Dropbox Backup Extension for Plesk 11.5

[EugeneKazakov]

Hello,

Parallels does not provide technical support services for these Plesk extensions. The extensions are intended to serve as examples of how certain technical tasks can be accomplished.
If you need assistance with an extension, ask on this forum.

Backup into Cloud is a wanted feature for a lot of Plesk customers:
http://plesk.uservoice.com/forums/184549-feature-suggestions/suggestions/3539762-backup-into-cloud
http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=262215

Let me announce extension providing backup and restore functions for website's content and configuration into the Dropbox storage.

Dropbox backup 1.0
Download: http://ext.plesk.com/packages/9f3b75b3-d04d-44fe-a8fa-7e2b1635c2e1-dropbox-backup
Screenshots:


How to use:
1. Download and install extension (in Service Provider view see Extensions in left menu, in Power User view see Server tab > Extensions).
2. Click 'Dropbox Backup' on the dashboard (Websites & Domains tab).
3. Authorize the application to use the Dropbox folder.
4. Now you can backup and restore the website.

Features:
* Backup immediately for the subscription.
* Scheduled backup (daily) for the subscription.
* Restore backup (choose one of 10 previous versions) for the subscription.
* Files are rotated by Dropbox: storage never be full.
* Dropbox notify about file update:


Known Problems and Limitations:
- Linux OS is supported only.
- Server/customer/reseller backup/restore is not implemented.
- Unable to restore backup on a server different from the one it was created.
- Unable to choose a period for scheduled backup (daily period only).

Your feedback will be greatly appreciated!

P.S. Soon there will be an article about how does it work and how to develop similar extensions.

---

Here is an article about how the extension works, some technical details, how to extend it in order to fit your requirements:
http://devblog.plesk.com/2013/10/dropbox-backup-extension/

 

[LukasK]

Will this Extension work in parallels plesk automation 11.5 after release it ?

 

[EugeneKazakov]

Will this Extension work in parallels plesk automation 11.5 after release it ?

No, it wont.
PPA backup capabilities are restricted due to the distributed environment. You cannot upload/download backup file, CLI utilities are disabled - but this is the foundation of the extension.

 

[AandCmedia]

Hello,
I keep getting: Error: Unable to install the extension: Corrupted meta.xml file.
Not sure whats going on.
Thanks

 

[EugeneKazakov]

Hello,
I keep getting: Error: Unable to install the extension: Corrupted meta.xml file.
Not sure whats going on.
Thanks

Try to install extension "example": http://autoinstall.plesk.com/extensions/packages/example-1.7-1.zip
Have you gotten the same error?

The error means that the file meta.xml copied from package to temporary directory /usr/local/psa/tmp/module*/meta.xml is not readable or contains invalid XML data.
You can try the following:
run in console:

while :; do [ -d /usr/local/psa/tmp/module* ] && [ -f /usr/local/psa/tmp/module*/meta.xml ] && ls -la /usr/local/psa/tmp/module*/meta.xml && cat /usr/local/psa/tmp/module*/meta.xml && break; done​

try to install extension
check the result: was the file found? was it owned by psaadmsaadm? was XML valid?

 

[Sven L.]

what sort of encryption does this use? i never store anything not encrypted on public clouds, so i need to know if the backups are encrypted and how.

 

[EugeneKazakov]

what sort of encryption does this use? i never store anything not encrypted on public clouds, so i need to know if the backups are encrypted and how.

Backup is stored without encryption.

The main idea of the extension is to create alternative for the personal FTP repository. It's functionality based on CLI pleskbackup.
In Plesk Backup Manager you can specify a password for encryption, but only sensitive data (passwords) will be protected. Site's content is plain.
We are going to use the same option for passwords encryption in the extension, but it is not implemented now.

 

[Sven L.]

Backup is stored without encryption.

The main idea of the extension is to create alternative for the personal FTP repository. It's functionality based on CLI pleskbackup.
In Plesk Backup Manager you can specify a password for encryption, but only sensitive data (passwords) will be protected. Site's content is plain.
We are going to use the same option for passwords encryption in the extension, but it is not implemented now.

well, i am in charge of security of my own server. and i am in charge of security of my personal FTP repository (my home NAS)

however, as i can not admin/modify/do anything about dropbox security, i would NEVER use it for sensitive data. not password, not plain content, nothing.



so... is there, or will there be a way to encrypt plesk backups? be it regular backups or dropbox ones.

