¶ Backup Overview
Powercode automatically backs up your database, uploaded files, and network monitoring data nightly. Personal settings and external backup options can be configured under Config → Backup Settings.
Important: Storing backups offsite is critical for maintaining your system.
We do not back up or store any of your data. If your server fails, all data will be lost.
This video contains basic information about backups as of July 17, 2017. See the bottom of this article for notes regarding later updates.
¶ Enable Backups
Allows enabling or disabling automatic system backups. Disabling backups is not recommended except under extreme circumstances.
¶ Backup Schedule
- Incremental / Full Toggle
- A full backup saves all files regardless of changes.
- An incremental backup saves only updated files.
- At least one full backup is required each week.
- Weeks to Store Backups
- The minimum retention period is one week.
¶ Confirmation Settings
- Email Confirmations
- Daily confirmation emails notify you of completion status or offsite backup issues.
- Enabling this is strongly recommended.
- Notification Level under Enhanced Notifications decides which backups send this email. See Enhanced Notifications below.
- From Email
- If email confirmations do not arrive, ensure the address used is allowed by the remote service or local Powercode mail server.
¶ Remote Backup Options
Powercode currently supports four remote backup methods:
¶ Dropbox
Dropbox is a widely used cloud storage service. Setup instructions are available in Dropbox Backups. Dropbox offers the simplest setup, though large storage allocations may be costly.
¶ AWS
Amazon Web Services (S3) provides a flexible, cost-effective solution for larger installations but requires additional configuration. After preparing your AWS environment, follow Amazon Web Services (AWS) Backups to enable AWS backups.
¶ SCP
Note: SCP backups do not use the SCP protocol; they currently use ssh2.connect. Some security configurations may interfere with this method.
SCP is commonly used for Linux-based remote storage but can be used with any SSH-capable server (example: rsync.net). Powercode supports both password-based and key-based authentication. Key-based authentication is recommended for security and reliability.
To validate SCP backups, you must be able to SSH from the billing server → backup server and from the backup server → billing server using the backup user. If this cannot be done, validation will fail and backups will not transfer.
With password authentication, files larger than 2GB are split into 1GB blocks, sent individually, and rejoined on the remote server. Key-based authentication removes this size limitation. After transfer, an MD5 checksum confirms data integrity.
¶ FTP
FTP uses unencrypted file transfer and is the least secure option. Authentication is completed with a username and password.
Files over 2GB are split into 1GB segments. To reassemble them during restoration:
cat 20130401.Mon.Full.tgz.a* > 20130401.Mon.Full.tgz
¶ Backup Encryption
The Confirm Encryption Key field, Show current key and the key warning require Powercode build 26.10.05 or later.
Backup encryption scrambles your backup files with a key that you choose. Without the key, nobody can read them, including anyone who gets hold of a copy stored off the server. Encrypted backup files have .enc added to their names, and those are the files sent to your remote backup location.
Without the key, encrypted backups cannot be restored. Powercode can't recover a lost key. If this server is lost, the copy saved in Powercode is lost with it. Keep a copy of the key somewhere outside Powercode, such as your company password manager.
The Backup Encryption section appears once Enable Backups is enabled.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable Encryption | Yes encrypts every new backup. No stops encrypting new backups. The saved key is kept either way. |
| Encryption Algorithm | AES-256-GCM (Recommended) or AES-256-CBC. |
| Encryption Key | The passphrase your backups are encrypted with. Choose a strong one. Once a key is saved, the box reads Blank keeps the saved key. |
| Confirm Encryption Key | Type the key again. Powercode only saves a new key when both boxes match. |
| Current Encryption Key | Appears once a key is saved. Click Show current key to see the saved key on the page. |
¶ Turning on encryption
- Go to Config > Backup Settings.
- In Backup Encryption, set Enable Encryption to Yes.
- Choose an Encryption Algorithm. Use AES-256-GCM (Recommended) unless you have a reason not to.
- Type your key in Encryption Key, and again in Confirm Encryption Key.
- Click Save.
- Click Show current key, then copy the key and store it outside Powercode.
¶ Keeping and changing the key
- Leaving the key blank keeps it. You can change and save any other backup setting without retyping the key. Only a new key typed into both boxes replaces it.
- Changing the key only affects future backups. Backups made earlier still need the key they were made with. Keep the old key for as long as you keep those backups.
- Show current key needs the Backup Settings permission (System → Configuration), the same one needed to open this page. Each time someone views the key, Powercode records "Viewed the backup encryption key" in the System Event Log.
On builds before 26.10.05, saving Backup Settings again after setting a key could replace the key. After upgrading, click Show current key and check that it's the key you expect. If it isn't, set your key again. Backups made in the meantime were encrypted with the key that Show current key displays.
¶ If saving fails
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Please enter the same value again. under Confirm Encryption Key | The two key boxes don't match. |
| This field is required. under Confirm Encryption Key | You typed a new key but didn't confirm it. |
| Validation of your backup settings failed. Please check values and submit again | A setting didn't pass the checks. For encryption, this happens when the keys don't match, or when Enable Encryption is Yes and no key has ever been saved. |
| Could not load the backup encryption key. after clicking Show current key | Powercode couldn't fetch the key. Reload the page and try again. |
¶ Enhanced Notifications
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Notification Level | Which backups send a notification: All Backups, Errors Only or None (Disable). It covers the confirmation email under Confirmation Settings, the Message - Backup Status event on Config > Webhooks, and the webhook below. With Errors Only, you only hear about backups that fail. A backup that finishes with warnings doesn't send one. |
| Enable Webhook Notifications | Yes also posts each backup result to a webhook, such as a Slack or Discord channel. |
| Webhook URL | Where to post the result, for example https://hooks.slack.com/services/.... Shown when Enable Webhook Notifications is Yes. |
| Webhook Format | Slack, Discord or Generic JSON. Pick the one that matches the service behind the URL. |
| Enable Integrity Checks | On by default. Calculates a checksum for each backup file and records it with the backup. |
The notification shows the overall result, the result and any error for each part of the backup, and the sizes of the archive and SQL files.