Your server is backed up automatically every hour while it is online, and the panel keeps about four weeks of those backups. You can also make, lock, download and restore backups yourself on your server's Backups page. A restore replaces the whole server folder, not only the world.
Automatic backups
Open your server, then choose Files & Data and Backups. By default the server is backed up every hour while it is online, and the page keeps 24 hourly, 7 daily and 4 weekly backups. The page shows when the next automatic backup is due. Backups are kept on our storage servers with a separate off-site copy.
To change the schedule, click Retention policy. There you can set Back up automatically every so many hours, choose how many backups to keep, and turn on Back up even when offline. That setting is off by default, so a stopped server is not backed up on the schedule.
Make a backup
- On the Backups page, click New backup.
- Give it a name under Label (optional) if you like, then click Start backup.
- Wait for it to finish. It runs in the background.
- To keep it safe from automatic clean-up, click Lock. A locked backup can't be deleted until you click Unlock.
Backups you make yourself are kept until you delete them, up to the 10 most recent by default. Locked backups don't count toward that limit. If you are at the limit, the page offers to rotate out the oldest unlocked backup and names it first.
Download a backup
Click Download on a backup row to save the full backup as a .tar file. Progress shows in the Transfers tray, which stays visible while you move around the panel. A large backup can take a while.
Restore a backup
- Make a New backup first if you might want to come back to the server as it is now.
- Click Restore on the backup you want.
- Read the Restore this backup? message. It says how long ago the backup was taken. Then click Restore.
The server is stopped, restored and restarted, so it is offline for a short time, and a progress window shows each step. The message talks about the world, but a restore replaces the whole server folder: world, configs, mods and plugins. A restore can't be undone, which is why step 1 matters.
Get back a single file
There is no single-file restore yet. To recover one file:
- Click Download on a backup that has the file.
- Open the .tar file on your computer and take out the file you need.
- Put it back on your server with Upload in the File Manager.
Good to know
- Backups count toward your plan's disk space. If your disk gets close to full, the oldest backups are pruned and then new backups pause. See Upgrade or downgrade your plan or storage.
- Backups made by Take a checkpoint first show a Checkpoint badge and are locked.
- To delete a locked backup, click Unlock first, then Delete.
- To put your server back to how it was before a specific change you made, the Rollback page picks the right backup for you. See Roll your server back to before a change.