Parallels Plesk Panel - 9.5 Reference Guide
Parallels® Plesk Panel
Contents
Preface 3
About This Guide ........................................................................................................................... 3
Typographical Conventions ........................................................................................................... 3
Feedback ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Plesk Backup and Restore Overview 5
Backup Objects: Hierarchy and Volume ....................................................................................... 7
Backup Logical Structure ............................................................................................................ 10
Specifying Location of Temporary Directory ............................................................................... 14
Performing Backup 15
Defining Data for Backup ............................................................................................................ 17
Examples ........................................................................................................................... 21
Defining Properties of Files That Compose Backup ................................................................... 24
Setting Up Backup Export ........................................................................................................... 26
Defining How the Backup Process is Performed ........................................................................ 28
Checking Free Disk Space Before Starting the Backup Process ............................................... 29
Performing Restore 30
Defining Objects for Restore ....................................................................................................... 31
Defining How the Restore Process is Performed ........................................................................ 34
Conflict Resolution Rules and Policies ........................................................................................ 35
Reference 38
pleskbackup Commands and Options Reference ....................................................................... 38
pleskrestore Commands and Options ......................................................................................... 42
Custom Conflict Resolutions ....................................................................................................... 44
Conflict Description Messages .......................................................................................... 44
Resolutions Description Format ........................................................................................ 45
Samples of Policy Description........................................................................................... 54
Samples of Conflict Resolution With Rules ....................................................................... 55
Preface 3
In this section:
About This Guide ............................................................................................... 3
Typographical Conventions ............................................................................... 3
Feedback .......................................................................................................... 4
Formatting convention
Type of Information
Example
Special Bold
Items you must select,
such as menu options,
command buttons, or
items in a list.
Go to the System tab.
Titles of chapters,
sections, and subsections.
Read the Basic Administration
chapter.
Italics
Used to emphasize the
importance of a point, to
introduce a term or to
designate a command line
placeholder, which is to be
replaced with a real name
or value.
The system supports the so
called wildcard character search.
Monospace
The names of commands,
files, and directories.
The license file is located in the
http://docs/common/licen
ses directory.
Preface
About This Guide
This guide is intended for administrators of servers with Parallels Plesk Panel who wish to
perform Plesk backup and restore operations via command line interface (using the
pleskbackup and pleskrestore utilities).
Typographical Conventions
Before you start using this guide, it is important to understand the documentation
conventions used in it.
The following kinds of formatting in the text identify special information.
4 Preface
Formatting convention
Type of Information
Example
Preformatted
On-screen computer
output in your commandline sessions; source code
in XML, C++, or other
programming languages.
# ls –al /files
total 14470
Preformatted Bold
What you type, contrasted
with on-screen computer
output.
# cd /root/rpms/php
CAPITALS
Names of keys on the
keyboard.
SHIFT, CTRL, ALT
KEY+KEY
Key combinations for
which the user must press
and hold down one key
and then press another.
CTRL+P, ALT+F4
Feedback
If you have found an error in this guide, or if you have suggestions or ideas on how to
improve this guide, please send your feedback using the online form at
http://www.parallels.com/en/support/usersdoc/. Please include in your report the guide’s title,
chapter and section titles, and the fragment of text in which you have found an error.
Backup and restoration are among the most critical processes of hosting environment
C H A P T E R 1
Plesk Backup and Restore Overview
management. Parallels Plesk Panel provides graphical user interface (GUI) and
command line interface (CLI) solutions to perform backup and restore tasks.
The main features of the command-line backup/restore solution are the following
(marked with asterisk (*) present in GUI, too):
Flexible backup and restore
Supported are not only full backups and restores, but also partial which allow to
choose the level of Plesk objects that should be backed up or restored (resellers,
clients, domains), and, moreover, to select almost any specific set of the objects.
Even more flexible backup: only configuration*
Every backup object is understood as composed of configuration and content:
configuration is a set of all object properties and settings, and content is the object’s
binary data. It is possible to created “light-weight” backups which include only
configuration of the selected objects.
