Backups and restores

Every Hostboi server can take backups and restore them from the panel: no ticket, no waiting for us. You can take one whenever you like, or set up automatic backups on a schedule of your choosing.

What your plan includes

Backup slots	3 per server
Extra slots	+5 with the Hostboi Boost add-on
Automatic backups	Yes, on a schedule you set (see below)
Where they are stored	Off-site, on separate storage from your game node

The slot count is how many backups your server can hold at once. Backups are stored away from the node your server runs on, and they do not count against your plan’s disk allowance.

Take a backup before you change anything

Before a game switch, a modpack install, a world upload or a plan change:

1. Open your server in the panel.
2. Go to Backups and choose Create.
3. Give it a name you will recognize: before-1.21-update beats a timestamp.
4. Wait for it to finish before you start changing files.

Creating a backup does not stop the server, but a large world takes time to pack. Let it complete before you make the change.

Set up automatic backups

Automatic backups take two steps: a backup group that decides how many backups to keep, and a schedule that creates them.

1. Create a backup group

1. In Backups, open the Create menu and choose Create Backup Group.
2. Name it, for example Daily.
3. Set Keep latest to the number of backups you want to keep, for example 2. That leaves one slot free for the backups you take by hand.

2. Create a schedule

1. Go to Schedules and create a new schedule, for example every day at 05:00.
2. Add a Create Backup step and choose your Daily group.
3. Save and enable the schedule.

From then on the panel takes a backup on that schedule. When the group is full, it deletes the oldest backup beyond your Keep latest count to make room, so the newest ones are always there.

Locked and manual backups

A locked backup is never deleted automatically. A backup you create by hand is refused once the server is at its limit, rather than deleting a backup your group still keeps. If Create is disabled, delete or download an old backup first.

Restore a backup

1. Open Backups, right-click the backup (or use the menu at the end of its row) and choose Restore.
2. Decide whether to tick delete all files of this server before restoring. Ticking it gives a clean restore; leaving it unticked restores the backup’s files over the current ones.
3. Confirm. The server switches to a restoring state and a progress notice shows until it finishes.

A restore replaces files with the versions in the backup, so anything built since that backup is lost. If you are unsure, take a fresh backup of the current state first so you can go back to it.

Download a copy

Download saves a backup to your computer as an archive, so you can keep it for as long as you like or move a world to another server. Downloads can be large: let the browser finish, because an interrupted download leaves an archive that will not open.

You can also use Export to Files to write a backup as an archive into your server’s own files, then fetch it over SFTP.

What backups do not cover

Backups cover the server’s files: worlds, configs, plugins and mods. They are a convenience, not a substitute for your own copy of anything you cannot afford to lose. In particular:

• They do not include your panel account or billing details.
• A world that has outgrown your plan’s disk will not restore into the same plan. Free up space or upgrade first.

If a restore fails

Open a ticket with the backup’s name and the time it was taken, and we will look into it.

• Switching games
• Getting help