JetBackup auto full account backups setup

Important update (25th July 2021):
Newest JetBackup 5 version makes backups that can be used by hosting providers (server admins) to backup and restore systems but won’t make a backup of database and files that can be used without a server with JetBackup installed – hence the backups it creates aren’t what I’d call useful & reliable as a web-hosting client.
In other words – it’s become practically useless in my opinion.
Hence, whether a hosting provider offers JetBackup or not is no longer of interest to me – in fact, I’m looking for those who offer other backup solutions that can be used, and not exclusively JetBackup.

“Manually” created downloads within each cPanel account are still working OK (though fail for accounts over a few GB in size!) – but the automated backups are affected (those that are the essence of this article and of a good backup strategy).

Pictures explain it better:

Se an alternative way, using free open-source software:
WHM Backup Solutions automated reseller hosting cPanel account backup

I have already written about the importance of making regular backups. Since automated, routine tasks are one of the things computers and servers were made for, this is task is best done using automation, as I will explain in this post. In order for this to work, the following requirements are needed:

• To have a storage space where backups can be uploaded (using FTPS, SFTP, or an application).
• To have the JetBackup application installed, with rights (permissions) to run full cPanel account backups – this is often given with reseller hosting accounts (depending on hosting provider), and can be installed on a VPS, or a Dedicated server.

In this example, I’ll be using storage for which the setup is explained in the post: Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage setup, but the principle is the same for using FTP storage, Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3 etc. (for details on options, you can see the post: Cloud storage options). So it is understood that we’ve already created all that is explained in the Backblaze B2 storage setup article and that it is all clear.

NOTE: After creating a backup, test if restoring from the backups works. First in a test, then in your production environment. Only after successfully confirming that the restoration process works can you rely on the created backups. Very educational experience on the topic: Postmortem of database failure at GitLabs.

I will provide step by step instructions (for novices) and put them in a structured way (for experts to skip to the part they need help with). Let us begin:

1. Entering JetBackup menu

The example is for WHM (Web Host Manager) control panel:

Log in to WHM and click on the option “JetBackup”.

Yes, it really is that simple, nothing more to add. On to the next chapter:

2. Setting up backup destination

Select the menu for “Destination” setup.

There click on “+ Create New Destination” (picture 3).

Now choose the storage type for backups to be uploaded onto. For this example we are choosing “Backblaze” of all the available options.

Now we need to fill in the shown fields. In the text about creating a Backblaze Bucket, we had already created a bucket named “backups-and-cat-pictures“, a directory in that bucket called “Backups” and written down key ID and the key itself.

Now we will create a backup destination called “Gremlin Weekly Backup“.

If everything was properly entered here, after clicking “Save” you will get the following notification: “Success! Destination Created Successfully”. Newly created destination will be shown in the “Destination” menu.

In case of an error, check whether you have correctly entered Key ID and key and whether the bucket and the directory entered exist with the same name on your Backblaze account.

I would store monthly backups in a separate directory, like “Monthly-backups”. For that I would make another destination with all the same options except (2) “Backup Directory”. Principle is the same, so I won’t be writing a practically identical manual for this.

After having created required backup destinations, we will move on to the next step:

3. Creating automated backup tasks

Now we should open “Backup Jobs” menu to set up automated backups to the destination we created in the previous step.

Similarly to the Destinations menu, here at the top there is a “+ Create New Backup Job” option – click on it.

Explanation for (4) “+ Add New Schedules”:

Of course, it can be similarly setup to run once per month, twice per month etc. When this is set up, you’ll be returned to the “Backup Jobs” menu, where you should click “Save”. You should then get a message: “Success! Backup Job Created Successfully”.

4. Final notes

These backups are run using “cron jobs”. Which means, on a busy server, your set up time for a backup will just put its cron in a queue. It might run several hours later – once its turn comes, after all the previously queued cron jobs have finished.

In addition to weekly backup, it is good to have a monthly one, keeping the last 10 to 12 backups, as I’ve explained in the post about backups. Certainly, after major edits/updates of website, in addition to these automated backups, backup can be made manually, to avoid loosing all the hard work.

Making such backup puts some serious load on the server. Many hosting providers already make automated JetBackup full cPanel account backups, but there is still no way of automatically downloading these backups to your cloud storage (only manual downloads to your computer when logged into a cPanel account).

A constructive and informative discussion about backups is lead on WebHostingTalk forum in the thread: “Cloud backup options“.