BackupWall documentation

Install BackupWall, sign in, run your first backup and test a restore.

• What is BackupWall?
• What are the system requirements for BackupWall?
• How do I install BackupWall?
• How do I sign in for the first time and secure the console?
• How do I run my first backup and test a restore?
• How do I uninstall BackupWall?

How the engine works: incremental, deduplicated backups, memory and CPU use, and what is covered.

• How does BackupWall work?
• How do incremental and deduplicated backups work?
• How much memory and CPU does BackupWall use?
• What does BackupWall back up, and what does it not?

cPanel & WHM, DirectAdmin, Plesk and panel-less servers, plus the panel plugins.

• How does BackupWall work with cPanel & WHM?
• Can cPanel users restore and download their own backups?
• How does BackupWall work with DirectAdmin?
• How does BackupWall work with Plesk, and is there a Plesk plugin?
• Can BackupWall back up a server with no control panel?
• How do I install the WHM, cPanel and DirectAdmin plugins?

Where backups are stored: S3 and compatible stores, Google Drive and Cloud Storage, SFTP, local and NFS.

• How do I choose and add a backup destination?
• How do I back up to Amazon S3, Wasabi, Backblaze B2 or another S3-compatible store?
• How do I back up to Google Drive?
• How do I back up to Google Cloud Storage?
• How do I back up to an SFTP server?
• How do I back up to a local folder or NFS share?
• How do I back up to OneDrive? Beta

Jobs, schedules, retention, excludes, throttling, verification and alerts.

• How do I create a backup job?
• How do schedules and retention work, and how do I free storage space?
• How do I exclude files and folders from backups?
• How do I run a backup and read the result?
• How does BackupWall verify that my backups can be restored?
• How do I stop backups from slowing down my sites?
• How do I get alerts when a backup fails?
• How do I back up directories, system files or MongoDB?

Restore files, databases, email, DNS or whole accounts, with a safety copy and undo.

• How do I restore files, databases, email or DNS from a backup?
• How do I restore a whole account, a deleted account or into a different account?
• How do I restore every account on a new server?
• Can I undo a restore?
• How do I download a backup as a file?
• How do I read my backups without BackupWall?

Move accounts between servers and panels, and cut over DNS.

• Can BackupWall move accounts between servers and between panels?
• How do I migrate an account to another server?
• How does the cutover work, and what happens to DNS and mail?
• What does a migration not carry over?

Encryption, keys, two-factor sign-in and access control.

• How do I encrypt my backups, and what is encrypted?
• What is the master key and how do I protect it?
• How does BackupWall handle my data, and what leaves my server?
• How do users, roles, two-factor login and API keys work?

Rebuild BackupWall itself on fresh hardware from a sealed bundle.

• What is Disaster Recovery and how do I set it up?
• How do I rebuild a server from a Disaster Recovery bundle?

How licensing works, ordering, and what happens when a licence lapses.

• How does BackupWall licensing work?
• What happens to my backups and restores if my licence lapses?
• How do I activate my licence key, or move it to a new server or IP?
• How do I order BackupWall and get a licence key? Beta

Update channels, maintenance windows and how upgrades behave.

• How does BackupWall update itself?
• How do I turn automatic updates on or off and approve an update?
• How do I choose the Stable or Beta update channel and set a maintenance window? Soon
• How do I roll back an update?
• How do I upgrade BackupWall by hand with install.sh?

Failed or warning backups, restore problems, and how to report an issue.

• The BackupWall console will not open, or a service is down
• My backup finished with warnings or shows Partial. What does it mean?
• My scheduled backup did not run. Why?
• A destination Test fails or backups to it fail. What do I check?
• My licence key will not activate. What does the error mean?
• A restore ended partial, or restored files are owned by root. Why?
• The BackupWall plugin is missing, blank or fails in WHM, cPanel or DirectAdmin
• I cannot sign in to the BackupWall console
• My migration failed, finished partial or cannot be finalized
• How do I report a problem and make a support bundle?

Files, services, ports and commands.

• BackupWall glossary
• Where does BackupWall keep its files, and which services, ports and commands does it use?
• What are BackupWall's known limitations?

Short answers to the questions asked most often.

• BackupWall frequently asked questions