Mail-oriented backups
One may create a backup which contains only content and configuration of mail
system owned by the selected objects.
Web site oriented backups
One may create a backup which contains only content and configuration of Web
sites on domains owned by the selected objects.
Various options of storing backups
Plesk provides a dedicated storage - Backup Repository*, in addition to this, a
backup can be exported as a single file directly to a specified FTP server or any
location on file system.
Calculating domain backups in disk usage statistics*
Plesk disk space usage statistics can be set up so that the domain backup size is
count in overall domain disk usage and in overall disk usage of the domain owner,
irrelevant to where the backup is stored.
Prudent restore*
Restore adds the data from backup to that existing in destination Plesk, not
replaces it.
Advanced restore conflicts resolution
Plesk restore, when encounters conflicts between backup data and data in Plesk
that cannot be automatically resolved, returns highly-detailed description of such
conflicts. Which allows admin to accurately perform restoration with applying
comprehensive set of conflict resolutions
6 Plesk Backup and Restore Overview
In this chapter:
Backup Objects: Hierarchy and Volume ............................................................ 7
Backup Logical Structure................................................................................... 10
Specifying Location of Temporary Directory ...................................................... 14
Plesk Backup and Restore Overview 7
Backup Objects: Hierarchy and Volume
Plesk provides opportunities for backing up and restoring nearly all hosting data, which
includes its major objects: Administrator account, reseller accounts, client accounts,
domain accounts, mail accounts, databases, Web sites, and subdomains. These
backup objects are organized into a strict hierarchy where parent object is always an
owner of its children. The hierarchy is as follows:
Figure 1: Backup objects hierarchy
As you can see on the diagram, Plesk backup objects are levelled into 4 levels: server,
resellers, clients and domains levels. The levels are such that a higher level includes
objects on the lower levels but a lower level is completely separated from the higher
objects.
8 Plesk Backup and Restore Overview
You can create either full or partial backup. Full backup is the highest-level backup, it
Backup Object
Type
Own Configuration
Own Content
server
Settings of server-level services (mail and
database servers, SSO, application vault,
spam filters and antivirus), server preferences,
Sitebuilder configuration, Plesk account
templates, license keys, certificates, interface
preferences, Plesk billing settings.
License keys, custom
button icons, Plesk skins,
Plesk locales, Web
application packages.
admin
Personal Plesk Administrator information.
reseller
Personal reseller information, limits and
permissions on resources, IP pool and Web
application pool configuration, personal
domain and client templates settings, custom
buttons settings.
Virtual host templates,
custom button icons.
client
Personal client information, limits and
permissions on resources, IP pool and site
application pool configuration, personal
domain and client templates settings, custom
buttons settings.
Virtual host templates,
custom button icons.
includes all Plesk data: server, admin and all descendant backup objects. Partial
backup includes only backup objects you need, of any of the levels. For information on
available options when creating partial backup, refer to the Defining Data for Backup
section (on page 17).
Note: Full backups do not include Plesk modules data.
Restoring a backup, in turn, can also be either full or partial. Full restore revives all data
contained in a backup, and partial revives a part. For information on available options
when restoring data from backup, refer to the Defining Objects for Restore section (on
page 31).
As mentioned, each backup object has own data. These data consist of backup object
configuration and content:
Configuration defines properties of the backup object and its descendants.
Content contains binary data related only to the backup object (database backups,
mail attachments, etc).
This means that, for instance, client configuration includes configuration of the domain
he/she owns, but their content is completely independent.
This table shows what data (configuration and content) is related to each backup
object.
Plesk Backup and Restore Overview 9
Backup Object
Type
Own Configuration
Own Content
domain
Resource usage limits, permissions, domainlevel service settings (IP address, mail
system, mailing lists, DNS, tomcat
applications, traffic statistics), custom button
and domain alias settings, domain
administrator personal information, SSL
certificates, hosting type settings.
Mailing lists, tomcat
applications, custom
button icons.
mailuser
Personal mail user information, permissions,
mailbox settings, mail aliases, forwarding
settings, mailgroup settings (only for mailgroup
accounts), autoresponders configuration,
addressbook (horde turba),
SpamAssassin/drweb settings, custom buttons
settings.
