Knowledge Base

How to restore a Plesk .tar/.zip backup file on another Plesk server

Question

How to restore a Plesk .tar (Plesk for Linux) / .zip (Plesk for Windows Server) backup on another Plesk server?

Answer

A Plesk backup can be restored either via Plesk interface or a command-line interface directly on a server.

Limitations:

- A Plesk .tar backup file cannot be restored in Plesk for Windows Server. A Plesk .zip backup file cannot be restored in Plesk for Linux.
- A restoration server must have the same or a higher Plesk version.
- A restoration server must have the same or higher Plesk license edition than the server where the backup has been created.
- The maximum size of an uploaded backup file is limited to 2Gb. If a backup file size is larger than 2Gb, upload this backup file via a command-line interface.

Restoring a backup via Plesk (backup file is less than 2Gb)

Go to Tools & Settings > Backup Manager and click Upload.
Tick the option Upload backup files without a valid signature (by default, this option is available only for Plesk administrators, see this KB article for reference) and click Browse... to select a backup to upload.
After the backup has been uploaded, in Backup Manager, click on this backup.
Select:
- Selected objects - to restore some objects
- All objects (entire system) - to restore the whole backup file
Click Restore to begin the restoration.

Restoring a backup via a command-line interface

Connect to a Plesk server where a backup should be restored via SSH (Linux)/RDP (Windows Server).
Transfer the exported backup (for example, via any FTP agent).
Restore the backup:
- On Linux, adjust the command below and run it:
  
  # PLESK_BACKUP_PASSWORD="backup_password" plesk bin pleskrestore --restore /root/backup_info_1712180545.tar -level server -ignore-sign
  
  where:
  - /root/backup_info_1712180545.tar - the full path to the backup
  - server - the level to restore the server-wide backup. To restore only clients/domains/resellers use the appropriate keys instead: "clients" "domains" "resellers"
  - backup_password - the password that was specified when downloading the backup from another Plesk server. If the password was not specified or is missing, remove PLESK_BACKUP_PASSWORD="backup_password" from the command
  For more restoration options, see Plesk Documentation: pleskrestore: Restoration from Backup.
- On Windows Server, start a command prompt as an Administrator, adjust the command below and run it:
  
  C:> plesk bin pleskrestore.exe --restore "C:backup_info_1712180545.zip" -ignore-sign -level server -backup-password "backup_password"
  
  where:
  - C:backup_info_1712180545.zip - the full path to the backup
  - server - the level to restore the server-wide backup. To restore only clients/domains/resellers use the appropriate keys instead: "clients" "domains" "resellers"
  - backup_password - the password that was specified when downloading the backup from another Plesk server. If the password was not specified or is missing, remove -backup-password "backup_password" from the command
  For more restoration options, see Plesk Documentation: pleskrestore.exe: Restoration from Backups.