Backup Jobs
Backup Jobs allows you to configure how JetBackup generates and manages your backups according to your backup job configuration. In this section, you will be able to create, modify and manage your Backup Jobs.
Create New Backup Job
To create a new backup job, click on "+ Create New Backup Job".
Job Name
Specify a unique name for your backup job. This will be used internally for your convenience.
Creator
Specify the creator for this Backup Job. This grants the creator and its parent account(s) permission to modify and delete this Backup Job. Please note that the creator specified will also need Can Manage Backup Jobs permission granted under the Permissions section.
Destinations
Specify which destination(s) to transfer/store your generated backups to. You can find more details regarding supported destinations in the Destinations Overview section. Backup Jobs are able to backup to multiple destinations per job.
If a new destination is added, JetBackup will continue with incremental backups on the original destination and generate the initial full backups on the new destination.
Backup Type
JetBackup can perform the following types of backups. Here's a brief explanation for each type:
- Accounts - Copy files/folders from each account that you choose to include.
You can choose to include/exclude the following:
Panel Configurations
Home directory Files
Databases (Incremental backups is not supported for this type *)
Database Users
Email Accounts/Structure **
FTP Accounts
Cron Jobs
DNS Zones
SSL Certificates
* In case of an incremental job, all files included in this job are backed up incrementally with the exception of databases. Databases are regenerated and synced to the destination. Each job run will add the disk usage of each database dump file to the backup.
** When choosing the option to backup email structure, the backup will contain the email account structure without the email content.
- Directories - Copy server files/folders that you choose to include (not necessarily related to user accounts).
Backup Structure
Backup structures tells how backups are generated and stored. JetBackup supports the following backup structures:
- Incremental - Backup new and changed data since the previous backup.
- Archived - Backup data in an uncompressed archive (.tar file format). Uncompressed backups are faster to generate but require more space.
- Compressed - Backup data in a compressed archive (.tar.gz file format). Compressed backups use less space but take more time to generate.
Note: JetBackup 5 stores a Compressed/Archived Backup locally in the JetBackup Workspace before transferring to the destination. The minimal required space for these Backup Structures is 110% of the largest account.
For more information about the Backup structures supported for your destination, go to Destinations Overview.
Backup Naming Conventions
Backup directory names will differ, depending on two factors: # Backup Type # Backup Structure
| Backup Type | Backup Structure | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
| JB Config Backup | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Encrypted Backups
Choose whether or not backups will be encrypted on the backup destination. This option is only available with Archived and Compressed Backup Structure. Please note that users/accounts that opts for encrypted backups exclusively will be automatically excluded from all other backup jobs with encrypted backups disabled.
Account Filters
Account Filters allows you to specify conditions on which to include/exclude on you Backup Job(s). By default, all accounts are included in the backup job. Multiple filters may also be applied and are combined by AND/OR statements.
AND - the condition on EACH filter(s) must be met in order for an account to be included in the backup job.
OR - the condition on EITHER filter(s) must be met in order for an account to be included in the backup job.
Newly excluded accounts will NOT have their snapshots cleaned(deleted) automatically unless the snapshots are Orphan/Manual Snapshots. These snapshots will remain on the destination(s) until the account is included or the snapshots fall under the Delete orphan backups older than/Manual Backups TTL.
Create Account Filters
In order to create an account filter, either click on "Manage Account Filters" > "+ Create New Filter" or through the Account Filters section under the Backup Job configuration page.
Filter Type
- Accounts Filter - Specify which accounts to Include/Exclude in the backup job.
- Resellers Filter * - Specify which reseller accounts (includes the reseller's sub accounts) to Include/Exclude in the backup job.
- Suspension Filter - Specify whether to Include/Exclude suspended accounts in the backup job.
- Encrypted Filter - Filter accounts to Include/Exclude based on whether they have Encrypted Backups Only enabled.
- Disk Space Usage Filter - Filter accounts to Include Below/Above (or equals) a specified disk space usage in the backup job.
- Inode Usage Filter ** - Filter accounts to Include Below/Above (or equals) a specified Inodes (files number) usage in backup job.
- Packages Filter - Specify which accounts to Include/Exclude by cPanel Packages in the backup job.
- Characters Range Filter - Specify which accounts to Include/Exclude by characters range in the backup job.
- Regular Expression Filter - Specify which accounts to Include/Exclude by a regular expression pattern in the backup job.
