Your web hosting with us is protected twice: by the external backup that we create automatically every night, and by your own backups, which you can create yourself in the KeyHelp Control Panel at any time. Here you can find out how both work and when to use which.
The external backup at a glance
- When: automatically every night, without you having to set anything up.
- What: your web data, all databases and the contents of your email mailboxes.
- Where: encrypted and geo-redundant in an external data centre on separate storage.
- How long: 5 days of retention are included; 14 or 30 days are available on request.
- Storage: the external backup does not count towards your plan's storage.
- Restore: individual files, directories, databases or email accounts - or everything. Our support team restores the backup free of charge.
External backup and your own backups in KeyHelp compared
| External backup | Your own backups in KeyHelp | |
|---|---|---|
| Who backs up? | we do, automatically every night | you do, once or on a schedule |
| Timing | at night, fixed | freely selectable, e.g. right before an update |
| Storage location | external data centre | your hosting or an external destination such as FTP, WebDAV, Dropbox or via rclone |
| Restore | by our support team, via ticket | yourself in the KeyHelp Control Panel |
| Storage | not counted | counted if you back up locally in your hosting |
Our recommendation: rely on the external backup for everyday use and create an additional backup of your own before major changes - a CMS or plugin update, a theme change, a migration. You can restore it yourself within minutes without waiting for a ticket.
Your own backups in KeyHelp
In the KeyHelp Control Panel, you decide yourself what is backed up - everything or only files, databases or email accounts - and where to. You start backups manually or have them run regularly via a scheduled task, for example daily or weekly. Each backup destination is encrypted with its own password, and the number of snapshots determines how many states are kept.
The individual steps and all storage destinations are described in our article Creating and restoring manual backups. You can open the KeyHelp Control Panel directly from your hosting details in the customer area without signing in again.
Keep your backup password safe
Without the password of your backup destination, your own backups can no longer be opened - not even by us. Store it separately from the backup, for example in a password manager.
Extending the retention period
5 days of retention are included with your web hosting. If you want to be able to go back further, book the "External backup" option with 14 or 30 days: in your hosting's details in the customer area under Manage options.
Restoring from the external backup
- Create a support ticket in the customer area.
- Name the affected hosting or domain and what should be restored, for example a file path, the name of the database or the email account.
- State when the data was lost and which day the backup should be from.
We restore the backup free of charge and get back to you in the ticket as soon as everything is back. Find out more under How does a backup restore work?
Do I have to set up the external backup?
No. It is active automatically for every web hosting plan, with 5 days of retention included.
Are my emails included in the backup?
Yes. The external backup includes the contents of your mailboxes, and individual email accounts can be fully restored. In your own KeyHelp backups, you can include email accounts if needed.
What happens to changes made after the backup?
If we restore an older state, changes since that point in time are lost in the restored areas. So, if possible, only have restored what is really missing, for example a folder or a database.
Can I download a backup?
You can have your own KeyHelp backups written to an external destination such as FTP, WebDAV or Dropbox, so you have them in your own hands.
Do I also need my own backups?
For important data, we recommend the 3-2-1 rule: three copies on two types of storage, one of them off-site. With the external backup and your own backup to an external destination, you are already following it.