Snapshots and backups

Two different safety nets. Most people need both.

Snapshots protect against mistakes

A snapshot freezes your server's exact state in a moment. Taking one is instant, and rolling back to it is nearly instant. You get three per server, free.

Take one before anything you would not want to undo by hand: an app upgrade, a configuration change, following a tutorial you are not sure about.

Snapshots live on the same disk as your server. They will not save you from a hardware failure — that is what backups are for.

Backups protect against disasters

Daily backups are a paid add-on. They are full copies of your server, taken every night and stored on separate hardware. They cover the situations snapshots cannot: disk failure, ransomware, or deleting something important and not noticing for a fortnight.

Contact support to restore one.

Neither replaces exporting your own data

If your server holds something irreplaceable — a Minecraft world you have played for two years, your only copy of the family photos — keep a copy somewhere that is not us. Every app page below explains where that app keeps its data.

Keep reading

Getting startedWhat you get when you order, and what to do in the first ten minutes. Connecting with SSHHow to reach the command line on your server, and why the port is not 22. Securing your serverThe first ten minutes, and the handful of things that actually matter. Reading your usage metersWhat CPU, memory and disk are telling you — and when a high number is fine. Addresses and portsWhy some apps give you a web link and others give you a host and a number. Sending email from your appWhy your app cannot send email until you give it a mail provider, and how to set one up.