- Account Tags Filter - Specify which accounts to Include/Exclude based on the tags they are assigned.
* Reseller Filters only affect the accounts that a reseller account owns, not the reseller account itself. Reseller accounts will be included in the affects of a Reseller Filter if the reseller account owns itself.
- ** In order to use the Inode Usage Filter, your server/control panel must support a method for JetBackup to obtain inode usage (such as repquota).
Filter Name
Specify a unique name for your account filter(s). This will be used internally for your convenience.
Creator
Specify the creator for this account filter. This grants the creator and its parent account(s) permission to modify and delete this account filter. Please note that the creator specified will also need Can Manage Backup Jobs permission granted under the Permissions section.
Filter Condition
Whatever to included or excluded accounts filtered by this filter.
Filter Examples
Examples of filter results where Filter 1 includes Account 1 & Account 3, and Filter 2 includes Account 2 & Account 3
Legend
- Included in backup
- Excluded from backup
| Filter 1 | Filter 2 | Account 1 | Account 2 | Account 3 | Others | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Include | AND | Include | ||||
| Include | OR | Include | ||||
| Include | AND | Exclude | ||||
| Include | OR | Exclude | ||||
| Exclude | AND | Include | ||||
| Exclude | OR | Include | ||||
| Exclude | AND | Exclude | ||||
| Exclude | OR | Exclude |
Directories and Files to Include
Select which directories and files you would like to add to your Directories backup job. Click on "Select Files" to use the File Browser or "Insert Multiple" to add multiple paths manually.
Directories and Files to Exclude
Excluding files & folders from backup is a very important feature, and we recommend to use it. Each backup job has it's own exclude list that can be specified and modified. The exclude list will be piped to our sync operation. The supported path format should be in glob pattern.
Specify a file/folder path on the field and click on "Add Path" to add on the exclude list or click on "Insert Multiple" to exclude in bulk.
Exclude files and folders in bulk:
Here are some recommendations for files/folders to exclude.
*.bkup
*.gz
*.jpa
*.log
*.sql
*.tar
*.tar.gz
*.wpress
*.zip
*/.wysiwygPro_*
*/backupbuddy_backups/*
*/cache/smarty/*
*/com_akeeba/backup/*
*/core.[0-9]*
*/error_log
*/var/amasty_fpc/*
*/var/backups/*
*/var/cache/*
*/var/debug/*
*/var/export/*
*/var/import/*
*/var/log/*
*/var/report/*
*/var/session/*
*/var/tmp/*
*/wp-content/cache/*
*/wp-content/wphb-cache/*
*/wp-content/uploads/wpcf7_captcha/*
*/wp-content/widget-cache/*
*/wptsc-cachedir/*
.MirrorSearch
.cpanel/*.sock
.trash
access-logs/*
backup-*.tar.gz
logs/*
public_ftp/*
public_html/cache/*
site-*.tar.gz
softaculous_backups/*
tmp/*
Default Excludes
JetBackup 5 has certain files and folders that are excluded by default for the Homedirectory Backup Item depending on the panel installed. Please see the lists below to see which files and folders are excluded from all Accounts Backup Job.
NOTE: Some default exluded files/folders are backed up in other Backup Items. For example: The /mail folder for cPanel accounts will be integrated with the Email Account Backup Item. Having it excluded from Homedirectory backups will allow for efficient backups and avoid duplicates.
Schedules
Backup Job Schedules tells JetBackup the time and frequency a backup job will be executed as well as the number of backups to keep for the corresponding schedule (backup retention).
JetBackup gives you the option to set multiple schedules for each backup job. There are no extra overhead between backups with multiple schedules running at the same time as JetBackup will automatically mark each coinciding backup with the appropriate schedule types.
NOTE: Changing between schedule types may remove backups generated from the previous schedule type. Please review how to properly make changes on your schedule.
Create Schedule
Schedule Name
Specify a unique name for your schedule. This will be used internally for your convenience.
Schedule Type
- Hourly - Will be executed every X hours.
- Daily - Will be executed on the days of the week you choose to execute the backup job.
- Weekly - Will be executed once a week, on the day you choose to execute the backup job.
- Monthly - Will be executed on the days of the month, from the 1st / 7th / 14th / 21st / 28th day you choose to execute the backup job.
