The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/jeffshead on 2025-03-29 12:21:04.
I have a few inexpensive Linux KVM VPS servers that I'd like to start backing up since they have become increasingly complex to setup as I've tweaked and added functionality over time. The VPS providers charge a lot for adding backup functionality so I want to be able to perform backups/restores over the Internet. Preferably, store the backups on a Windows file server or a Linux server VM on my LAN. I currently have a SFTP server running on my network so I could forward a port on the gateway or maybe use an inexpensive backup service like BorgBackUp or whatever, depending on the price.
I've been using Veeam, for years, in my home lab and it is awesome but I was never able to get it to work with backing up those remote VPS's. I believe the only way is to get a license for Veeam Cloud Connect but I can't afford that.
Being a tiny step above a Linux noob, I don't know what the best practice is for backing up and restoring remote Linux servers. I'm used to dealing with local machines where it's easier and less time consuming to just restore a VM image or perform a bare metal restore using a Veeam iso. However, I realize this may not be feasible with remote Linux VPS's.
In my use-case, what's the best approach? Is there a free or low-cost solution that works like Veeam? I would like to be able to have full and incidental backups so that I can easily restore the entire server or just restore some files. I tested UrBackup a couple of years ago but I encountered connection issues. Maybe I should install and test it again since it seems to be the closest thing to Veeam. What I'm trying to avoid, is having to manually reinstall and re-configure all of the packages and settings on these VPS's so I'm thinking full file system backups/restores or image backups/restores but maybe that's not possible over the Internet??? Also, it would be nice to be able to use a backup to migrate to a different VPS provider but I'm guessing the only reliable way is to manually provision the new server, configure and restore data only. I need advice :-)
Thanks in advance!