🧯 How to Restore VPS from a Backup

Data loss on a VPS can occur due to various reasons: software failure, update errors, hacking, or accidental deletion. Luckily, if you have a backup, you can restore your VPS to its previous state. This article walks you through the steps to restore your website, database, configuration files, and permissions.

📦 Step 1: Prepare the Backup

• 📁 Make sure you have a .tar.gz archive or similar
• 📂 Extract the archive to a safe directory: tar -xzf backup.tar.gz -C /restore/
• ☁ If the backup is on a remote server, download it using rsync or scp

🗂 Step 2: Restore Website Files

Transfer your website files to the working directory (e.g., /var/www/html):

rsync -av /restore/site/ /var/www/html/
  

Check permissions and ownership:

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html
chmod -R 755 /var/www/html
  

🧠 Step 3: Restore the Database

• Create the database (if missing): CREATE DATABASE dbname;
• Import the SQL dump:

  mysql -u root -p dbname < /restore/db.sql

• Check the site’s DB connection (config.php, .env, etc.)

🔧 Step 4: Restore Configs and Crontab

If your backup includes configs:

• Restore /etc/nginx/, /etc/php/, /etc/mysql/ if needed
• Check and restart services: systemctl restart nginx php mysql
• Restore cron jobs: crontab /restore/crontab.backup

🛡 Tips from Bit.Hosting

• 🧪 Test site functionality after restore
• 📧 Ensure mail sending, SSL, and DB connections work
• 🔒 Don’t forget to update software and secure the system post-recovery
• 📤 Keep backups for at least 7 days on external storage