HF PanelDocsv1.0.0

Own backup storage

Copy backups of your account to your own S3-compatible storage or SFTP server on a schedule, and restore from them.

The Own backup storage screen keeps copies of your account's backups on storage of your own: any S3-compatible storage or an SFTP server. Copies are made on a schedule or when you ask, old ones are deleted after the days you choose, and you can restore from any copy there.

Where: Control Panel › Files › Own backup storage

Note: the menu shows Own backup storage only when your hosting plan includes it. The plan also sets how many places you can add (the screen shows, for example, 1 of 2 places used.).

Add backup storage

  1. Click Add backup storage.
  2. Enter a Name and choose the Kind: S3-compatible storage or SFTP server.
  3. Fill in the connection:
Field What it is
Address (endpoint) S3: the storage's https:// address, for example https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com
Region S3: the region, when your provider needs one (eu-west-2)
Bucket S3: the bucket the copies go into
Access key / Secret key S3: the key pair of a user who may write to the bucket
SFTP server / Port / User SFTP: where to connect (port 22 by default)
Password or Private key (instead of a password) SFTP: how to sign in; a private key in OpenSSH or PEM format, without a passphrase
Folder the folder on the storage (backups by default)
  1. Choose when a fresh backup is copied: Only when I ask, Every day or Every week (with the Day), at the Hour (UTC), and Keep copies for (days) (1–3650).
  2. Click Save and test.

The panel saves the settings and tests the connection at once (a small file is written, read back and deleted). The first time it connects to an SFTP server, it saves the server's host key and shows its fingerprint; later connections must match it.

Important: secrets (the secret key, the password, the private key) are stored encrypted and never shown again. When you change a place, leave a secret field empty to keep the saved one.

Copies are stored as <folder>/<server name>/<username>/<backup name>, for example backups/server.example.com/sarahbakes/sarahbakes-20261025-030000.tar.gz.

Your places

Each place shows where the copies go, the schedule, how long copies are kept, the next copy, the Last copy and the last test (Connection works or Connection failed with the reason).

Button What it does
Test tests the connection again
Copy a fresh backup now makes a new backup of your account, copies it there and removes it from the server
Copy this backup copies one of the backups already on the server (choose it in the list first)
Change opens the settings
Remove removes the place from the panel; the copies already there stay on your storage
Show the copies there lists the backups of your account on that storage, newest first

Restore from your own storage

  1. Click Show the copies there.
  2. On the copy you want:
    • Bring back to the server copies it back next to your other backups. It then appears on the Backups screen, where you can restore single files, databases or mailboxes.
    • Restore restores a whole part at once: choose What to restore (Everything, All files, All databases, All email or The cron jobs), type RESTORE and click Restore.

What is there now is overwritten. Depending on your provider's settings, a whole restore may wait for a staff member's approval.

Note: a copy brought back is checked before it can be restored: it must hold only what a backup of your account holds. A copy that was changed on the storage in another way is refused.

How it works

Every connection to your storage is made as your own account, never with the server's own rights. Each copy, restore and change is noted in your activity log.