list and is deleted after 7 days; there are at most two at a time. You can go back to it like to any snapshot. Switch it off for this server below the list.

Where backups are kept

Below the list it says where they are kept (Storage). If it says “on the node · snapshots”, this server has no backup in a separate place, only the snapshots on its own storage.

If your server has a backup store of its own, the page shows a Backups section below: a backup of the whole server every night, separate from its machine; the newest automatic ones are kept, your own and protected ones (lock icon) are never deleted by themselves. Restore stops the server, replaces its disk with the backup's state and starts it again. Before a reinstall, the Reinstall page then offers to create a safety copy in that store first.

Good to know

• Snapshots exist for VMs and containers.
• While the rescue system runs, you cannot create a snapshot or go back to one.
• People you share the server with need the right to restore backups to go back and delete.
• Only people who may delete snapshots can change the schedule, since it deletes old automatic ones.