 

[AandCmedia]

Try to install extension "example": http://autoinstall.plesk.com/extensions/packages/example-1.7-1.zip
Have you gotten the same error?

The error means that the file meta.xml copied from package to temporary directory /usr/local/psa/tmp/module*/meta.xml is not readable or contains invalid XML data.
You can try the following:
run in console:

while :; do [ -d /usr/local/psa/tmp/module* ] && [ -f /usr/local/psa/tmp/module*/meta.xml ] && ls -la /usr/local/psa/tmp/module*/meta.xml && cat /usr/local/psa/tmp/module*/meta.xml && break; done​

try to install extension
check the result: was the file found? was it owned by psaadmsaadm? was XML valid?

Hello,
That worked perfectly I now have it installed! I'll start playing around with it soon.
-Matt

 

[EugeneKazakov]

Hello,

Here is an article about how the extension works and some technical details
http://devblog.plesk.com/2013/10/dropbox-backup-extension/

 

[MislavO]

I've tested myself this extension and everything is working perfectly, however I have tree questions:
1) Lets say my dropbox account have 2GB, but my subscription has 4GB, what will happen? Will extension try to make backup and then failed or extension have information about space on dropbox?
2) If you schedule daily backup, if some error occours, will client/admin receive email what happened?
3) On link above:
"Resume":
Files are rotated by Dropbox: your storage will never be full.

Can someone explain this, I didn't fully understood.

 

[EugeneKazakov]

1) Lets say my dropbox account have 2GB, but my subscription has 4GB, what will happen? Will extension try to make backup and then failed or extension have information about space on dropbox?

The backup task will be created, you will see it in 'Current tasks' list.
But it will fail with error '507 User is over Dropbox storage quota.' as it is mentioned in Dropbox Core API

2) If you schedule daily backup, if some error occours, will client/admin receive email what happened?

No emails. You can find errors in 'Current tasks' list.
Every morning I see Dropbox client's notification about updated files. In one fine day I will miss it, I gonna check tasks list.

Files are rotated by Dropbox: your storage will never be full.

Can someone explain this, I didn't fully understood.

The most frequent cause of exceeding a free space on both local and FTP storage is rotating: amount of file copies is too large.
Dropbox does not sum the size of previous file versions, but your local filesystem does.

 

[MislavO]

Awesome, I understand now everything. Thank you for the fast reply.

Two more questions:
1) does this backup execute with low priority or?
2) does scheduled backup have something like normal plesk backup settings (Maximum number of simultaneously running scheduled backup processes) - does this setting in plesk efect also dropbox scheduled backup tasks?

 

[AlonsoC]

Hello,

I'm trying to install the extension but I get this error:

Error: No se pudo instalar la extensión: Executing /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/modules/dropbox-backup/scripts/post-install.php failed: ERROR: PleskUtilException: /usr/bin/crontab execution failed: "crontab9Cks7x":20: bad command errors in crontab file, can't install. System error: crontab execution error (Agent.php:212)

Can I you can help?

thanks

 

[EgidijusS]

It was answered: http://forum.parallels.com/showthre...for-Plesk-11-5&p=701294&viewfull=1#post701294

 

[EugeneKazakov]

Dropbox Backup 2.0 was recently released.
It is available in the Extensions Catalog at http://ext.plesk.com/packages/9f3b75b3-d04d-44fe-a8fa-7e2b1635c2e1-dropbox-backup

Major features:

• Server-wide backup
• Ability to import backup
• Windows support
• Localization support

Read more in our blog at http://devblog.plesk.com/2014/07/dropbox-backup-2-0/

 

[laylac]

I tried installing the extension mentioned, and I still am having issues. Possibly an issue on my end?

 

[EugeneKazakov]

Hi laylac,

Please provide more details about your issues.

 

[Moldoveanu_Nicolae]

Very interesting and useful tips I think.I read step by step this informations and help me so much.Thank you for this great information

 

[Sven L.]

1 year has passed and i still haven't got any sort of official reply to my previous questions (scroll up and read)