Backups

Complete weekly backup of every VPS without stopping it, with 4 kept, manual backups and a download link valid for 72 hours.

Category: Servers and infrastructure
Status: Available
Requirements: A company VPS (running or stopped); To see the backups: access to the VPS; To request a backup, a download or change the exclusion: being a company admin
MCP tools (Read only): listar_backups_vps, ver_backup_vps, ver_estado_descarga_backup_vps
MCP tools (Destructive): crear_backup_vps, crear_descarga_backup_vps, configurar_backups_vps

Markdown

What can you do with it?

Get an automatic backup of each VPS every 7 days, without stopping it.
Request a backup off schedule.
Download a complete backup as a .tar through a link that expires after 72 hours.
Exclude a VPS from automatic backups, or include it again.
Keep forever the last backup of a VPS that is deleted.

When should you use it?

Before a big change (migrating a database, upgrading the system): request a manual backup.
To take a complete image of the VPS outside ArduMaker.
For a test VPS that does not need backups: exclude it.

How does it work in ArduMaker?

The cycle

Every active or stopped VPS enters the cycle every 7 days.
A hot snapshot is taken: the VPS keeps running.
Backups are processed one at a time, because a backup loads the disk and network of the host, which serves other VPS.
If a backup fails, it is retried with a growing wait (30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours… up to 24 hours).
The last 4 backups are kept; older ones are deleted automatically.
Integrity is checked before storing it; a backup that does not match is discarded.

Manual backup and download

An admin requests the backup (crear_backup_vps). It does not run in the request: it is queued and the backup process picks it up; it takes minutes.
Once it is completed, an admin requests the download (crear_descarga_backup_vps). The platform prepares the file and emails a link to whoever asked.
The download status goes through pending, staging and ready (or expired, failed). With ready, the url appears.
The link expires after 72 hours.

What actually changes?

Nothing changes inside the VPS: the temporary snapshot is deleted at the end, even on failure.
The backup is stored in ArduMaker storage, outside the VPS host.
When a VPS is deleted, its last backup is kept forever; if that backup cannot be made, the VPS is not deleted and stays stopped with an alert.
Excluding a VPS stops copying it; existing backups remain, but they stop being refreshed.

What a backup contains

A single .tar, because loose pieces do not restore anything:

File	Contents
`LEEME.md`	How to restore by hand, with the VPS name and its domains
`instancia.tar.gz`	The full instance, with its snapshots and port forwards
`nginx/`	The host nginx configuration of the VPS domains
`letsencrypt/`	The certificates of your own domains
`manifiesto.json`	Plan, domains, repositories and company; domains without a certificate in the backup, in `ssl_domains_excluidos`
`SHA256SUMS`	Checksums to detect partial corruption

Platform certificates (ArduMaker zone) do not travel in the backup: whoever restores elsewhere needs their own. There is no tool for automatic restore: LEEME.md explains the manual procedure.

Diagram

Hot snapshot: the VPS keeps running
Export: instance + nginx + certificates + manifest
Verification: checksums
ArduMaker storage: the last 4 are kept
Download (optional): emailed link, 72 h

A backup, end to end

Expected result

listar_backups_vps returns the backups from newest to oldest, with status, size, date and whether a download is prepared.
ver_backup_vps shows what each backup contains according to its manifest.
A member sees only completed backups; a company admin also sees failed attempts, but not the technical reason, which concerns shared infrastructure.

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS

Errors and troubleshooting

Answer	Cause	What to do
400 VPS excluded	The VPS is excluded from backups	Include it with `configurar_backups_vps`
409	A backup is already queued or running	Wait for it to finish
429	Another backup was requested less than 60 minutes ago, or there are 3 live downloads in the company	Wait, or download or let downloads expire
400 when requesting a download	The backup is not completed or has no file	Pick a completed backup
404 `Backup not found`	It does not exist, or it is a failed attempt a member cannot see	Ask an admin

Requesting the download twice returns the same one while it is alive. crear_backup_vps and crear_descarga_backup_vps accept idempotency_key. A backup cannot be deleted through MCP.

MCP access

Yes, in the /mcp and /mcp/vps profiles.

Tool	Type	Permission
`listar_backups_vps`, `ver_backup_vps`	Read	VPS access
`ver_estado_descarga_backup_vps`	Read	Admin (the answer carries the link)
`crear_backup_vps`	Write	Admin; one per hour per VPS
`crear_descarga_backup_vps`	Write (sensitive data)	Admin
`configurar_backups_vps`	Write	Admin

There is no tool to delete backups: it is irreversible and leaves the VPS with one backup less. Reference at /mcp/docs and examples at /mcp/vps.