Skip to content
netkeelDocs

Automatic backups

Automatic backups run on a schedule you set for each website. New websites start with automatic backups on: one backup a day, the last 7 kept, and a full copy every week.

Change the schedule

Section titled “Change the schedule”
  1. Open Websites, choose the website and open the Backups tab.
  2. In the Automatic backups row, use the switch to turn automatic backups on or off.
  3. Choose the settings:
    • Every: day or week.
    • Full copy: every backup, every week, every 2 weeks or every month.
    • Keep: how many automatic backups to keep, from 1 to 30.
  4. Click Save. The button only appears once you change something.

The row then sums up the schedule, for example “Every day, keeping the last 7.”

When automatic backups are off, only the backups you start by hand are kept.

How many backups are kept

Section titled “How many backups are kept”

Netkeel keeps the number of automatic backups you set under Keep and removes older automatic backups for you. An older backup is only removed once newer backups have passed their check, so a damaged new backup never pushes out a good old one.

Retention only applies to automatic backups. Backups you make by hand stay until you delete them. See Create and download a backup.

Full copies and incremental backups

Section titled “Full copies and incremental backups”

A full copy contains every file of the website and its database. Between full copies, automatic backups store only the files that changed since the previous backup. The database is always copied whole. This uses far less disk space on the server.

The Full copy setting decides how often a new full copy is taken:

  • every backup: every automatic backup is a full copy.
  • every week, every 2 weeks or every month: a full copy at that interval, with backups in between storing only the changes.

Backups that store only changes show a Changes only label in the list. They need the earlier backups they build on, so:

  • You restore and download them like any other backup. Netkeel puts the pieces together for you.
  • You cannot delete a full copy while newer Changes only backups still need it. Delete those newer backups first.
  • If a backup in a chain is damaged, the next automatic backup starts a fresh full copy.

Only automatic backups are incremental. Backups you start by hand, and the recovery points Netkeel makes before a restore or a staging push, are always full copies.