Mail box content,
autoresponder
attachments,
SpamAssassin files,
custom button icons.
database
Database server settings and database user
settings.
Database dump.
phosting
System user account settings, scripting
settings, Web applications settings, Frontpage
user credentials, log rotation settings,
anonymous FTP settings, list of web-protected
site locations, list of domain web users,
subdomain settings, web statistics settings,
hotlinking protection settings, performance
and shared SSL settings.
Virtual host content,
content of installed Web
applications, virtual
directories content, web
user home directories
content.
subdomain
System user account information, scripting
options, Web applications list, hotlink
protection settings, protected directory
settings, and shared SSL settings.
Content of virtual “subhost”, content of installed
Web applications,
custom button icons.
10 Plesk Backup and Restore Overview
Backup Logical Structure
<info>.xml
Metadata files of full and server-level
backups, one per backup, describe
configuration and content of server,
admin, and all their descendants.
<content>.<zip|tar|tgz>
Archives with content of server and
admin.
clients/
Directory containing the following
backup data:
clients owned by admin or having
no owner
objects owned by the clients
Organization of the directory is the
same as that of
<repository>/resellers/<resel
ler ID>/clients/.
domains/
Directory containing the following
backup data:
domains owned by admin or having
no owner
objects owned by the domains
Organization of the directory is the
same as that of
<repository>/resellers/<resel
ler ID>/clients/<client
ID>/domains.
resellers/
Directory containing the following
backup data:
resellers
objects owned by the resellers
By default, all Plesk backups are created in Plesk backup repository located on Plesk
server:
in Plesk for Linux/Unix, repository location is specified by the DUMP_D variable
defined in the /etc/psa/psa.conf configuration file
in Plesk for Windows, repository is located in the %plesk_dir%\Backup\ folder,
where %plesk_dir% is environment variable specifying directory where Plesk is
installed (if installed to default locations, it is “C:\Program
Files\Parallels\Plesk\”)
The repository is structured as follows, starting with the content of repository root folder
(we omit auxiliary files and folders which are irrelevant for backing up/restoring Plesk
data using pleskbackup/pleskrestore utilities):
Plesk Backup and Restore Overview 11
<reseller ID>/
Directories containing backup data of
particular resellers, one reseller per
directory, and the objects owned by
them.
The reseller ID stands for the
reseller login name.
<info>.xml
Metadata files of the reseller backups,
one file per backup, describe
configuration and content of the reseller
and the objects she owns.
<content>.<zip|tar|tgz>
Archives with the reseller content.
domains/
Directory containing the following
backup data:
domains owned by the reseller
objects owned by the domains
Organization of the directory is the
same as that of
<repository>/resellers/<resel
ler ID>/clients/<client
ID>/domains/.
clients/
Directory containing the following
backup data:
clients owned by the reseller
objects owned by the clients
<client ID>/
Directories containing backup data of
particular clients, one client per
directory, and the objects owned by
them.
The client ID stands for the client
login name.
<info>.xml
Metadata files of the client backups, one
file per backup, describe configuration
and content of the client and the objects
he owns.
<content>.<zip|tar|t
gz>
Archives with the client content.
domains/
Directory containing the following
backup data:
domains owned by the client
objects owned by the domains
<internationa
l domain
name> <domain
ID>/
Directories containing backup data of
particular domains, one domain per
directory, and the objects owned by
them.
The domain ID is omitted if the domain
IDN is less than 47 symbols.
12 Plesk Backup and Restore Overview
<info>.xml
Metadata files of the domain backups,
one file per backup, describe
configuration and content of the domain
and the objects it owns.
<content>
Other files and folders which contain
domain contents, and its children
contents and configurations.
Plesk Backup and Restore Overview 13
Files of each backup are placed in the repository folders according to the described
structure.
