The pleskbackup.exe utility is used for backing up configuration and data.

Usage 

pleskbackup.exe <command> [<arguments>] [<options>]

To back up the Plesk server excluding the customers listed in the file customers.txt:

Example

The following command backs up the Plesk server excluding the domains listed in the file domains.txt with displaying information about the backup process:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe server --exclude-client-file=domains.txt -v

Note: To improve backup security, we recommend that you protect backups with a password. Thus, if the security of your backup storage is compromised, an attacker will not get sensitive data. To provide passwords for backups and the FTP server where you will upload backups, use the PLESK_BACKUP_PASSWORD and FTP_PASSWORD environment variables, respectively.

Note: Plesk does not protect all sensitive data in a backup. We recommend that you store backups in remote cloud storage and enable backup encryption on the cloud storage side.

Commands

Command Argument Description Example
--server   Backs up whole Plesk server.

To back up the whole Plesk server:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server

--resellers-name [<login-1> <login-2> <...> <login-n>]

Backs up all data for the resellers specified by logins.

Logins should be separated by spaces, and, if on Windows, enclosed in quotes.

Can be used with the --from-file option. In such case, resellers specified in the file are backed up and resellers specified as command arguments are ignored.

If no logins are specified and the -f option is not used, all resellers are backed up.

To back up the reseller with the login name reseller1:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --resellers-name reseller1

--resellers-id [<ID1> <ID2> <...> <IDn>]

Backs up all data for the resellers specified by IDs.

IDs should be separated by spaces, and, if on Windows, enclosed in quotes.

Can be used with the --from-file option. In such case, resellers specified in the file are backed up and resellers specified as command arguments are ignored.

If no IDs are specified and the -f option is not used, all resellers are backed up.

To back up the reseller with id 1:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --resellers-id 1

--clients-name [<login-1> <login-2> <...> <login-n>]

Backs up all data for the customers specified by logins.

Logins should be separated by spaces, and, if on Windows, enclosed in quotes.

Can be used with the --from-file option. In such case, customers specified in the file are backed up and customers specified as command arguments are ignored.

If no logins are specified and the -f option is not used, all customers are backed up.

To back up all data for the customers specified by the logins user1 and user2:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --clients-name user1 user2

--clients-id [<ID1> <ID2> <...> <IDn>]

Backs up all data for the customers specified by IDs.

IDs should be separated by spaces, and, if on Windows, enclosed in quotes.

Can be used with the --from-file option. In such case, customers specified in the file are backed up and customers specified as command arguments are ignored.

If no IDs are specified and the -f option is not used, all customers are backed up.

To back up the customer with id 1:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --clients-id 1

--domains-name [<name-1> <name-2> <...> <name-n>]

Backs up all data for the domains specified by names.

Names should be separated by spaces, and, if on Windows, enclosed in quotes.

Can be used with the --from-file option. In such case, domains specified in the file are backed up and domains specified as command arguments are ignored.

If no names are specified and the -f option is not used, all domains are backed up.

To back up the domain with the name example.net:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --domains-name example.net

--domains-id [<ID1> <ID2> <...> <IDn>]

Backs up all data for the domains specified by IDs.

IDs should be separated by spaces, and, if on Windows, enclosed in quotes.

Can be used with the --from-file option. In such case, domains specified in the file are backed up and domains specified as command arguments are ignored.

If no IDs are specified and the -f option is not used, all domains are backed up.

To back up the domain with id 1:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --domains-id 1

--help or -h   Displays help on the utility usage.

To see the help on the utility usage:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --help

or

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe -h

General Options

Option Description Example
-v|--verbose Shows more information about the backup process. Multiple -v options increase verbosity. For the maximum verbosity level, define 5 options.

To back up the Plesk server with showing maximum of information:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server -v -v -v -v -v

-c | --configuration Backs up only configurations of Plesk objects, excluding their content.

To back up only the configuration of Plesk objects the Plesk server:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server -c

-compression-level <no-compression|fastest|fast|normal|maximum>

Specifies how fast and how well Plesk compresses the data being backed up.

You can specify the following compression levels: fastest, fast, normal, maximum, or no compression. The faster the compression level, the bigger the backup size and the lower CPU load is.

If you do not specify the -compression-level option, Plesk will use the compression level specified in the server backup settings.

To back up the Plesk server using the maximum compression level (the smallest backup size, the slowest backup speed, the highest CPU load):

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server -compression-level maximum

-s | --split[= <integer> [K|M|G]]

Splits the backup files into parts of the specified size. The parts are numbered by appending numerical suffixes starting with .1.

Size is specified in Kbytes, Mbytes or Gbytes. If none is defined, size is interpreted as being in bytes.

If no argument is specified, a default value of 2 Gbytes is used.

To back up the Plesk server with splittng it into parts of 3 Gbytes:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server -s 3G

--only-mail

Backs up only mail configuration and content.

When used with the resellers-name, resellers-id, clients-name, clients-id, domains-name, domains-id commands, backs up configuration of domain-level mail system, and content and configuration of mail accounts.

When used with the server command, also backs up server-wide mail configuration.

Cannot be used with the --only-hosting option.

