CPanel: Backup and Restore a Domain Account via SSH

[jokester]

Sometimes there is a need to backup a CPanel account without logging into the endorsers CPanel yourself. In those situations the account can also be backed up via SSH. Every CPanel server comes with scripts that can be executed via SSH. In this case we will use the script:

pkgacct

from the /scripts folder on your server.

1. Log into your server by using SSH

* Change to the root user
su - root

(See our server security tutorial for more information on this login procedure)

2. Change directories to the script directory by executing the following command: cd /scripts

3. Execute the CPanel script for the account backup:

./pkgacct username
(replace the username with the actual acount username that you are going to backup)

The screen output will look similar to this:

Copying domain Config...Done
Copying Mail files....Done
Copying proftpd file....Done
Copying www logs...Done
Grabbing mysql dbs...Done
Grabbing mysql privs...Done
Copying mailman lists....Done
Copying mailman archives....Done
Copying homedir....Done

4. The backup file will be placed in the users home directory.

You can now access the file and copy or move it to your backup drive or download it via ftp.


How to restore a Domain Account via SSH


1. Upload or copy the backup file (Example File Name: cpmove-joeuser.tar.gz) to the domain account Home directory via FTP.

2. Log into your server by using SSH

* Change to the root user
su - root

(See our server security tutorial for more information on this login procedure)

3. Change directories to the script directory by executing the following command: cd /scripts


4. Execute the appropriate CPanel script for the account restore:

/scripts/restorepkg username
(replace username with the domain account username)
(make sure that the file name matches the necessary naming convention - follow the naming scheme seen in our example)

This will restore the domain account from the backup, as well as it will create the CPanel account. We have not tried to do a restore on top of an existing CPanel account yet, but i have heard that this should work just fine.

[alan_smithee]

i never tried it, i am usually does all the backup from inside the control panel
but this looks handy for bigger sites

thanks for this

[FreshFroot]

Great tutorial.

I think the problem with SSH/Telnet use is the fact that most people aren't too familiar with any telnet commands. And, I'm referring to the average person here, since most of us are used to MAC/Windows systems.

However, SSH is the way to go for LARGE websites.

[Keoni Maleko]

Sometimes there is a need to backup a CPanel account without logging into the endusers CPanel yourself. In those situations the account can also be backed up via SSH. Every CPanel server comes with scripts that can be executed via SSH. In this case we will use the script:

[Kailash]

Hello jokester,

Thanks for sharing useful tutorial.

Kailash