If a partial backup is created, its files will be places according to the place the backup
objects have in the hierarchy. For example, if backing up domain example.com owned
by reseller JaneDoe, its files will be located in the <repository root
directory>/resellers/JaneDoe/domains/example.com/ folder. If backing up
reseller JohnDoe who owns a domain joe.info and has one client DukeNukem who
owns domain sample.org, the backup files will be located in the following folders:
1. <repository root directory>/resellers/JohnDoe/
2. <repository root
directory>/resellers/JohnDoe/domains/joe.info/
3. <repository root
directory>/resellers/JohnDoe/clients/DukeNukem/
4. <repository root
directory>/resellers/JohnDoe/clients/DukeNukem/domains/sample
.org/
To distinguish files belonging to different backups of the same object, specific prefix
and suffix are added to the file names:
prefix backup is added by default, and, if you like, you can change it to your own
on a per-backup basis (details (on page 24))
suffix designating the backup creation date is always added to each backup file, the
date format is <yymmddhhmm>. For example, files of backup created on March 8,
2009, 1:30 am will have suffix 0903080130.
Plesk is capable of exporting backup as a single file (.tgz in Linux/Unix and .zip in
Windows). Each archive has the same structure as the repository, the only difference is
that there is only one <info>.xml file on each level.
In case a partial backup is exported, the resulting file structure is reduced from the top
so that the highest level corresponds to the level of the highest backup object. For
example, if a single client (called, say, SandyLee) backup is exported, the resulting file
will have the following structure:
zip {
<sandy lee info>.xml
n*<content>.zip
domains/
domain1/
...
domainN/
...
}
14 Plesk Backup and Restore Overview
Specifying Location of Temporary
Directory
By default, the following directories on the server are used for storing temporary files
during Plesk hosting data backup and restoration:
/tmp on Linux and FreeBSD systems.
<operating_system_installation_directory>\PrivateTemp on
Windows systems.
If you have large amounts of data to back up and restore and are not sure that there is
enough free disk space in the default temporary directory location, then you can specify
another location for storing temporary files.
This is done by setting environment variables in the operating system of the server.
To set a new location of the temporary directory on Linux or FreeBSD
servers:
1. Connect to the server over SSH.
2. Open for editing the file /etc/psa/psa.conf.
3. Locate the variable DUMP_TMP_D and replace the /tmp value with a
path to the new location of the temporary directory.
The new directory must be present in the file system and writing to this directory
must be allowed for all users.
4. Save the file.
To set a new location of the temporary directory on Windows servers:
1. Connect to the server as administrator.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Run dialog box, type regedit, and then click OK. This will start
Registry Editor.
4. Locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PLESK\PSA
Config\Config\ and specify the new location of temporary directory
in the DumpTempDir variable.
The default value of the DumpTempDir variable is %plesk_dir%\PrivateTemp\.
5. Quit Registry Editor.
To perform backup of Plesk hosting data, you need to execute the pleskbackup utility
C H A P T E R 2
Performing Backup
command composed so that it does the following:
1. defines Plesk data which is going to be backed up
2. defines the way of how the backup process will be performed
3. defines properties of the files that will be contained in backup
4. defines options for exporting backup as a single file
Note: Only first component is obligatory, others are optional.
The following sub-sections explain each component meaning and implementation in
detail.
The pleskbackup utility location is:
in Plesk for Linux/Unix: /usr/local/psa/bin/pleskbackup
in Plesk for Windows: %plesk_dir%\bin\pleskbackup
where %plesk_dir% is environment variable for Plesk installation directory. By
default, it is “C:\Program Files\Parallels\Plesk”
To see a complete list of the pleskbackup commands and options, refer to the
pleskbackup Reference (on page 38).
If the command execution succeeds, backup is created in the default server backups
location or exported to a file in case exporting options were specified. (For details, refer
to the Setting Up Backup Export section (on page 26).) If the command execution fails,
backup is not created.
In case domain backup files are set to be included in the statistics on disk space usage
(in Plesk GUI: Server Settings > System Preferences) and backups are stored in Plesk
backup repository, Plesk works as follows:
Disk space occupied by a domain backup files is count in the overall domain disk
space usage.
