Acronis Secure Backup extension for Plesk

Acronis Secure Backup gives you a powerful toolset to easily back up your VPS, computer, phone, and even your Plesk server. 

Plesk has an Acronis extension that you can easily use with your Acronis package at TransIP. This allows you to create and restore backups of your entire Plesk server, as well as individual Plesk components such as accounts, domains, email addresses, databases, or files. Additionally, the Plesk Acronis extension comes with the following features:

• Flexible backup schedules and on-demand backups
• Incremental backups save disk space and time when creating backups
• Self-service recovery enables users to restore data themselves from the Plesk web interface

In this guide, we will show you how to use the Acronis backup extension to create and restore backups of your Plesk server. 

System Requirements

• An Acronis account.
   
• An up-to-date Plesk server: Visit ‘Tools & Settings’ > ‘System Updates’ to ensure there are no updates available.
   
• Make sure your kernel is up-to-date. This can be done using the Kernelcare extension, or via one of the following commands (through command-line):
  
  Ubuntu/Debian:
  
  sudo apt -y update && sudo apt -y upgrade
  
  AlmaLinux/Rocky Linux/CentOS Stream:
  
  dnf -y update
  
  
  Reboot your server after updating your kernel via command-line.
   

Any other required software Acronis will automatically install for you during the installation process of the Acronis agent.

Installing and Activating the Acronis Extension in Plesk

Step 1

Log in to Plesk as an administrator, click on ‘Extensions’ in the left menu, and search for ‘Acronis Backup’.

Step 2

On the newly opened page, click ‘Get It Free’. You do not need to purchase a paid license again here: in step 4, you will link your existing Acronis account.

The installation of the Acronis extension will now begin and takes less than a minute.

Step 3

After installation, several new buttons appear under the name Acronis Backup. Click on ‘Open’.

Step 4

When you open the Acronis extension for the first time, you will see some of its handy features and the option to purchase, try out, or log in with an existing Acronis account.

We choose the latter option here: click on ‘I have an Acronis account’.

Step 5

The Service URL is automatically filled in and does not need to be changed. Enter the name of your Acronis account and the associated password, review the EULA and Privacy Statement, and accept both. Finally, click on ‘sign in and enable’ to link your Acronis account to the Acronis extension for Plesk.

Can't remember the name of your Acronis account? Log in to the TransIP control panel, click on ‘VPS beta’, select a VPS. In the bottom right under ‘Secure Backup’, you will find the name of your Acronis account under ‘Tenant’.

Step 6

Click on ‘enable’ to enable Acronis for Plesk. You are free to choose whether or not to enable encryption. However, from a security standpoint, we recommend doing so.

When you enable Acronis, a backup agent is installed (this takes a few minutes). This might feel a bit confusing because you have already enabled an extension. The extension itself is responsible for the administrative side, while the backup agent is responsible for actually creating backups.

This completes the installation of the Acronis Plesk extension. For Linux 

Creating Backups

Step 1

After installation, you will arrive at the Acronis Backup Dashboard. A protection plan is automatically created with a schedule to perform a backup on the next night. A protection plan simply determines when and what backups are made. 

To create a backup manually, just click ‘Run now’ on this page. 

If you want to adjust the automatic backup schedule, click on ‘Go to backup console’ and proceed to step 2.

Step 2

You will now automatically be taken to the overview of the Acronis Cyber Protect Console (for more information, refer to our Acronis Getting Started guide). If you haven’t logged in recently, please do so using the same username and password you used in the previous step.

Now proceed with our Modifying an Acronis protection plan guide. The steps for adjusting a protection plan are the same, regardless of where you use Acronis, be it in Plesk, on your computer, or on your smartphone.

Restoring Backups as an Administrator

There are two options for restoring backups within Acronis: restoring the backup from within Plesk or via the Acronis web interface. To restore a backup from within Plesk, follow these steps:

Step 1

In Plesk, click on ‘Acronis Backup’ in the left menu > ‘Backups’ and select the desired backup.

Step 2

Click on the item for which you want to restore a backup. Note that you can only restore customers, domains, email addresses, and databases if they actually exist. For example, if no database has been created, you will not see that option in the overview (as shown in this example).

Step 3

Check the customers, domains, email addresses, or databases that you want to restore and click on ‘Recover’. With the ‘Recover entire server’ option, you will first see a warning that changes made after the backup date will be lost.

A pop-up window appears for confirmation. Click on ‘Recover’ to actually restore the backup.

Restoring Backups as a User

Customers of your Plesk server can also restore backups themselves. For this to be possible, the option must be enabled in the Service Plan that the customer uses. You do this by modifying the Service Plan and enabling the ‘Acronis Backup’ option in the ‘Permissions’ tab.

Step 1

Log in with your Plesk user account. You will automatically be taken to the ‘Websites & Domains’ overview. Under ‘Security’, click on ‘Acronis Backup’.

Step 2

Select a backup to restore. 

Step 3

Click on the item for which you want to restore a backup. With a customer account, you will only see the options for domains, email addresses, and databases. For example, if no database has been created, you will not see that option in the overview.

Tip: You can also download your entire Plesk account by clicking on ‘Export the account’.

Step 4

Check the domains, email addresses, or databases that you want to restore and click on ‘Recover’. 

A pop-up window appears for confirmation. Click on ‘Recover’ to actually restore the backup.

This brings us to the end of our guide on the installation and use of the Acronis Backup extension in Plesk.