Question What to do for full backup solution?

[michaeljoseph01]

Server operating system version

Ubuntu 20.04

Plesk version and microupdate number

18.0.51

So im using plesk for a single domain with a wordpress site, doing a full backup of the server config & files every week with an incremental backup every night. I keep 2 full backups on the server, but download to a usb drive every week so I keep 2 months worth of the most recent backup files offline. I had figured that this system I have kept me covered. Then I read the plesk docs that list some things that are excluded from the server level backups like:

All plesk internal settings - This seems like a big deal
DB Servers - It backs up the actual DB tables and entries, so what does this mean?
Same with Mail server
DNS Server - I'm using cloudflare so not too concerned here
Firewall rules - this seems like an issue
PHP settings (php.ini) - also something that I need to have backed up

Can someone clarify that these exclusions apply to what I'm doing - and also - what do most people do to fully cover their bases in the event of an adverse scenario? Is their a second solution to back up the things above?

Thanks

 

[Peter Debik]

All plesk internal settings - This seems like a big deal

Nothing to worry about. There are some configurations that are not backed up, but these can either be restored or set easily in case of a total server failure or are automatically set from a new Plesk installation anyway.

DB Servers - It backs up the actual DB tables and entries, so what does this mean?

All databases and their content that are known to Plesk are backed up. If you have additional databases that are unknown to Plesk, these may not be backed up.

Same with Mail server

All email configurations are backed up. What is not backed up is content of extensions such as a webmail address book.

DNS Server - I'm using cloudflare so not too concerned here

All DNS configurations are backed up.

Firewall rules - this seems like an issue

This is an extension, extension content is not backed up. An import/export feature for Firewall configurations is currently being worked on. Normally, default firewall rules are sufficient, so upon a new installation you'll be up and running in no time.

PHP settings (php.ini) - also something that I need to have backed up

These settings are backed up when they were done in Plesk. When you have custom php.ini settings that were not done in Plesk but on the operating system level, they will not be backed up.

Can someone clarify that these exclusions apply to what I'm doing - and also - what do most people do to fully cover their bases in the event of an adverse scenario?

Most are good with the full Plesk backup. Users of virtualized hosting normally have options at their data center to backup the whole container. If you can do snapshot backups of your container(s), that is a best practice you should consider.

All in all, when you have a working full backup through Plesk, all major website, database and mail settings can be restored.

 

[michaeljoseph01]

Thanks Peter, this is all good to know. Having a recent snapshot at my cloud vps host sounds like the stopgap I was looking for.