This guide explains how to back up a VPS Cloud in the form of a snapshot.

Introduction

• A snapshot is like a photo of your VPS Cloud at a given moment in time, containing everything on your server, including your operating system, applications, data, etc.
• Snapshots can be used notably for…
  • … protect your VPS Cloud in case of an issue: if you encounter a problem with your VPS Cloud, you can restore a snapshot to revert to a previous state.
  • … test changes without risk: before making significant changes to your VPS Cloud, you can create a snapshot to be able to go back if necessary.
• You benefit from a free snapshot to back up your entire server in a dedicated space. If needed, you can order additional space or delete a snapshot to create a new one.
• Two types of backup are possible:
  1. Data snapshot: allows you to create an image of the volume containing your data (not available for Windows distributions).
  2. **Operating system** snapshot: allows you to create an image of the volume containing your operating system. This type of backup involves a brief interruption of your applications and websites.
• It is recommended to create snapshots regularly, for example once a week or once a month; this will allow you to have a history of your VPS Cloud and to be able to go back in case of a problem.
• It is obviously possible to restore the state of the VPS Cloud thanks to the previously created snapshot.

Create a snapshot

For this:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product in question.
3. Click on Snapshot in the left sidebar.
4. Click on the blue button Create a snapshot:
   
5. Choose the type of snapshot to create (data or operating system).
6. Click on the blue button to start creating the snapshot:
   
7. An email is sent when the snapshot is generated.

Delete a snapshot

For this:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product in question.
3. Click on Snapshot in the left sidebar.
4. Click on the action menu ⋮ to the right of the relevant item in the displayed table.
5. Click on Delete:
   

Order additional snapshots

For this:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product in question.
3. Click on Snapshot in the left sidebar.
4. Click on the shopping cart icon:
   
5. Follow the instructions to complete the order.

It is not possible to order an additional snapshot if a snapshot is in progress.

This guide explains how to restore a snapshot of VPS Cloud Infomaniak.

Restore a snapshot

To do this:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product in question.
3. Click on Snapshot in the left sidebar.
4. Click on the action menu ⋮ to the right of the relevant item in the displayed table.
5. Click on Restore:
   
6. Click on the blue button to start the snapshot restoration.
7. An email is sent when the snapshot is restored.

Restore the operating system disk

Restoring the system volume as shown in the example above is an irreversible operation. The operating system disk will be replaced by the snapshot and the server will be in the exact state of the backup date.

The data stored on the data volume (vdb) is not affected by this operation.

Restore the data disk (vdb)

Two data restoration modes are possible:

1. "Read-only" mode

If the size of the snapshot differs from the size of the volume, only this read-only mode is available.

This option allows you to mount the snapshot data image, enabling read-only access to the backup data.

For your information, here are some useful commands to leverage your backup:

• To access the main data volume: mount /dev/vdb /mnt/.
• To mount the data volume in a specific "backup" folder: mount -o nouuid -o ro,norecovery /dev/vdc /backup.

To find out which letter to use (/dev/vd?), use the command lsblk:

2. "Restore" mode

Data volume restoration is an irreversible operation. The data disk (vdb) will be replaced by the snapshot. At the end of the restoration, it will be necessary to remount the data volume so that your operating system refreshes the content.

The following procedure and commands are provided for informational purposes only:

1. Make sure your data volume is not mounted:
   * umount /mnt (/mnt or the location you chose to access your data).
2. Remount the data volume:
   * mount /dev/(vdb) /mnt

To find out the name of the data volume attached to your server, use the command lsblk (see above).

This guide details the offer of Serveur Cloud which allows you to create several hostings (FTP "spaces" for which you create your FTP/SSH accounts) on which you add sites (Apache "vhosts" for the indicated domain), and the VPS offer intended for a different use.

Breaking free from shared hosting limitations

With a managed Cloud Server, you can distribute your sites across your hosting environments as you wish. You can configure them by specifying the root directory as well as certain information such as the memory_limit and the max_execution_time beyond the limits imposed by a shared environment.

Web tools are available such as cronjobs, Site Creator, WordPress (which allows for the installation and use of the WordPress tool with ease) or access and error logs. It is quite possible to add a specific Apache module or to install a caching system.

Server Cloud or VPS?

Managed (Serveur Cloud)

Infomaniak manages the software part of the servers under FastCGI and PHP-FPM without allowing you to freely configure the server (for example, no custom installation). Only specific programs can be installed.

Unmanaged (VPS)

Infomaniak handles the hardware and installs the chosen version of Linux or Windows upon order. There is no software-level intervention. The server is under "your responsibility". You can restart the server via the Infomaniak Manager and a snapshot system is available (excluding VPS Lite).

