Can BackupWall back up a server with no control panel?
Yes. On a server with no panel, each first-level folder in /home is an account. You supply two things the installer does not: a local MariaDB or MySQL that root can use without a password, and the unix users that own the accounts' files.
How accounts are found
With no panel, an account is a folder in /home. Accounts are the first-level folders there; folders whose name starts with a dot (for example /home/.mysql) and system folders such as lost+found are skipped. The /home location cannot be changed.
Every first-level folder counts, including the login user of a cloud image such as /home/ubuntu, /home/ec2-user or /home/bwadmin. Keep one out with Accounts: All accounts except… (tick the login user), or take only the folders you pick with Selected accounts.
For other folders, use a Directory job. See Directory and MongoDB jobs.
What to prepare
1. A database server root can use
BackupWall backs up and restores databases by running mysql and mysqldump as the operating system's root user, connecting as the database user root through the local socket. The installer does not install a database server. A fresh MariaDB works as is. Check it:
sudo mysql -u root -e 'SELECT 1'
- If
roothas a password, or you use another login, setMYSQL_DEFAULTS_FILE=/root/.my.cnf(the path of a[client]options file) in/etc/backupwall/backupwall.env, then runsystemctl restart backupwall-worker backupwall-download-worker. - An account's databases are the ones whose name starts with the account's name and an underscore (
alice_shopfor/home/alice). - With no database server, or a root login that does not work, files still back up and restore; databases are the missing part. Run one backup and read its database list.
- PostgreSQL databases are backed up when PostgreSQL can be reached.
- A rebuilt server needs the database server running before its first restore.
2. The accounts' unix users
BackupWall cannot create unix users on a server with no panel. If you restore onto a new server, either:
- Create the users first with the same user and group ids as before and no home directory. The restore result prints the exact commands for any missing user, for example
groupadd -g 1001 alice; useradd -u 1001 -g 1001 -M -d /home/alice -s /bin/bash alice. - Or turn on Settings → Server → System users → Create missing system users on restore (off by default, shown only on a server with no panel). A restore then creates a missing user with the uid, gid and shell the backup recorded, only when both ids are free. It never reuses an id that belongs to someone else, never changes a user that exists, and sets no password.
Without the user, the files are still restored, owned by the recorded numeric ids (or by root when that id is taken). The account's crontab is the exception: it cannot be restored until the user exists, and that restore ends "partial".
Save the unix users while the server is alive: getent passwd <account> ... for every account.
The console on a server with no panel
The installer sets up nginx and opens ports 80 and 443. Without a DOMAIN, the console is plain HTTP on port 80 and the admin password crosses the network in clear text. Install again with DOMAIN=backup.example.com (your settings, jobs and password are kept), or use the HTTPS console on port 8087. See Sign in and secure the console.
The installer takes over port 80 and, on AlmaLinux and Rocky, removes every server {} block from nginx.conf first (saved as nginx.conf.bak).
What differs from a panel server
- Mail is found only under
~/mail/<domain>/<user>. - SSL certificates cannot be installed by BackupWall; on restore the certificate files come back with the account's files and you install them in your web server.
- The cutover web proxy for a migration is not available.
- A full-account restore puts back the home directory's own mode and owner.