Volume Backup

In addition to database backups, you may also need to back up persistent data stored in Docker volumes, such as uploaded files, configuration files, and logs.

What Is Volume Backup

Docker volumes are the mechanism for persistent container storage. Data in volumes is preserved when containers restart or are redeployed. Common volume data includes:

• User-uploaded files (images, documents, etc.)
• Application configuration files
• Cache data
• Log files
• CMS media files (e.g., WordPress uploads directory)

Volumes vs Databases

Database backups should use dedicated database backup tools (e.g., pg_dump), not volume backups. Volume backups are suited for unstructured file data.

Creating Volume Backups

Via the Dashboard

1. Go to the application settings page
2. Click the “Volumes” tab
3. Click “Backup” next to the volume you want to back up
4. Select the backup destination (local or cloud)

Automatic Scheduling

You can set up automatic schedules for volume backups:

Setting	Description
Schedule	Cron expression or preset frequency
Retention	Number of recent backups to keep
Storage	Local or S3-compatible storage
Compression	Whether to compress (recommended)

# Schedule example: daily at 3:00 AM
0 3 * * *

Backup Format

Volume backups package all files in the volume into a compressed archive:

# Backup file format
volume-name_2024-01-15_030000.tar.gz

The backup process roughly follows:

1. Pause writes (if consistency is needed)
2. Package volume contents into a tar file
3. Compress with gzip
4. Upload to the specified storage location
5. Clean up old backups according to retention policy

Restoring Volumes

Restore from Dashboard

1. Go to the backup list
2. Select the backup version to restore
3. Click “Restore”
4. Confirm the operation

Restore Notes

Restoring a volume overwrites all current data in the volume. Before restoring, we recommend:

1. Creating a backup of the current volume first
2. Consider stopping applications using the volume
3. Verify you’ve selected the correct backup version

Partial Restore

If you only need to restore specific files:

1. Download the backup archive
2. Extract locally
3. Find the needed files
4. Upload to the volume via the dashboard terminal

Best Practices

1. Prioritize by importance — Not all volumes need backup. Cache data usually doesn’t, but user-uploaded files must be backed up.

2. Use cloud storage — Store backups in S3 or similar services to ensure recovery even if the VPS fails entirely.

3. Test restores regularly — Periodically restore from backups to a test environment to verify backups actually work.

4. Monitor backup sizes — Volume backups can grow quickly over time. Watch storage costs accordingly.

5. Set reasonable retention policies — Based on data importance and change frequency, configure appropriate backup retention counts.

Backup Strategy Example

A common backup strategy: daily backups retained for 7 days + weekly backups retained for 4 weeks + monthly backups retained for 3 months.