If you are hesitant to take a Server and you mainly plan to have a large amount of video content, you can pair a shared hosting with a VOD space. This solves the problems of overload on a site since it allows you to separate the audiovisual content from your shared hosting and thus have a video storage space that easily supports significant load increases. You will also have detailed statistics at your disposal regarding the viewing of your videos.

Switching from one to the other...

To migrate a **Serveur Cloud** to a **VPS**, or vice versa, there is no "turnkey" solution. For this type of migration, you must cancel the product that is no longer desired and then order the product you need in its place. Infomaniak will refund upon request any purchase of a new server if the cancellation occurs within 30 days of the order.

You can however…

• … create a snapshot of the server (non-automated backup)
• … back up the server on Swiss Backup (automated backup)

This guide explains how to restore backups of previous versions of your files and other web data from your Infomaniak hosting, and how to implement an effective backup policy if the backups automatically and freely provided no longer meet your availability or security needs.

Web Hosting (Starter, Shared, Cloud Server)

Check out these guides to restore automatic backups:

• of an entire hosting (FTP + MySQL),
• of specific files on the hosting
• of specific databases,
• of a Web Application (Wordpress & Apps),
• the SSH crons of Serveur Cloud.

Check out these guides to backup and restore:

• a hosting with Swiss Backup and Acronis (simple),
• a hosting with Swiss Backup and Restic (advanced),
• WordPress with Swiss Backup,
• WordPress with an extension.

Also, refer to https://faq.infomaniak.com/snapshot.

Hostings v1 (old 60 Go offer)

• View and/or download the automatic backup (versioning) of your data on your FTP space under /backups and /backup_mysql at the root of the domain (above /web).
• Restore this data.

Mail

• Restore messages from automatic Infomaniak backups.
• Restore contacts or calendar events.
• Save the current content of an email account:
  • by downloading the current content locally,
  • by duplicating all current content to a backup mailbox,
  • by copying future emails as they arrive to a backup box.

Domains / DNS Zones

• Restore deleted DNS records from automatic Infomaniak backups.
• Restore an expired domain in redemption period.

This guide contains essential resources to help you get started with your VPS Cloud or VPS Lite offered by Infomaniak.

Preamble

• It is not planned to support UEFI and Secure boot in the VPS Cloud / VPS Lite offer.
• It is not possible to migrate a vmdk file to work on OpenStack because KVM is used for virtualization.
• Regarding port opening, refer to this other guide.

Which VPS version to choose?

• The configurations (vCPU / RAM / disk space) vary depending on the VPS offers, starting at 1 vCPU with very competitive prices - make your choice according to your needs; the evolution from a VPS Lite to a VPS Cloud is not yet feasible automatically and it is not possible to reduce a subscribed offer.
• The same Linux distributions and Windows versions are offered (Windows is not available on the smallest configurations).
• On VPS Lite, bandwidth is limited to 500 mbit/s and guaranteed SLA + snapshots are not available.
• Refer to this other guide if you wish to migrate from VPS Lite to VPS Cloud (the migration is irreversible).

VPS Cloud / VPS Lite Linux

• How to connect to your server via an SSH key?
• Which Linux distributions are supported?
• Format and mount the data volume of the Cloud Server (important)

VPS Cloud / VPS Lite Windows

• How to connect to your Windows server?
• Which Windows versions are supported?

This guide details how to back up the data from your folders and nodes on Jelastic Cloud using the OpenStack Swift protocol on Swiss Backup, an independent Swiss cloud backup solution.

Introduction

• To back up the data, an extension for Virtuozzo (Jelastic Cloud) is available in the node add-ons.
  • Learn more about the extension (add-on) on Github.
• Do not look for the extension in the Marketplace, it is not there:
  

Configure the Swiss Backup extension on Jelastic Cloud

Prerequisites

• Use Jelastic Cloud (at least one Jelastic environment must be active with the extension installed for your backups to be visible).
• Have a Swiss Backup Infomaniak space with at least one available device quota for a Cloud backup.
• Add 1 device of type Cloud to obtain the OpenStack Swift parameters.

To add the useful extension to Swiss Backup on Jelastic Cloud:

1. Log in to your server's Jelastic Cloud Dashboard.
2. Go to the node addons section:
   
3. Search for and install the Backup / Restoration extension:
   
    

Two types of backup are then possible and detailed below:

1. Back up specific folders.
2. Create a snapshot of an entire node.

Back up specific folders

For backing up specific folders:

1. Enter the username and password according to the information specific to your device.
2. Check Backup your data.
3. Check Backup specific folders
4. Enter the absolute path of the folders to back up in the Folders to backup field; it is possible to specify multiple folders by separating each path with a comma, for example: /root/admin/, /home/user1/, /jelastic/containers/ (in this example, 3 folders have been specified)…
   ‍

Then you need to define the frequency of the backups (read more below).

