RimuHosting run backups of each VPS once a week. We try to keep the two most recent copies of the backup. So a copy from a week ago and another from two weeks ago.
If a customer orders a server and specifically selects the option to not run backups then we will not run backups. You can have us enable those for you at a later date.
To do this we pause the VPS, copy its boot file system, then resume the VPS.
We pause the VPS so that its filesystem does not change during the backup. The 'pause' will not normally affect active network connections. e.g. if you have an ssh connection or an httpd connection to the server it is not normally broken.
Our setup uses LVM-based disks, the backup creates a snapshot, which only takes a second or so. Then the data is copied off that snapshot. And then the snapshot is removed.
The backup process does _not_ require the server to be restarted.
Only the boot/root image is backed up. If you have multiple disks mounted on your server those extra images are not included.
By default the backups run between 0500 and 0700 (local time at your selected data center). The backups run daily, but each VPS is backed up on just one particular day of the week (so the backup load is spread over a full week).
If you need your backup to run at a particular time/day you can set your preferred time in the RimuHosting control panel.
If you go to your VPS control panel (under VPS Management at https://rimuhosting.com/cp/vps/backup.jsp) it will indicate that a backup is in progress (in place of the regular reboot buttons). In the status section of this page, you can see when the "Next Backup Time" is scheduled. The VPS Control Log will normally also report the date/time of the last backup we had made.
Backups use a lot of disk IO and so performance on the VPS' can be a bit slower than normal during these times.
If you do not wish your VPS to be part of this backup process, just pop in a support ticket and we will remove your VPS from our weekly backups. Note we offer an FTP server with space on it for you to run your own backups/restores as often as you like. See our Backupspace howto
If you ever lose any files (e.g. via a accidental 'rm -f / oops') then just mount up the backup image or pop in a support ticket if you would prefer we help out.
If you want to run a one off backup (e.g. prior to doing a dist upgrade or a complex install) then you can run a disk image snapshot using the VPS snapshot page.
The snapshots of the VPS images are stored on the same server as the VPS where they can be protected by a host server RAID-ed file system. We recomend setting up secure offsite backups for critical files.
Offsite backups make it possible to restore your content anywhere at any time, regardless of the state of your service.
You can optionally use our backupspace service. Or our stand alone ftp/scp backup service over at bakop.com.
RimuHosting VPS backups occur as described above on VPS-on-dedicated servers (dedicated servers setup as VPS hosts). However, RimuHosting do not run backups on 'bare metal' dedicated servers.
On 'bare metal' dedicated servers you are able to run your own backups per our backupspace howto. Also if you have two dedicated servers with us then you can rsync copies of data you need between them.
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