Backups are one of the most important parts of maintaining your website and email reliability. Virtualmin includes a built-in backup system that can automatically save your entire domain, databases, and mailboxes on a regular schedule.
Creating a Manual Backup:
1. Log in to your Virtualmin dashboard.
2. From the top-left domain drop-down, select the website you want to back up.
3. In the left menu, click Backup and Restore → Backup Virtual Servers.
4. Under Servers to Backup, select Only the selected virtual server (unless you want to back up multiple domains).
5. Choose where to store the backup:
• Local file or directory: Save on the same server (for example, /home/backups/).
• FTP / SSH / Amazon S3: Send backups to an external location for added safety.
6. Leave the default options checked for website files, databases, and mailboxes.
7. Click Backup Now to start the process.
8. When the backup completes, you’ll see confirmation and a file path to where it was saved.
Scheduling Automatic Backups:
1. In the left menu, go to Backup and Restore → Scheduled Backups.
2. Click Add a new scheduled backup.
3. Under Servers to Backup, choose the domains you want included.
4. Select a destination (local or remote) where the backups will be stored.
5. In the Schedule and Reporting section, pick how often the backup should run — daily, weekly, or custom intervals.
6. Set how many old backups to keep before deleting the oldest ones to manage space.
7. Click Create Schedule to activate the automatic backup job.
Restoring a Backup:
• Go to Backup and Restore → Restore Backup.
• Browse to your backup file or enter the remote storage path.
• Select which parts to restore — website files, databases, or mail only.
• Click Restore Now and wait for the process to complete.
• Once done, your website and mailboxes will return to the exact state from that backup.
Backup Best Practices:
• Keep at least one local backup and one remote copy stored off-site.
• Test restoring occasionally to confirm your backups are usable.
• Schedule backups during low-traffic hours to reduce load.
• Monitor available disk space on your backup destination to avoid failures.
Next Steps:
• Review your backup locations regularly to confirm they’re reachable.
• Set up email notifications in Virtualmin to alert you of any failed backups.
• Continue to “Managing DNS Records” to learn how to configure and update your domain settings.