Backup an entire node

For backing up an entire node:

1. Enter the username and password of your Swift device on Swiss Backup.
2. Check Backup your data.
3. Check Backup all files to back up the entire file system of a node; some files are automatically excluded:
   • The folders /dev, /proc, /sys, /run
   • File systems not mounted as part of the root partition, including virtual file systems
     

Then you need to set the frequency of the backups.

Define backup frequency and retention policy

Two options are available to perform the backup:

1. daily (at 8 PM UTC)
2. every hour (at the start of the hour, for example at 1 PM, 2 PM, etc.)

You can set the retention period for your backups in years, months, days, and hours. To keep your backups indefinitely, simply set the parameters to 0.

For example, if you perform backups every hour and set a retention policy to 1 year, 2 months, 4 days, 2 hours, this means that each backup will be available for a period of 1 year, 2 months, 4 days, 2 hours (=10,322 backups). Note that backups are deleted every Sunday at 10:30 PM (UTC).

Restore backups

Restore data from a node

1. Log in to your server's Jelastic Dashboard.
2. Once the extension is added and the username and password of your Swift device on Swiss Backup are entered, check Restore your data.
3. Select the node that contains the backup to restore:
   
4. Select the backup to restore and the restoration folder.
5. Click on the Restore button:
   

Restore specific folders from a snapshot (CLI)

Each backup corresponds to a unique ID. You can include and exclude folders from your snapshots during a restoration. To view your snapshots:

1. . /home/.config/swissbackup/openrc.sh
2. restic snapshots
   
3. Use --exclude and --include to restrict the restoration to a subset of files in the snapshot. For example, to restore a single file: restore 79766175 --target /tmp/restore-work --include /work/foo

There are case-insensitive variants of --exclude and --include called --iexclude and --iinclude. These options behave in the same way but ignore the case of the paths.

Modify the backup configuration

To do this:

1. Log in to your server's Jelastic Dashboard.
2. Once the extension is added and the username and password of your Swift device on Swiss Backup are entered, modify the configuration as desired.

The backup schedule is defined by a cron job and backups are performed using the restic tool.

To manually modify the backup scheduling (CLI), as a root user, run the command crontab -l to display the current schedules:

• The line containing retention-all.sh corresponds to the backup task
• The line containing purge.sh corresponds to the backup retention task

Example:

Modify the schedule using the command crontab -e.

You can modify the line composed of the script retention-all.sh or retention.sh, these scripts correspond to the launch of your backups. Warning: the crons have been designed not to cause problems between backups and multiple deletions. Be mindful of the time required for backups and deletions…

• Learn more about cron jobs: crontab.guru
• Learn more about restic: restic.net

Manually delete backups (CLI)

For this:

1. Source the configuration file:
   . /home/.config/swissbackup/openrc.sh
2. Display available backups:
   restic snapshots
3. Delete the desired backup:
   restic forget IdBackup --prune
4. Delete all backups of a file except one:
   restic forget --tag folders --keep-last 1 --prune

Delete the backup schedule

This button allows you to delete your backup schedule:

Uninstall the Swiss Backup extension

It is necessary to delete the backup schedule (see above) before you can delete the Swiss Backup extension:

This guide details the Kubernetes system of Public Cloud that can be ordered and installed directly on your Manager:

Interfaces and pricing for the Kubernetes Service of Infomaniak

Infomaniak offers a complete Kubernetes solution with several management interfaces and flexible pricing tailored to your needs.

Available interfaces

The Infomaniak Kubernetes service offers several access and management methods:

• Kubernetes native API: Interact directly with your cluster via the standard Kubernetes API
• kubeconfig file: Easily configure your command-line tools like kubectl
• Terraform/OpenTofu: Manage your infrastructure as code (IaC)
• Kubernetes Manager: Intuitive web interface to manage your clusters
• Infomaniak CLI: Automate your operations via command line

Pricing structure

The Kubernetes service from Infomaniak offers several plans that correspond to the price of the control plane. It is important to note that resources including network, instances, etc. are not included in this base price.

The instances necessary for the operation of your applications are billed at the standard rates of Infomaniak's Public Cloud. You automatically benefit from Infomaniak's pricing advantages, including included traffic and low-cost instances, available on the Prices page.

• Instances (VMs): starting at an hourly rate based on the chosen configuration
• Block Storage: starting at a monthly rate per GB
• Snapshot: starting at a rate per GB per month

This structure allows you to pay only for the resources you actually use, while benefiting from a fully managed Kubernetes control plane by Infomaniak.