Backup policy

Servers with ZFS

Backups are done by sending ZFS snapshots on the backup servers. Compared to traditional backup software, they are much faster. All data is backed up this way once a day at night. One servers with databases, snapshots include their dump.

Other servers

All user data (outside exceptions - see below) are backed up once a day, unless the contract says otherwise, during the period of minimal server activity. That includes backups of database dumps (or an alternative way to backup the database), the operating system and all its configuration files.

A full backup, which saves all data from the backed-up server to the backup server, is performed once every 30 days. On other days, a differential backup is run. During differential backup only the data that has changed since previous backup is transferred, in order to minimize performance hit to the server being backed up. Despite that, the backup software can fully restore data even from dates, where only differential backup was made.

Location of the backups

The backups are located in a secure, geographically remote data center in the Czech Republic with restrictive access, and saved on an encrypted file system.

Data retention period

Unless specified otherwise in the contract, the data is generally stored for 30 days retrospectively.

Backup exceptions

Transient data, such as temporary directories, various file caches, sessions etc., are not backed up. On top of that, the client can request other data to be excluded from backups.

Data recovery

Data recovery is performed exclusively by VSHosting employees at the client's request. Data can be sent to client, restored to the original location (overwriting the current data) or saved to another location on the server. VSHosting is also ready for the so-called full restore in the event of a server crash, that has led to irreversible data corruption. The recovery time depends on the volume of backed-up data and number of files.