accessing site backups (via root?)

[hamhat]

hi guys, im a relative noob to all this, so forgive my ignorance!
i have a couple of sites thru WHM/cPanel, and these automagically back up, but i cannot for the life of me find where they backup to?

i get a log file saying (amongst other things): "pkgacctfile is: /backup/cpbackup/weekly/sitename.tar.gz"

i've tried multiple ways to find the directory, both using the actual website ftp, and the overall "master"(?) root ftp account. where should i be looking?? im lost!

 

[JaredR.]

/backup/cpbackup/weekly/sitename.tar.gz is an absolute path that starts at the server's root directory, not an account's root directory. The server administrator will have direct access to it, but you as a reseller or site owner will not see it when you log in via FTP using a cPanel account's credentials.

You can download a backup by clicking the "Backups" icon in the account's cPanel. I have attached a screenshot that shows the options that are available for downloading a backup.

 

[hamhat]

thanks Jared, but is there any way to access via FTP? i kind of want to clean up in there as i fear my drive space is being gobbled by backups

 

[JaredR.]

A reseller or site owner will not see (or be able to manipulate) the backups when you log in via FTP. That means that there is no way for a reseller to access the backups via FTP. The backups are not owned by your reseller or cPanel account user, so they do not count against your reseller user quota.

The backups that are configured by the server administrator that are placed in /backup/cpbackup (or whatever backup destination the server administrator has set) do not affect your reseller quota.

 

[hamhat]

oh, sorry. i think i may have misled. i have root access, and am (rather unknowingly when it was all set up) the admin

 

[JaredR.]

You set your cPanel/WHM Access Level selection to "Reseller Owner" in the forum. That is why I answered your questions as if you were a reseller. You can change your Access Level by editing your profile.

Since you do have root access to the server, you can delete, move or otherwise manipulate the backup files by logging into the server via SSH as root and using standard Linux commands like mv and rm.