Backup questions - incremental, system, etc.

[iso99]

Questions on backup.

I have weekly incremental backup configured to 1 retention.

When it failed, it created 2 directories as intended. 1 working backup, 1 failed.

Q1: If I run force backup, will it compare from the failed backup and only save changed files, OR will it save a whole copy of a new backup consuming disk space?

Turns out it did not replace the failed backup, it's still there. Can I make an rsync copy/replace for the two dirs replacing the failed weekly backup, with a forced backup?

Q2: Can a system backup, be used to restore same cPanel server to a new server?

Q3: Can a /var/lib/mysql system backup be used to restore a whole MySQL server in case it fails? Does a simple copy/paste would work?

Q4: How does one restore a system backup?

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello @iso99,

Q1: If I run force backup, will it compare from the failed backup and only save changed files, OR will it save a whole copy of a new backup consuming disk space?

Turns out it did not replace the failed backup, it's still there. Can I make an rsync copy/replace for the two dirs replacing the failed weekly backup, with a forced backup?

The disk space will appear to be the same, but it's not actually duplicating the space. It's simply the nature of how hard links work with incremental backups. This is described in more detail on the following thread:

How do the backups work exactly?

Additionally, when the system backup partially completes (the backup fails), the system will not delete the oldest backup, and it will continue to retain the oldest backups. You can read more about how this works at:

Backup Configuration - Version 74 Documentation - cPanel Documentation

Q2: Can a system backup, be used to restore same cPanel server to a new server?

System backups are generally recommended for restoring settings on the same cPanel & WHM server they were generated on. The cpconftool script is a better tool to use when copying settings to a new server:

The cpconftool Script - Version 72 Documentation - cPanel Documentation

Q3: Can a /var/lib/mysql system backup be used to restore a whole MySQL server in case it fails? Does a simple copy/paste would work?

The "Per Account" MySQL backups are the ones you should use when restoring a database from a backup. This will ensure the database is associated with the cPanel username when it's restored. The "Entire MySQL Directory" backup is more useful in the event your /var/lib/mysql directory is corrupted or needs to be restored to a previous state (and your system is otherwise fine).

Q4: How does one restore a system backup?

cPanel & WHM does not include an interface to restore system backup files. To restore content from system backup files, you must perform the restoration manually by uploading/replacing the files to the cPanel server.

Thank you.