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 check boxes 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.
     • Select Back up interface skins to back up currently installed inferface skins.
     • Select Back up site applications repository to back up the Plesk site applications repository.
   • Leave Back up mailboxes content selected to back up messages in the mailboxes.
   • Select the mail content backup format option.
     • Leave the with dump restored to any mail server option selected to back up mail content in the format from which the backed-up content can be restored to a mail server of any type.
     • Select the with dump restored only to the server of backup option to back up mail content in the format from which the backed-up content can be restored only to a mail server of the same type.
   • Leave Back up databases selected to back up the MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server databases.
   • Select the Microsoft SQL database backup format option.
     • Leave the Back up MS SQL databases to script option selected if you want to backup Microsoft SQL databases as script files. In this case, both local and remote MS SQL databases will be backed up.
     • Clear the Back up MS SQL databases to script option if you want to back up Microsoft SQL databases in the native format. In this case, only local Microsoft SQL databases will be backed up. Due to technical reasons, remote databases cannot be backed up by using this format.
   • Leave Backup Sitebuider users and sites selected if you want to backup Sitebuilder users and sites along with the clients and domains that they correspond to.

     Note: The Backup Sitebuider users and sites option is only available if SiteBuilder version 4.0 or later is installed locally on the Plesk server. If you select the option, backed up will only be SiteBuilder users and sites corresponding to Plesk users and domains that have been selected for backup.

8. Specify files that you want to be excluded from backup by selecting the Exclusions tab and typing in the Exclude files field a file name or a name pattern.

   If you specify a name pattern, you also need to define the way it is to be interpreted by selecting one of the following options:

   • wildcards - the entered pattern will be treated as a list of strings with group symbols. To specify more than one such pattern, separate them by commas. For example:

     *.jpg,*.png,*.gif

   • regular expressions - the entered pattern will be treated as a regular expression.
9. Specify directories that you want to be excluded from backup by selecting the Exclusions tab and entering in the Exclude directories text box directory names including full paths.
   • To add a directory to be excluded from backup, click the Add shortcut under the text box and select the directory by using the Browse window. Click OK.
   • To remove a directory from the list of excluded directories, select the directory in the the text box and click the Remove shortcut.
10. Select the destination for the backup file.
    • Choose On local drive or network folder to store scheduled backups on a local hard disk or in the local network. If you specify a network folder that requires user authorization to access it, click Credentials and type the user login and password for the folder.
    • Choose 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.
11. 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.
12. Click Apply to save your settings and enable scheduled backup of Plesk data.