Creating a Backup

On-demand backups let you capture the current state of your account at any point — before a major update, before migrating to another server, or whenever you want a manual checkpoint. Backups run in the background so you can continue using the panel while the job completes.

Creating a backup#

1. Log in to the Opterius Panel and switch to Hosting Mode.
2. Navigate to Backups → Create Backup.
3. Choose a backup type:
   • Full — files, databases, email accounts, and cron jobs
   • Files only — home directory and webroot contents
   • Databases only — all databases associated with your account
   • Email only — all Maildir contents for your mailboxes
4. Choose a storage destination — local disk or any remote destination your admin has configured (S3, Backblaze B2, SFTP).
5. Review the size estimate shown before confirming. This is calculated from current disk usage and gives you an approximate archive size.
6. Click Create Backup.

The backup job starts immediately in the background. A progress indicator in the Backups list shows the current status.

Backup naming#

Your backup archive is named {username}_{date}.tar.gz. For example, if your account username is alice and today is 2026-04-08, the archive is alice_2026-04-08.tar.gz.

Downloading your backup#

Once the backup status shows Complete, a Download button appears next to the entry. Click it to download the archive directly to your machine.

[!NOTE] The download link serves the archive through the panel. For large archives on slow connections, downloading via scp or rsync directly from the server may be faster — ask your server admin for the file path.

What to do if a backup fails#

If the backup status shows Failed:

• Check that there is enough disk space on the destination. A full disk is the most common cause.
• If using a remote destination (S3, B2, SFTP), verify the credentials are still valid in Server Mode → Settings → Backups.
• Contact your server admin — agent errors are logged at /opt/opterius-agent/logs/agent.log.

On-demand vs. scheduled backups#

On-demand backups are not subject to any retention policy. They remain until you delete them. If you want automatic daily or weekly backups, ask your admin to configure scheduled backups for your account. See Scheduled Backups for details.