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Hosting Provider Don't have Backup?
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Hosting Provider Don't have Backup?

I have a question: do the host providers don't have backup of the hosting in case something happens with the server machine/SSD?

Because my VPS went down for a whole day and the provider just gave me a brand new VPS to start from scratch, if I don't have made any backup my data is lost.

Thanked by 1Logano

Comments

  • @pixexid said:
    if I don't have made any backup my data is lost.

    This is usually what happens. I've never had my stuff restored, regardless of what host it is. I have always had to depend on my own backups.

  • HxxxHxxx Member
    edited August 2022

    Even if you pay for backups, it is your responsibility to maintain external backups.
    It is always mentioned in the ToS.

    Having said that, depending on the nature of the failure, usually there is redundancy, however sometimes it is a RAID gone bad and data get's corrupted, meaning that only resort is the backups. Not every provider do free backups. The difference between a low end and a premium in most cases are things like these.

    Really sorry for your loss, it does sucks when this stuff happen.

  • JabJabJabJab Member
    edited August 2022

    No, most VPS providers won't have backups. Some will sell you one. Some will tell you to have your own. Some will have "whole node" backups (weekly or something) and will restore it if the whole node is fucked up, but won't restore "just you" - because this means a lot of manual work and not worth with 3.5$ per month VPS.

    ALWAYS HAVE YOUR BACKUP.
    EXTERNAL BACKUP.

    Thanked by 2pixexid martheen
  • HxxxHxxx Member
    edited August 2022

    @pixexid overall never trust that a provider will do the backups. You will sleep better if you do them yourself and to complement your solution, pay for backups with the provider, so that you can have two options at least.

    For example:
    -You can have individual accounts backups (if this is cPanel or DA) with your own solution, methods.
    -With the provider and assuming you have a VPS, you can have a whole VPS/VM backup with them. Providers like Vultr, DO, Linode, Frantech offer those.

    In case of disaster you either restore the VM /VPS or just restore the account with your individual backup.

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • vyas11vyas11 Member
    edited August 2022

    @Hxxx said:
    Even if you pay for backups, it is your responsibility to maintain external backups.
    It is always mentioned in the ToS.

    True that. And it is a prudent practice too.
    Treat it as a life lesson and move on.

    Thanked by 2pixexid bikegremlin
  • MikeAMikeA Member, Patron Provider

    You should always maintain your own backups if your data is important.

    But a provider selling VMs should be using at least some mirrored raid, and any provider who monitors their raid arrays and knows what they're doing can proactively replace failing drives and prevent any data loss.

    Thanked by 2nick_ pixexid
  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    Always assume no backups unless explicitly stated. Even when stated, make your own as well, but even more importantly is never trust that a backup exists purely on the merit that you think it should.

  • Check the ToS that you definitely read when signing up.

    Most providers either don't have backups, or do have them but the ToS have no requirements around their reliability nor any sort of remedies (such as SLA credits) if the backups fail to work. Some providers say they have backups, but the backups are in the same rack, which doesn't really help if a fire burns down all the servers in that rack.

    @MikeA said: But a provider selling VMs should be using at least some mirrored raid, and any provider who monitors their raid arrays and knows what they're doing can proactively replace failing drives and prevent any data loss.

    Just keep in mind that RAID is not a backup! :smile:

    Thanked by 2nick_ pixexid
  • Even they do backups, what is OVH fire issue happens?
    Whatever situation you should do your own backup.

    Thanked by 2hostdare pixexid
  • MikeAMikeA Member, Patron Provider

    @Daniel15 said:

    @MikeA said: But a provider selling VMs should be using at least some mirrored raid, and any provider who monitors their raid arrays and knows what they're doing can proactively replace failing drives and prevent any data loss.

    Just keep in mind that RAID is not a backup! :smile:

    Yes, but if someone is concerned about data loss due to drives failing, any proper raid with modern ssd/nvme drives is going to be perfectly fine with a failed drive being replaced.

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • raviravi Member

    That is why most people save backups on a remote storage vps.

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • crunchbitscrunchbits Member, Patron Provider, Top Host

    @MikeA said:
    You should always maintain your own backups if your data is important.