To back up the configuration and content of the mail accounts and the configuration of the domail-level mail system of the domain example.net:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --domains-name example.net --only-mail

--only-hosting

Backs up only physical hosting configuration and Web site content, including site applications, databases and subdomains.

Cannot be used with the --only-mail option.

To back up the hosting configuration and content of the domain example.net:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --domains-name example.net --only-hosting

--suspend Suspends domains during backup operation.

To back up the Plesk server with suspending domains during the backup operation:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --suspend

-f| --from-file= <file>

Backs up resellers|customers|domains listed in the specified file, ignoring those specified in the command line as arguments.

The file should be in plain text format and should contain a list of resellers|customers|domains, one per line.

Used only with the resellers-name, resellers-id, clients-name, clients-id, domains-name, domains-id commands.

Depending on the command, resellers|customers|domains are listed in the file by either logins or IDs.

To back up the domains with the names specified in the file domains.txt:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --domains-name -f domain.txt

--prefix=<string>

Adds a specified prefix to the backup file names.

Used to customize backup file name which is created with the backup prefix by default.

To back up the Plesk server with adding the ‘main’ prefix to the backup file name:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --prefix=main

--incremental Creates incremental backup - a backup that contains only the data that was changed since the time of the last previously created backup. If there is no full backup available, this option will be ignored.

To create an incremental backup of the Plesk server:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --incremental

-d|--description=<description> Adds description to a backup. The description must be entered in quotes. The description will be displayed at the Comments field in the Plesk user interface.

To back up the Plesk server with adding the description “This is my first backup” to the backup file:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --description='This is my first backup'

FTP Options

Option Description Example
--ftp-login= <ftp_login> Specifies FTP login that will be used for uploading backup file to the FTP server.

To back up the Plesk server with specifying FTP user login and password that will be used for updoading the backup file to the FTP server:

SET FTP_PASSWORD=ftp_password plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --ftp-login=ftpuser1

--ftp-passive-mode Specifies that a passive mode FTP connection should be used.

To back up the Plesk server with passive FTP mode:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --ftp-passive-mode

Exclude Options

Option Description Example
--exclude-reseller=[ <login1>,<login2> ,...] Skips resellers with the specified logins during backup.

To back up the Plesk server excluding the resellers with the login names reseller1 and reseller2:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --exclude-reseller=reseller1,reseller2

--exclude-reseller-file=[ <file> ] Skips resellers listed in the specified file during backup.

To back up the Plesk server excluding the resellers specified in the file resellers.txt:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --exclude-reseller-file=resellers.txt

--exclude-client=[ <login1>,<login2> ,...] Skips customers with the specified logins during backup.

To back up the Plesk server excluding the customers with the login names user1 and user2:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --exclude-client=user1,user2

--exclude-client-file= <file> Skips customers listed in the specified file during backup.

To back up the Plesk server excluding the customers listed in the file customers.txt:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --exclude-client-file=customers.txt

--exclude-domain=[ <name1>,<name2> ,...] Skips domain with the specified names during backup.

To back up the Plesk server excluding the domains example.com and example.net:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --exclude-domain=example.com,example.net

--exclude-domain-file= <file> Skips domains listed in the specified file during backup.

To back up the Plesk server excluding the domains listed in the file domains.txt:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --exclude-domain-file=domains.txt

--exclude-pattern=[ <path1>,<path2>,... ] Skips files and directories with the specified paths during backup. You can only exclude files within subscriptions. Specify the path or paths relative to the subscription root, separating individual files with commas. Using the mask symbol (*) is allowed.

To back up the Plesk server excluding files with names starting with log in the directory /somedir:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --exclude-pattern=/somedir/log*

--exclude-pattern-file= <file> Skips files and directories listed in the specified file during backup.

To back up the Plesk server excluding files and directories listed in the file patterns.txt:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --exclude-pattern-file=patterns.txt

--exclude-logs Skip log files during backup.

To back up the Plesk server excluding log files:

plesk bin pleskbackup.exe --server --exclude-logs

Output File Options

Option Description Examples
--output-file Exports backup as a single file to stdout and removes backup from Plesk’s storage.

To create backup of a subscription with ID 1 and export it to stdout:

pleskbackup.exe --domains-id 1 --output-file stdout

--output-file= <fullpath/filename> Exports backup as a single file with the specified name to a local file system and removes backup from Plesk’s storage.

To create backup of a subscription with ID 1 and export it to the file domain1.zip located at the c:\tmp folder:

pleskbackup.exe --domains-id 1 --output-file="c:\tmp\domain1.zip"

--output-file=<ftp://[<login>@]<server>/<filepath>

Exports the backup as a single file to the specified FTP server and removes the backup from the Plesk storage.

To set the FTP login and password, use the --ftp-login option and the FTP_PASSWORD environment variable, respectively.

To export a backup as a file to an FTP server:

SET FTP_PASSWORD=ftp_password pleskbackup.exe --domains-id 1 --output-file=ftp://john_doe@example.com/storage/backups

or

SET FTP_PASSWORD=ftp_password pleskbackup.exe --domains-id 1 --output-file=ftp://example.com/storage/backups --ftp-login=john_doe