Scheduling Plesk Data Backups

To schedule Plesk data backup:

1. Start Plesk Backup utility (Start > All Programs > SWsoft > Plesk > Plesk Backup).
2. Select the objects to be backed up during scheduled backups, if you want to back up only selected Plesk clients and their domains. If you want to back up all Plesk clients and domains, proceed to step 3.
   • You can choose what clients and domains you want to backup by selecting the corresponding checkboxes in the Select the objects to be backed up menu.
   • When selecting or deselecting a client, all domains of this client are selected and deselected as well.
   • You cannot back up a domain without backing up the client it belongs to. If a domain is selected to be backed up, its owner will be automatically selected as well.
3. Select a temporary folder for scheduled backup purposes, if the hard disk partition where Plesk is installed doesn't have enough free space. Under File menu, click Set Temporary folder... and specify the required folder. Click OK.
4. Under File menu, click Schedule backup....
5. Select the Enable automatic Plesk backups checkbox to enable backup scheduling feature.
6. In the Schedule settings field specify how often you want Plesk Backup to create backups. To do so, choose the appropriate day and time in the Back up Plesk menu.
7. Select the required backup settings in the Backup settings field.
   • Choose Back up all domains and clients to schedule backups of all Plesk clients and domains.
   • Choose Back up currently selected domains and clients to schedule backups of the clients and domains you selected earlier during step 2.
   • If you selected Back up all domains and clients option, it is recommended that you leave the Suspend control panel services during backing up checkbox selected to ensure that backup procedure is performed correctly and that resulting backup file is not corrupted.
   • If you are making selective domain backup and selected Back up currently selected domains and clients option, we recommend you to clear the Suspend control panel services during backing up checkbox and leave the Suspend domain operations during backing up checkbox selected. This will ensure that domains which are not backed up are accessible during the backup procedure.
   • To backup Plesk Control Panel configuration and Plesk server settings, select the Back up control panel settings and server configuration checkbox.
8. Select the destination for the backup file.
   • Choose Store backup file on local drive to store scheduled backups on a local hard disk or in the local network.
   • Choose Store backup file on FTP to store the backup on a remote server via FTP protocol. Click FTP settings to specify FTP server, base FTP directory and login credentials. Select the Passive mode checkbox to use passive mode for FTP transfers. Click Apply to save the changes.
   • Specify the path and filename in the Backup file field. Use Browse to specify the filename and location for the backup, and click Save to confirm your choice. If you chose to store backup file on FTP, you can only specify its name.
   • Specify what to do if a backup file with such name already exists in the If backup file exists menu. Select Overwrite file to overwrite the existing backup file, or Generate next file name to create a backup file with slightly different file name without removing previously saved backups.

     Note. The backup file size is limited to 2 GB. All backup files over 2GB are split into several volumes, named in accordance with the following scheme: FileName -> FileName.1 -> FileName.2, etc.

9. Specify whether Plesk Backup should notify you about scheduled backup and its results in the Send notification field.
   • Specify your e-mail address in the To e-mail field. Plesk Backup notifications will be sent to this address.
   • Specify the e-mail address from which the notifications will be sent in the From e-mail field. This can help you filter your e-mail correspondence and avoid false spam filter alarms.
   • Specify the subject of the notification e-mails in the Subject field. This can help you filter your e-mail correspondence and avoid false spam filter alarms.
10. Click Apply to save your settings and enable scheduled backup of Plesk data.