    But a provider selling VMs should be using at least some mirrored raid, and any provider who monitors their raid arrays and knows what they're doing can proactively replace failing drives and prevent any data loss.

    Seconded this. It does take more physical disks, but at a certain point any reputable host realizes their reputation is worth it and just the cost of doing business. While catastrophic failures can happen, a huge majority of the issues are mitigated by using RAID + proactive disk health monitoring.

    On top of that many hosts do offer a backup option, but it's still on the user to take advantage of it. Even with that, extremely highly recommend downloading your own backup locally/somewhere else. The old 1 is none, 2 is 1 rule.

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • You're always responsible for your data and taking backups.

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • @pixexid said:
    I have a question: do the host providers don't have backup of the hosting in case something happens with the server machine/SSD?

    Because my VPS went down for a whole day and the provider just gave me a brand new VPS to start from scratch, if I don't have made any backup my data is lost.

    Unless you pay for backups it's your own problem. Some providers do have backups available but even then it's mostly at the node-level so unpacking everything just to extract a single customer's data is not likely.

    At the end of the day, I wouldn't rely on your hosting provider to actually handle backups as well (unless you actually pay for them but even then...) and take your own backups with your own infrastructure as well. Even places like Microsoft Azure don't guarantee your data security unless you pay them directly for those features (even then, their operations documentation recommends having your own backup solution as well as another source to pull from).

    Thanked by 2hostdare pixexid
  • m4num4nu Member, Patron Provider

    Having proper backups allows me to take advantage of good LET offers here. Else, I couldn’t use them for anything important and sleep at night.

    So as a customer, I set up backups to borgbase.com using our Ansible role right away, if anything important will be on the server. Then add an alert on BorgBase, if backups fail for any reason in the future.

    As a hosting provider, I do full-node backups. Files are still relatively easy to extract with Borgmatic. Yesterday I helped someone restore the Nextcloud config they had messed up. The command was like borgmatic extract --archive latest srv/blah/user/file

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • LeviLevi Member

    Think like this: always do backups your-self, because you paying peanuts and host can flop any moment. This universal, tested and proven true will bring enlightenment and calm into your web hosting life.

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • ShakibShakib Member, Patron Provider

    This is what happens with other providers.

    We are keeping backups for everything we can.

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • I take hourly backup of my data which is then replicated to 3 different locations, those 3 locations in turn backup daily to another 2 locations, and those 2 locations then back up weekly to my NAS storage at my home. I should probably add 1 more location before my NAS.

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • Of course they don't, they want you to pay extra for that.

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • eTechieeTechie Member
    edited August 2022

    You are expected to do the backups yourself for most hosts. As some providers do save an image of the server, you should contact the host's support in this case with the issue, and see if they can do something

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • bdlbdl Member

    @pixexid said: if I don't have made any backup my data is lost.

    welcome to life

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • @jar said:
    Always assume no backups unless explicitly stated. Even when stated, make your own as well, but even more importantly is never trust that a backup exists purely on the merit that you think it should.

    This. This can not be emphasized enough.
    Every idiot in the world can create a backup, but only the pros can restore from it.

  • emgemg Veteran
    edited August 2022

    Never trust the provider to maintain backups, whether you are paying for it or not.

    If the provider fails, the backups disappear with them. I have never seen a case where a dead provider restored a customer's data. Most of the time it is because they did not pay their bills to their upstream provider, who cut them off completely from all data, including the backups. It is as simple as that.

    I have seen the sad stories from the customers of several different providers who advertised backups, but did not actually do them. In typical scenarios something goes terribly wrong, and that's when the customer learns that the promised or paid-for backups do not exist. I remember a case where a provider's worker typo'd a command and accidentally deleted a customer's VPS. No problem, the provider advertised daily backups. The backups were a lie. They did not exist. The customer lost all their data. They had trusted the provider to maintain backups.

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • Like everyone has mentioned it is responsibility of the client for their own backups. Some DCs do offer backups others don't. In case of others that do some are in house or they have a third party that does that services in their behalf.

    Thanked by 1pixexid
  • Thanks to all, lesson learned.

  • WebProjectWebProject Host Rep, Veteran

    If it’s unmanaged and dirt cheap VPS service, short answer is No, if you do purchase managed service or shared hosting so it will come with backup.

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