Back up and restore an instance

A backup is a full copy of an instance's disk, saved as a compressed archive. Restore a backup to put the disk back the way it was when we made the copy. An instance can hold 16 backups.

Each backup is an archive of its own, apart from the disk it copies. When you rebuild the instance, its backups stay, and you can restore one over the new disk. Cancelling the instance deletes its backups. For quick restore points on the same disk, take a snapshot.

• The instance is not suspended.
• No other backup, restore or backup deletion is running on the instance. They run one at a time.
• The instance has not used more than its monthly traffic allowance. We make no backups of an instance that is over it until the next month starts. How instance traffic is counted explains the allowance.

1. In the dashboard, go to Cloud Compute, open the instance and select the Backups tab.

2. Select Create backup….

3. Optionally, add a Note of up to 255 characters, such as Before the database migration. The table shows the note as the backup's name.

4. Under Mode, choose how we copy a running instance:

   • Snapshot (no downtime) copies the disk while the instance keeps running. It is the default, and it suits most workloads.
   • Suspend pauses the instance while we start the copy, then resumes it.
   • Stop shuts the instance down, starts the copy and boots the instance again. It gives the most consistent copy, with the longest pause.

   When the instance is stopped, every mode gives the same consistent copy.

5. Under Compression, keep zstd (fast, recommended) unless you have a reason to change it. lzo (fastest, larger) and gzip (smallest, slowest) trade speed against size, and None stores the copy uncompressed.

6. Select Start backup.

The backup appears at the top of the table with the status Creating. You can leave the page while it runs. Reload the page to see its progress.

Restoring replaces the instance's disk with the backup and loses everything written to the disk since the backup was made.

1. On the Backups tab, open the menu at the end of a Completed backup's row and select Restore backup….
2. Type restore to confirm, then select Restore backup.

We stop the instance and write the backup over its disk. When the disk is ready, we start the instance, even if it was stopped before. The backup shows Restoring until then, and stays in the table afterwards.

A restore also brings back what the instance was like at the moment of the backup: its password, SSH keys, hostname, network settings and size. After the restore:

• If you changed the password, SSH keys or hostname since the backup, set them again on the Access tab.
• If the instance's address changed since the backup, regenerate cloud-init and restart the instance from the header.
• If you changed the plan since the backup, contact support so we can apply it to the instance again.
• Take new snapshots. The restore replaces the disk that the instance's snapshots belong to, and rolling back to one of them fails.

1. On the Backups tab, open the menu at the end of the backup's row and select Delete backup….
2. Type delete to confirm, then select Delete backup.

We delete the archive from backup storage, and the backup leaves the table once it is gone. You cannot undo this.

A backup that shows Failed stored nothing. Select Remove backup… on its row, then Remove backup, to take it off the list.

The table lists each backup with its Status, its Size and when it was Created, with how long it took under the date. A backup without a note is named by its number, such as Backup #12. Creating, Completed and Restoring backups count toward the 16 an instance can hold. Failed backups do not.

Create backup… is greyed out

A backup or restore is already running on the instance, or the instance is suspended. Wait for the running one to finish, then reload the page. If the instance is suspended, the alert at the top of the page says why, and you can create backups again once the suspension ends.

A backup or restore is already in progress on this instance

A backup, a restore or a deletion is running on the instance. Wait for it to finish, reload the page and try again.

Backup limit of 16 reached

The instance holds 16 backups. Delete one you no longer need, then create the new one.

Monthly traffic quota exceeded; backups are blocked until the next period

The instance has used more than its traffic allowance this month. You can create backups again when the next month starts. The Bandwidth card on the Console tab shows the date it resets.

Too many requests for this action. Please wait and try again.

You started more than 8 backups, or more than 8 restores, of the instance within five minutes. Wait a few minutes and try again.

Cannot delete a backup while it is still running

The backup is still being created or restored. Wait until it shows Completed, then delete it.

The backup shows Failed

We could not finish the copy. Remove the failed backup and create a new one. If backups keep failing, contact support with the instance's hostname.

The instance does not come back after a restore

Open the Console tab to see what the instance is doing. If it is stopped, start it from the header.

A second floating IP does not answer after a restore

The restore brings back the network settings from the moment of the backup. For each other floating IP on the instance, detach it and attach it again, then restart the instance from the header.

• Take and roll back instance snapshots for quick restore points on the same disk.
• Rebuild an instance explains what a rebuild keeps and erases.
• How instance traffic is counted explains the monthly allowance that backups depend on.
• Cloud Compute limits lists the backup limits with the others.

GET /api/v1/client/vps/{uuid}/backups lists the instance's backups, newest first. Each has an id, a note, a status, size_bytes, created_at and completed_at, and proxmox_volid, the archive's name in backup storage. status is creating, completed, failed, restoring or deleting.

POST /api/v1/client/vps/{uuid}/backups starts a backup. Every field is optional:

• note: up to 255 characters.
• mode: snapshot (the default), suspend or stop.
• compress: zstd (the default), lzo, gzip, or 0 for none.

curl -X POST https://api.coritan.com/api/v1/client/vps/$INSTANCE_UUID/backups \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CORITAN_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"note": "Before the database migration", "mode": "snapshot", "compress": "zstd"}'

{"backup_id": 12, "status": "creating", "mode": "snapshot"}

The request returns as soon as we queue the backup. List the backups again until its status is completed or failed.

POST /api/v1/client/vps/{uuid}/backups/{backup_id}/restore takes no body and restores a completed backup. It answers {"status": "restore_queued"}. The backup's status is restoring until the instance runs again, then returns to completed. GET /api/v1/client/vps/{uuid}/tasks shows the host's qmrestore task and then its qmstart task.

DELETE /api/v1/client/vps/{uuid}/backups/{backup_id} deletes a backup and answers {"status": "delete_queued"}. The backup shows deleting until we remove it from the list.

These requests can answer:

• 400 with mode must be snapshot, suspend, or stop for another mode.
• 403 with Monthly traffic quota exceeded; backups are blocked until the next period when you start a backup of an instance that is over its allowance.
• 404 with Backup not found when the instance has no backup with that id, or Backup not found or not completed when you restore a backup that is not completed.
• 409 with A backup or restore is already in progress on this instance, Backup limit of 16 reached or Cannot delete a backup while it is still running.
• 409 while we move the instance to another host: Instance is migrating for a new backup, and a message that starts Cannot restore or Cannot delete a backup for the others.
• 429 for more than 8 new backups, or more than 8 restores, of one instance in five minutes, as Rate limits describes.

The Cloud Compute API reference lists every field.