Backup data

Zerops provides an automated, secure backup system for supported services. This guide covers how to configure, manage, and restore your backups.

Supported Services

Zerops provides automated backup functionality for the following services. For specific backup format details and restore instructions, visit each service's documentation: MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Qdrant, Elasticsearch, NATS, Meilisearch, and Shared Storage.

Managing Backups in the UI

By default, your data is backed up automatically every day between 00:00:00 UTC and 01:00:00 UTC, unless you update your settings.

To manage backups, go to the service detail and choose Backups List & Configuration in the left menu.

From this section, you can:

• Create a one-time backup
• Change the frequency/disable of automatic backups
• Configure retention policies and limits

Backup Frequency Options

Available schedules:

• No backups: Disable automatic backups (not recommended)
• Once a day: Daily backups at a specified time
• Once a week: Weekly backups on a specific day and time
• Once a month: Monthly backups on a specific day and time
• Custom CRON: Define a custom schedule using CRON syntax

For the Custom CRON option, you can use the following syntax:

Field name	Allowed values
Minute	0-59
Hour	0-23
Day	1-31
Month	1-12
Week Day	0–7; both 0 and 7 represent Sunday

Examples:

• 0 2 * * * - Every day at 2:00 AM
• 0 4 * * 0 - Every Sunday at 4:00 AM
• 0 0 1 * * - First day of every month at midnight
• 0 */6 * * * - Every 6 hours

Backup Tagging

Zerops uses tags to categorize and manage backups:

Time-Based Tags (assigned automatically):

• daily: Every automatic backup
• weekly: First backup of each week (Monday UTC)
• monthly: First backup of each month (1st UTC)

User Tags (custom labels you create):

• Used for organization and identification (e.g., v2.1-release, before-migration, monthly-snapshot)
• Add when creating manual backups - up to 24 characters (letters, numbers, :-_)

Protected Tags (configured in retention policy):

• Backups with these tag names are exempt from automatic deletion, regardless of storage limits
• Define in the backup retention configuration section of the UI and add when creating manual backups

important

Manual backups don't get automatic time-based tags. Always add a protected tag to preserve critical manual backups.

View and Manage Backup Files

In this section, you can:

• Create manual backups
• View all backups with their timestamps and sizes
• Download backups
• Delete backups

Note

When creating manual backups via the UI, you'll see immediate feedback. If the backup takes longer than 10 seconds, the process continues in the background. You can verify completion by refreshing the backup list or checking service logs.

Storage and Limits

Project Storage Quotas

Each Zerops project includes a base storage quota for backups:

• Lightweight Package: 5 GB included
• Serious Package: 25 GB included

Note

This quota is shared across all service backups within the project.

Retention Policy and Configuration

Zerops manages which backups are kept using a retention policy that you can customize through the UI:

Default Time-Based Retention (minimums):

• At least 7 daily backups
• At least 4 weekly backups
• At least 3 monthly backups

Default Resource Limits (maximums):

• Max 50 total backups per service
• Storage limited to your project's quota (5GB or 25GB)

Customization Options: You can modify these defaults in the backup retention configuration interface:

• Set Protected Tags: Define tag names that prevent automatic deletion of backups
• Configure Maximum Limits: Adjust total number of backups and storage size limits per service
• Customize Minimum Retention: Change how many daily, weekly, and monthly backups to keep
• Set Type-Specific Limits: Control maximum backups for each type (0 means unlimited, subject to total limits)

important

Backups with protected tags and the minimum required time-based backups will always be kept, even if they exceed the limits above. This ensures your critical recovery points are preserved.

If you need more storage space, contact our support team.

When Deleting Services or Projects

Deleted services/projects have their backups kept for a 7-day grace period before final removal.

Command Line Interface

You can also manage backups using the Zerops CLI (zCLI):

# Create a backup
zcli backup create myServiceName

# Create a backup with tags (including protection)
zcli backup create myServiceName --tags pre-deploy,protected

Check zcli backup --help for current commands.

Note

zCLI currently focuses on creation; listing/deletion/tag management is primarily via UI.

Restoring Backups

Restoration involves downloading backups and using service-specific methods. Zerops facilitates the backup creation and download; the restore action uses service-specific tools and APIs.

1. Download: Find the backup in the UI (by date/tag) and download it
2. Prepare: Set up your target environment (clean existing data or use a new instance)
3. Restore: Use service-specific tools via Zerops VPN, run the restore during deployment, or use the service API if available. For service-specific restore instructions, see each service's documentation linked in the Supported Services section above.

Continuous Improvement

We're working on enhancing the restore experience, potentially including more automated options in the future.

For assistance with restoration, contact Zerops support.

High Availability (HA)

For multi-node HA services:

• Automatic Backups: Run on a randomly selected healthy node
• Manual Backups: Typically run on the primary/designated node (check logs)
• Cluster State: Other nodes stay operational

Security

Backups are protected with end-to-end encryption:

• Unique Encryption: Each project gets its own encryption key (X25519)
• Secure Process: Data is encrypted immediately as backups are created
• Zero-Trust: Even Zerops staff cannot access your raw backup data
• Isolated Storage: Backups are stored separately from your regular data
• Secure Download: Backups are only decrypted when you download them

important

When a project is deleted, the encryption key is permanently destroyed after 7 days, making the backup data unrecoverable.

Best Practices

1. Create backups before major changes:

   • Always create a manual backup with a protected tag before database migrations, deployments, or large data operations
   • Use descriptive tags like pre-migration or pre-release-v2

2. Manage storage efficiently:

   • Regularly check usage in the Project Overview & Service Backup tabs
   • Remove unnecessary backups, especially those with protected tags
   • Adjust retention policies based on your recovery needs

3. Test your restore process periodically in a non-production environment to ensure you can recover when needed

Troubleshooting

Storage Quota Issues

Cause: High backup frequency, long retention periods, or many protected tags.

Solutions:

1. Review & Prune: Delete unnecessary manual backups or remove protected status from older backups
2. Adjust Retention Policy: Reduce minimum retention counts if your recovery requirements allow
3. Optimize Schedule: Reduce backup frequency if daily backups aren't essential
4. Upgrade Package: Consider upgrading to the "Serious" package for larger storage quota

Backup Failures

Cause: Service health issues, resource exhaustion, or platform problems.

Solutions:

1. Check Service Logs: Look for error messages around the scheduled backup time
2. Verify Service Health: Ensure the service is running properly with adequate resources
3. Check Platform Status: Visit status.zerops.io for any ongoing incidents
4. Contact Support: If issues persist, reach out with service name, failure time, and relevant logs