Backup structure in Parallels Plesk Panel 9

Since version 9.0.0 structure of Plesk backup has been changed.
Each backup consists of .xml - backup metadata files, . - archived backup files and directory .discovered with backup technical information.

The backup is identified by data number, the list of all files included into backup can be found with command find.

For example to find all files for backup 0812121508:

~# find /var/lib/psa/dumps/ -name '*0812121508*'
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/converted_mydomains_info_0812121508.xml
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/converted_webstat_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/converted_docroot_ssl_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/converted_logs_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/converted_ftp_stat_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/converted_error_docs_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/converted_info_0812121508.xml
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/.discovered/converted_info_0812121508
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/converted_webstat_ssl_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/converted_webuser_home_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/converted_private_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/converted_anon_ftpstat_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/converted_docroot_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/phosting/converted_cgi_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/mailnames/Mail@myDomain.com/converted_Mail@myDomain.com_attaches_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/mailnames/Mail@myDomain.com/converted_Mail@myDomain.com_mailbox_0812121508.tgz
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/mailnames/Mail@myDomain.com/converted_Mail@myDomain.com_info_0812121508.xml
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/mailnames/Mail@myDomain.com/.discovered/converted_Mail@myDomain.com_info_0812121508
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/.discovered/converted_myDomain.com_info_0812121508
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/domains/myDomain.com/converted_myDomain.com_info_0812121508.xml
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/.discovered/converted_mydomains_info_0812121508
~#

From the output above you may see that this is a backup of client with login mydomains which owns domain myDomain.com with mail account Mail@myDomain.com. The backup of client includes the backup of domain it owns.

It is strictly not recommended to modify Plesk backup!

Plesk backup repository is $DUMP_D, usually it is /var/lib/psa/dump.

Below is the description of directories that correspond to personal backup repositories accessible through Parallels Plesk Panel.

* Root backup directory where server backups and subdirectories with backups of resellers, clients and domains are stored. In Parallels Plesk Panel it is accessible through created through {Home -> Backup Manager}. And required auxiliary subdirectory .discovered where technical backup information is stored. The directory is not visible in Parallels Plesk Panel.

/var/lib/psa/dumps/
/var/lib/psa/dumps/.discovered

• Subdirectory where backups of domains owned by administrator are stored. The repositories are identified by domain name and accessible via {Domains -> -> Backup Manager}.

/var/lib/psa/dumps/domains
/var/lib/psa/dumps/domains/
/var/lib/psa/dumps/domains//.discovered

• Subdirectory where backups of clients, and their domains are stored. The repositories are identified by client login and domain name. They are accessible via {Clients -> -> Backup Manager} and {Clients -> -> Domains -> -> Backup Manager}.

/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients//.discovered
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients//
/var/lib/psa/dumps/clients///.discovered

• Subdirectory where backups of resellers, their clients and domains are stored. The repositories are identified by reseller login, client login and domain name. They are accessible via {Resellers -> -> Backup Manager}, {Resellers -> -> Client Accounts -> -> Backup Manager}, {Resellers -> -> Client Accounts -> -> Domains -> -> Backup Manager}

/var/lib/psa/dumps/resellers
/var/lib/psa/dumps/resellers/
/var/lib/psa/dumps/resellers//.discovered
/var/lib/psa/dumps/resellers//
/var/lib/psa/dumps/resellers///.discovered
/var/lib/psa/dumps/resellers///
/var/lib/psa/dumps/resellers////.discovered
If you plan to migrate objects to a new server, move the root backup directory as a whole, refer to this article for details: http://kb.parallels.com/en/5969

Foreign files located in backup repository are not visible through Parallels Plesk Panel.

Technical details of Plesk backup are stored in directory .discovered (.discovered/converted_mydomains_info_0812121508). For example:

~# ls -l /var/lib/psa/dumps/clients/mydomains/.discovered/converted_mydomains_info_0812121508
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Feb 26 14:09 GUID_6ef49c73-4806-48ca-908e-a6674b83d80e
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Feb 26 14:09 objectid_mydomains
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Feb 26 14:09 owner_6706c956-3955-41f4-8ff0-f3b993999a12
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Feb 26 14:09 ownertype_server
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Feb 26 14:09 size_1149879
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Feb 26 14:09 status_OK

Where

• GUID_6ef49c73-4806-48ca-908e-a6674b83d80e indicates guid of the object which is being backed up;
• objectid_mydomains is the name of object which is being backed up. It may be DOMAIN.NAME or CLIENT.LOGIN or RESELLER.LOGIN or admin;
• owner_6706c956-3955-41f4-8ff0-f3b993999a12 indicates guid of owner of the object which is being backed up;
• size_1149879 indicates the backup size which is shown in Plesk Panel on page {Backup Manager};
• status_OK indicates status of backup.

Backup status may be:

1. status_OK for valid backup. Marked with green in Parallels Plesk Panel;
2. status_WRONG-FORMAT for invalid backup. Marked with red in Parallels Plesk Panel;
3. status_SIGN-ERROR for modified backup. Backup signature does not match backup content. This notification is shown in Plesk Panel when you click on backup: "Warning: This backup was created on another server or modified after creation".

Status backup file is something like cashe. You need to remove it to allow Plesk Backup Manager to generate status file anew.