WHM Backup files taking up all my server space

[Toby2sticks]

HI
I have backup active on my server set to daily backups. It backs up onto the server itself as I have no control of another server to ftp to but the file is taking up most of my server space. Can anyone offer advice on the best settings for WHM Backup.

 

[mohit]

Hi,
backup on same drive(/home) on which you have user a/c's is not a good idea.

It will take a lot of time to get completed
In case of disk failure you have nothing left
In case of security compromise, you are exposed to loose everything.

also the backup would only run when you have "Available disk space" more than the Size of Largest A/c on the server.

Ask your server provider to get you a backup drive installed.

Or sign up with some offsite backup solution like "bqbackup".

see ya,
mohit

 

[Toby2sticks]

I can and will be purchasing a backup service from my provider however if they do the back up they do not use WHM and so it will be difficult to restore; alternatively they will back up my backup files but that does not solve the problem that the backups are taking up so much space.
Back to my original question: What settings can I use that might reduce the size of the backup files whilst still keeping a reasonable amount of information suitable for restoring the system and databases if we had a problem. The sites are not majorly active, will it help to change to weekly or monthly backups?

 

[mohit]

hi,
weekly might help, you can check it yourself based on your current backup frequency, if you back up on same drive there's no option left as you would need to have those backup on your drive when your 3rd party backup service providers pulls them.

if you want you can use "backup Selected Users" from WHM backup config but that would not backup unchecked a/c anymore.

see ya,
mohit

 

[rsaylor]

install a 2nd drive or buy some remote space then you can use the FTP option in the backup to store the backup remotely instead of on the server.

 

[mohit]

Only 2nd drive can help in such a scenario

hi,
ya i also see he would need the 2nd drive as FTP backup would not backup any of the server configuration files which might be needed for a restore in case of a problem.

see ya,
mohit

 

[brianoz]

I can and will be purchasing a backup service from my provider however if they do the back up they do not use WHM and so it will be difficult to restore; alternatively they will back up my backup files but that does not solve the problem that the backups are taking up so much space.

I'd do that as a matter of urgency, as you're not protected against disk failure at the moment. I'd also use cpanel news to remind customers they need to do their own backups. Even though it's frustrating when we all remind you of this, we do so because your current backups are glaringly worthless (well, almost so).

You can use rsync or rdiff to get the same sort of backup coverage as the (slow/clumsy) cpanel backup system, with most or all of the recovery potential.

Back to my original question: What settings can I use that might reduce the size of the backup files whilst still keeping a reasonable amount of information suitable for restoring the system and databases if we had a problem. The sites are not majorly active, will it help to change to weekly or monthly backups?

There are no magic settings per se that will help - the backups are already compressed, and there is little more that you can do other than use a rdiff-type strategy which would reduce the size of your subsequent backups, and if there's little actual activity that might be a significant win for you. As you suggest, you may also want to switch to weekly or monthly backups; so long as you advise your users there should be little problem with this strategy.