Connecting a backup destination (Amazon S3 or SFTP)

Connecting a backup destination (Amazon S3 or SFTP)

What you'll learn: how to tell MaxPanel where to store your backups, so your customers' data is safe.

Why this matters

Backups are insurance. The day you (or a customer) accidentally delete the wrong thing, or a server fails, you'll be very glad backups were running. We strongly recommend setting this up on day one — before you create any customer accounts.

MaxPanel can send backups to two kinds of destination:

  • Amazon S3 (or any S3-compatible service like Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Cloudflare R2). Inexpensive and reliable.
  • SFTP — another server you control, reachable over SSH.

You can pick whichever you're more comfortable with.

Before you start

If you're using S3, have ready:

  • Your bucket name (a bucket is just a folder-like container in S3)
  • The region (for example us-east-1)
  • An access key and secret key with permission to write to that bucket

If you're using SFTP, have ready:

  • The hostname or IP of the destination server
  • A username and password (or SSH key)
  • A folder path on that server where backups should go

Step 1 — Open the Backups page

In the sidebar, under System, click Backups.

[screenshot here: Backups page]

Step 2 — Add a destination

  1. Click Add destination.
  2. Choose S3 or SFTP.
  3. Fill in the fields you prepared above.
  4. Click Test connection to make sure MaxPanel can reach the destination.
  5. If the test passes, click Save.

Step 3 — Verify

You'll see your new destination in the list, with a green status if it's healthy. From here, you can:

  • Run a one-off backup of a specific account to make sure files actually arrive.
  • Set a schedule so backups happen automatically (we recommend daily).

Tips

  • Put backups somewhere other than your main server. A backup on the same machine doesn't help if the machine itself fails.
  • Cheap object storage is great. Backblaze B2 and Wasabi are both very affordable for backup storage.
  • Test a restore at least once. Backups are only useful if you've confirmed you can restore from them. Try restoring a small test account.

If something goes wrong

  • "Connection failed" on S3 — double-check the region (it must match the bucket's region exactly), and confirm the access key has write permission to that bucket.
  • "Permission denied" on SFTP — confirm the username/password works in a regular SFTP client first. Also check that the folder you specified exists and is writable.
  • Backups run but seem incomplete — check that your backup destination has enough free space.

What's next?

Now that backups have somewhere to go, you're ready to onboard customers.

→ Creating a hosting account for a new customer

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