How to enable cPanel backups on VPS
You should assume 'something' will go wrong.
Over the course of many decades I have seen customers who never had backups enabled and it is really a sad situation when they need it. Some have even gone out of business because of it! That's why I highly recommend, at a minimum, having local cPanel backups enabled!
Like NOT having insurance for your car, you can get away with it until you don't!
Considerations to think about with local cPanel backups:
- You may have limited quota depending on your accounts.
- You may have limited cpu for compressed backups.
- If you have a LOT of accounts, #1 and #2 may come into play and the backup 'may not finish' and it may continue running during the hours you do not want it to run.
Regarding #1 above, I usually recommend customers to order 'double' the quota necessary for their vps to allow for local backups.
Regarding #2 above, you can never go wrong with additional cpu. That makes the backup process run 'faster' and won't bog down your websites during backup periods. If your quota is limited due to #1, you may need to use the compressed backup option verses the incremental option.
Regarding #3 above, if you have a LOT of accounts and lack quota or cpu you run the risk of hitting hard quota on the server and bogging down your VPS during backup periods.
How to enable cPanel backups!
Login to your /whm and search for 'backup', click Backup Configuration.
Check Enable Backups. We usually recommend incremental as the backup process will run faster after the initial backup as it will only backup changed files. You can store more incremental backups this way!
Scroll down the page and check Daily Backup. The days of the week are the days the backup will run. In this example, everyday but Saturday. We have it set to save up to 3 backups. This way you always have a 72 hour backup restoration window! If you have a LOT of additional quota on your VPS, go with 6 days. At a minimum, at least 1 day for a 24 hour local backup.
For this example, we are also enabling 'Weekly Backup' and have it running on the day we do not have 'daily' backups running! We are also retaining 2 weekly backups.
If you want to enable a Monthly Backup, check that box. Generally you do not need more than a single month backup. You can keep it unchecked if having 1-2 weeks of backup is good enough and you need to conserve quota.
Check the box to Back up User Accounts. If you want all accounts backed up, you are good. If you only want 'specific' accounts backed up, click 'Select Users'. From there you can enable backups for individual accounts and NOT backup other accounts.
Check Per Account Only.
The default is /backup. Confirm, then make sure box is checked to Retain Backups in the Default Backup Directory. Then click Save Configuration at the bottom. You are done!
After 24 hours and the local cron has run, your backups will accumulate be available in the /backup directory on your VPS!
If you want to access your backups, you can browse to any of those directories and grab a single file if needed.
One other note on cPanel backups. You can configure 'Additional Destinations'. Restoration of those backups can be more complicated. Feel free to explore your options!
If you need to restore an account from the local backup directory...
Click on Backup Restoration, click on the user accounts, click the date and then Add Account to Queue. Follow prompts from there and your account will be restored.
If enabled in the feature manager, your customers can restore their own directories!
In the user's cpanel, go here...
Toggle 'Brows files and directories', select 100 from the page Size.
Scroll down, click on the 'Show Backups' for the specific directory you wish to restore.
Choose backup date and go from there!
Updated on: 02/09/2026
Thank you!