Overall reseller’s/client’s disk space usage includes disk space occupied by
backups of all domains that the reseller/client possesses, stored in the Plesk
backup repository.
16 Performing Backup
In this chapter:
Defining Data for Backup................................................................................... 17
Defining Properties of Files That Compose Backup........................................... 24
Setting Up Backup Export ................................................................................. 26
Defining How the Backup Process is Performed ............................................... 28
Checking Free Disk Space Before Starting the Backup Process ....................... 29
Performing Backup 17
Defining Data for Backup
Defining data that should be backed up includes the following:
1. Defining backup level and, unless it is server level, optionally, selecting which
resellers|clients|domains should be backed up.
2. (optional) Defining which resellers|clients|domains should be excluded from the
backup.
3. (optional) Restricting backup to either only mail or only physical hosting, and only to
configuration.
4. (optional) Defining that log files are excluded from backup.
Generally speaking, the data that can be backed up with one call of the pleskbackup
utility is represented by any single cell of the following table.
18 Performing Backup
Performing Backup 19
Example 1: With one call of pleskbackup, you can backup hosting data for several
resellers (row 5 or 6 in the table, depending on what’s more convenient: to list resellers
that should be included or those excluded) and restricting the backup data to
configuration of physical hosting on domains owned by the resellers or their clients
(column 4 in the table).
Example 2: With one call of pleskbackup, you can backup mail configuration and
content (column 5) for all domains existing on the server (row 12).
The rest of this section explains each option in detail. Possible command syntax and
examples of commands are in the Examples sub-section (on page 21).
Defining backup level and selecting objects
To define backup level and select backup objects, the commands of pleskbackup
utility are used.
If performing a selective backup, resellers, clients or domains selected for the backup
should be specified by their identifiers which are either logins/names or IDs. The
specification can be done in one of the following two ways:
Command line specification. The backup command takes objects identifiers as
arguments separated with spaces.
File specification. The backup command takes the—from-file option which
specifies the file where the identifiers of objects are listed. The file must be in plain
text format, and object identifiers are separated by line breaks (i.e., one identifier
per line).
Note: If a command contains both specifications, file specification is used and the
command line specification is ignored.
Command syntax and samples (on page 21).
Defining which objects should be excluded
Objects that should be excluded from backup are specified by their logins (reseller,
client accounts) or names (domain accounts). The specification can be done as
follows:
Command line specification. The backup command takes objects identifiers as
values of the—exclude-<reseller|client|domain> option separated by
commas.
File specification. The backup command takes the objects identifiers from the file
specified by the—exclude-<reseller|client|domain>-file option. The file
must be in plain text format, and object identifiers are separated by line breaks (i.e.,
one identifier per line).
Note: It is acceptable to use both specifications in one command. In such case, all
specified objects are excluded from backup.
Command syntax and samples (on page 22).
20 Performing Backup
Restricting backup to only mail or only physical hosting, and to only
configuration
The amount of backup data can be further narrowed to backing up either mail or
physical hosting content and configuration by using the—only-mail or—only-
hosting options, respectively.
Specifying the—only-hosting option results in backing up only Web-site-specific
data which includes the following, for each domain with physical hosting:
Web site content (including protected directories, Web users, MIME types)
Web hosting configuration (including settings of anonymous FTP, log rotation,
hotlink protection, shared SSL, web users)
installed site applications
databases
subdomains
Specifying the—only-mail option results in backing up only mail-specific data which
includes the following:
if used for the partial backup, for each domain included in backup:
configuration of domain-level mail system (including domain keys)
mail accounts
mailing lists
if used for the full backup, in addition to previous:
SPF spam protection configuration
RBL protection settings
ACL white and black list configurations
The amount of backup data can also be narrowed in another way: by specifying that
only configurations of the selected objects should be backed up. The specification is
done by using the—only-configuration option.
Such backups are useful when the objects content is backed up by a third-party
system.
Command syntax and samples (on page 23).
Excluding log files from back up
In case Plesk log files related to the hosted objects are not required to be backed up,
they can be excluded from the backup by using the—skip-logs option.
Command syntax and samples (on page 23).
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