Backup integrity Check

[santouras]

Hi all

is there a way to check the actual backup tar.gz file without extracting the files to check and see if everything has worked properly. Possibly some kind of command? I'm not sure. Basically we're looking to make sure the backups have run correctly and we do a weekly manual check to make sure everything is running smoothly, and would like to know more if there is anything more than checking the filesize and/or doing a restore to see if it has completed successfully.

cheers

[d_t]

cPanel creates a log for each backup and send it on email. You can check it to see if any problem appear. Usually, problems are with permissions (user has no access to nobody's files and cannot backup them)

[PlatinumServerM]

Aside from checking the logs, file sizes, etc., you should periodically test some of the backups by extracting them and verifying the contents.

[UBERHOST]

Aside from checking the logs, file sizes, etc., you should periodically test some of the backups by extracting them and verifying the contents.

That would mean deleting the accounts you are testing so that the backup can recreate it, in which case if your backup is for some reason corrupt, you'd have a very angry client.

[santouras]

very true

with the backup logs, is there a spot in WHM where you can get them emailed? I can't spot a setting. Am using WHM 11.24.2 and am looking in the Backup -> Configure Backup screen

[cPanelDavidG]

very true

with the backup logs, is there a spot in WHM where you can get them emailed? I can't spot a setting. Am using WHM 11.24.2 and am looking in the Backup -> Configure Backup screen

This is configured in WHM -> Server Contacts -> Contact Manager. Scroll down to see the setting for "cPanel Backup."

[Lyttek]

That would mean deleting the accounts you are testing so that the backup can recreate it, in which case if your backup is for some reason corrupt, you'd have a very angry client.

Well, that's one way of doing it... another would be to extract the backup to another directory and use a comparison tool to ... well... compare the backup and the actual...

[brianjking]

This is configured in WHM -> Server Contacts -> Contact Manager. Scroll down to see the setting for "cPanel Backup."

If I want to test the integrity of the backup file created through a domain cPanel "download or generate a full backup" option how can I do this without extracting the contents and digging through it? Database driven websites make this an incredibly painful/almost impossible process.

Additionally if the "download or generate a full backup" is corrupt and you restore it (after you have to delete the domain & all of it's files through WHM) then you lose all of your files, this equals an angry client & webhost.

Please help! Thank you.

@brianjking on twitter.

[cPanelDavidG]

If I want to test the integrity of the backup file created through a domain cPanel "download or generate a full backup" option how can I do this without extracting the contents and digging through it? Database driven websites make this an incredibly painful/almost impossible process.

Additionally if the "download or generate a full backup" is corrupt and you restore it (after you have to delete the domain & all of it's files through WHM) then you lose all of your files, this equals an angry client & webhost.

Please help! Thank you.

@brianjking on twitter.

Key things to look for:
- All files are present. Sometimes, files owned by user nobody can cause issues. However, if you find 1 file owned by user nobody that is entirely in the backup (basically, not a 0k file), then this is probably a good backup so far.

- Make sure all databases that are not empty have a SQL file that is > 1KB in size. On extremely rare occasion, there can be issues where the database is in use when cPanel tries to back it up and a database backup is not successful.

- I know it sounds obvious, but it never hurts to view your backup logs when they are emailed to you with the email about automated backups (assuming you have left such notifications enabled on your server). Just view the logs to make sure no errors were reported. We are currently working on modifying this functionality to obviate, in the email, when an error has occurred during the backup process. Internal Case 28994


PS: No need to post 3 times about the same issue .