Did you know every 5 years, almost 20% of mid-size and small-size businesses come across a data loss experience due to some significant disaster?
Your virtual server has everything right from videos and images to codes that form your website, and all it takes is one cyber attack to destroy your online identity completely.
To ensure this doesn’t happen, let us help you understand how to backup and restore the data on your VPS website hosting server to help keep your data intact and safe.
What is Virtual Server Backup Solutions
A backup VPS server or virtual server backup solution is a process of making a virtual server backup for the safety of your data applications and the operating system image on your virtual server.
It is similar to your regular backup, but in this case, the server is virtual and created by a hypervisor. Big companies usually perform this kind of backup process on every virtual server they have.
The hypervisor, or sometimes an external backup application, connects to a storage device (either nearby or far away) to start and complete the backup. Depending on the backup software, you can either save the entire virtual server or just the changes made since the last backup.
How to Backup and Restore Data On Your VPS Server
A VPS backup can be done in two ways-
- Either by installing backup software inside the virtual environment and treating it like a regular computer
- Another way would be installing a hypervisor for a more file-focused backup.
How it Works
- Method 1
The first method, where you install the backup software inside the virtual environment, is similar to backing up a physical server. It is a very straightforward process where you can also use the backup agent to make sure everything is saved correctly.
Advantages of Method 1
- This method is suitable for consistency, but it might use more of the server’s resources.
- Method 2
The second method involves backing up the Virtual environment files directly through the hypervisor. This process can be a bit different, where you have to turn off the Virtual environment or use a snapshot method, which captures the files as they are (It is like taking a snapshot of your files while your virtual environment is frozen).
It is important to note that different systems handle this in different ways, ensuring that your backup is consistent.
In case you are dealing with apps that need special care, like databases or email servers, you should pause them briefly before backing up; it is called quiescing, which makes sure everything is in the right state for backup.
Advantages of the Method 2
- This step ensures your data stays intact in case you need to recover your Virtual environment.
Conclusion
Follow whichever method works for your VPS hosting, but always ensure you have backup for keeping your virtual environment safe and secure, as your website is your business’s online identity.