Schedule Virtualmin domain backups to independent storage and verify restoration. Select account features, global settings and retention according to the recovery you need, rather than assuming one archive is a complete server image.
IN THIS ARTICLE
What you need before you begin
Use an authorized master administrator or a domain owner with the required backup capability. Estimate local staging space and remote capacity. Choose a supported encrypted destination and protect credentials and any encryption keys outside the server being backed up.
01 Schedule remote Virtualmin backups
- Open Backup and Restore > Scheduled Backups and add a new schedule. Select the intended virtual servers and decide how newly created domains will be covered.
- Choose the required features, normally all account features for a full domain recovery point. Plan global Virtualmin settings separately from individual website data.
- Configure the remote destination using a supported SSH/SFTP or cloud option available in your version and edition. Prefer separate domain archives when that suits recovery and retention.
- Set a schedule that fits workload and transfer time. Avoid overlapping jobs and choose a report destination that remains accessible if this mail server fails.
- Configure dated retention or supported purge settings carefully. A differential backup requires its usable base and relevant chain, so do not remove prerequisites independently.
- Run the schedule manually once, inspect every result and confirm the remote archives exist. Restore a representative virtual server into an isolated test environment.
- Monitor future failures, destination capacity and retrieval access. Keep recovery instructions with the backup credentials and keys in a protected independent location.
Are global settings always included?
Review the selected backup options. Domain archives and global Virtualmin configuration have different scopes, and restoring global settings onto another host can affect more than one website.
Check the backup or recovered data
Confirm both successful scheduled execution and a proven restore. Check the archive includes a representative database, mailbox and website file when those features matter. Test retrieval without relying on access to the original hosting machine.
Troubleshoot unexpected results
If uploads fail, inspect destination authentication, capacity and network errors while preserving an older usable copy. If encryption is used, loss of the key can make the backup unusable. Do not grant broad storage access or disable transport verification to solve a destination error.