We say it often because it matters: back up your data. “It’s in the cloud” doesn’t mean it’s safe. Cloud storage runs on physical hardware that can fail. Lightning can hit a data center. A software bug can corrupt files. Someone on your team can accidentally delete a database. Every hosting provider, including us, has seen data loss events.
For your business, relying on a single copy of your data is a risk you don’t need to take.
Layer 1: VPS snapshots
Sign up for one of our automated backup plans for your VPS. We recommend the 30-day retention option so you can recover from problems that take a while to notice. If someone deletes a file on Monday but nobody notices until Thursday, you still have copies going back a month.
VPS snapshots capture the entire disk: your OS, applications, configuration, and data. If you need to restore, we can bring back the whole virtual server to a previous state.
Layer 2: Database backups
If your application uses MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, or any other database, you should also run database-level backups on a schedule. A VPS snapshot captures the disk as-is, which might include a database in the middle of a write operation. A proper database dump (using mysqldump, pg_dump, or your database’s native backup tool) gives you a clean, consistent copy that you can restore reliably.
Set this up as a cron job on your Linux VPS or a scheduled task on your Windows VPS. Store the dumps on the same server temporarily, but also copy them off-site.
Layer 3: Off-site copies
Don’t store all your backups in the same place as your server. If something happens to that data center, you lose both your server and your backups. Keep copies on your local machine, an external drive, or a third-party service like Backblaze B2, Wasabi, or AWS S3.
Some of our customers run a second VPS in a different data center just for backup storage. They rsync or scp their database dumps and important files to it daily. That way their backups are in a completely separate location and on separate hardware.
Test your restores
A backup you’ve never tested is a backup you can’t trust. At least once a quarter, spin up a test VPS, restore from backup, and verify that everything works: your application loads, your database has the right data, and your configuration is correct. This is the only way to be confident that your backups will actually save you when you need them.
We train our staff to think in terms of multiple backup layers, and we help customers set up backup strategies that match their risk tolerance. Contact us and our team can recommend and configure the right backup approach for your VPS hosting or dedicated server setup.