- After Backup job is done - The job depends on another Backup job to be finished, only then it will be executed. When this option is chosen, You can also set a "delay" in minutes/hours/days to wait before starting.
To safely change between schedule types, please add a new schedule on top of your existing schedule(s) and give your backup job ample time (the full retention length of your new schedule) to generate and correctly mark backups with the appropriate schedule type(s). You can then safely remove the previous schedule once the backup job runs for one full cycle of your retention.
Schedule Hours
With an Hourly Schedule Type, you may choose to execute the backup job every one/two/three/four/six/eight/twelve Hours.
Schedule Days
Backup Retain
Backup Retain specifies how many backups to keep with the corresponding schedule type.
Schedule Time
With an /Daily/Weekly/Monthly Schedule Type, you may specify the time of day (based on your server local time) on when to execute the backup job.
Schedule Delay
With a After Backup/Clone/cPanel job is done Schedule Type, you may set how much time to delay a backup job in minutes/hours/days before executing the backup job.
Schedule Time
The time that you want all schedules to be executed.
Monitor
The Backup Job monitor is a feature that will allow JetBackup 5 to send alerts to your configured Notification Integrations for each of the following conditions:
- Notify me if there were no backups for X Days
- Notify me if backup runs more than X Days
Job Monitor Alerts will marked with the Critical Level.
Backup Job Settings
Click on the preferred Backup Job listed in the Backup Job section to expand and view the available backup job settings.
Enable Backup Job
Click on "Enable Backup Job" to toggle between enabling and disabling your backup job.
Manage Backup Job
Click on 'Manage Backup Job' to modify your backup job configuration.
Run Backup Job Now (Manual Backups)
Execute your Backup Job manually and on-demand.
Manually running backup jobs does not count towards your scheduled backup job rotation. To set the retention and TTL for manually executed backups, please visit Manual Backup Settings.
View Backup Logs
Click on 'View Backup Job' to see Logs associated to the selected Backup Job.
Duplicate Backup Job
Click on 'Duplicate Backup Job' to make a copy of the selected Backup Job.
Delete Backup Job
Click on 'Delete Backup Job' to Delete your job permanently.
Additional Information
Optimizing your backups on supported destinations
"Point-In-Time" incremental backups - For retentions on incremental backups, JetBackup generates "point-in-time" incremental backups that use as little space as possible (using hard links). For example, on a 2GB DirectAdmin account with 30-day backup retention, it will only consume 2GB + 30 Days worth of new/changed data. (**For databases, JetBackup generates a full dump of the database for each incremental backup).
Incremental Backup Job Behavior
The Initial FIRST Run of Incremental Backup Jobs may take a significantly longer time to finish as JetBackup generates the initial FULL Backup of your accounts.
If a Backup Job remains processing and goes past its next expected schedule, JetBackup will recalculate the next run to the next "open" schedule upon completion.
You may set a Backup Fork TTL under your JetBackup Performance Settings to limit how long (in hours) a single Backup Fork can process one account backup.
Please note that manually running a Backup Job does not count towards your Scheduled Backups. JetBackup will generate a separate set of Backups (including the initial Full Backup) for both the Manual and Scheduled runs of your Backup Job.
JetBackup Priority Systems
In JetBackup 5, there are 2 underlying priority systems at work which allows you to control how JetBackup prioritizes backups, restores & downloads. Both of which works so that the lower the value, the higher its priority on the queue. For more Information regarding JetBackup 5's priority systems, please CLICK HERE.
Backup Queue and Concurrent Backup Jobs
In Jetbackup 5, the Queue utilizes a First in First out method in processing each tasks. It batches each tasks by its appropriate priority value across each Task Type (Backup, Restore, Download, Clone) and can simultaneously process tasks depending on the number of Concurrent Tasks set under Performance Settings.
Limitations
Symlink Limitation
As a security measure to prevent backing-up folders that certain users should not have access to, JetBackup only backs up cPanel permanent links which are limited to account restore/download process(es). JetBackup does not follow nor include any other symlinks during the backup process.
* A symlink or Symbolic Link is simply a shortcut to another file or folder. It is a file that points to another file. You can think of Symlinks as shortcuts sometimes created by root users.
Invalid characters
JetBackup can't restore files and/or directories with certain special characters or permissions.
For a list of recommended special characters and file permissions to avoid, please visit: Characters to Avoid when naming Files and Folders