What happens to files created after a backup when I restore it?

Your current server data is completely replaced with the data from the backup. Files, worlds, and settings created afterward will be lost. If needed, create a new backup first.

What happens when all backup slots are in use?

Delete an old backup or turn on Automatically delete oldest backups. When you create a new backup, the oldest manual backup will then be removed automatically.

Game Server Backups: Create, Restore, and Download

Q: What format is a downloaded backup in?

You’ll receive a .tar.gz file named after the backup. You can download any backup with the status Completed using the download icon in the Backups tab.

We automatically back up your game server every day. Learn step by step how to create, restore, download, and schedule backups with ZapX Pass → Learn more

10 November 20266 min read2 Views0 helpful

Introduction

We automatically back up your game server every day. With ZapX Pass, you get full control: create, restore, and download backups with a click—and with ZapX Pass Pro, even schedule them automatically.

In this guide, we’ll show you step by step how to create, restore, download, and schedule backups in your game server’s Backups tab. For an overview of backups across all ZapX products, see our article Manage backups.

Requirements

A game server at ZapX
An active ZapX Pass (Plus, Pro, or Max) to create, restore, and download your own backups
ZapX Pass Pro or ZapX Pass Max for automatic backup schedules

Game Server Backups: Create, Restore, and Download

The daily automatic backup

Every game server automatically runs the Daily automatic backup schedule. It backs up your server once a day at a fixed time. In the backup list, the backup appears as Auto-backup (Daily automatic backup), and in the Schedules tab, the schedule is marked as a System job.

The latest automatic backup is always kept.
The automatic backup doesn’t use one of your backup slots.
With your ZapX Pass, you can restore or download it yourself at any time.
If your ZapX Pass includes game server backups, you can turn it off and back on at any time in the Daily backup row of the Backups tab. Turning it off immediately deletes the existing automatic backup and automatic dumps of your game databases (this can’t be undone), but your own backups remain. Without a ZapX Pass that includes backups, the daily automatic backup is required.

Tip

Don’t have a ZapX Pass yet? Your daily backup is still available. In the Backups tab, you can see when it was created and restore it right away with ZapX Pass.

Backup slots with ZapX Pass

Each game server has a set number of slots for your own manual backups, depending on your pass:

ZapX Pass	Manual backups per server	Automatic backup schedules
Plus	1	–
Pro	3	✓
Max	5	✓

The daily automatic backup and safety backups created before a wipe don’t count toward these slots. Backups from your own schedules share slots with your manual backups.

There’s also an account-wide storage limit for all your backups across all services: Plus 250 GB, Pro 500 GB, Max 1,000 GB. The daily automatic backup counts toward this limit, but safety backups created before a wipe or a version change and lifetime archives don’t. What counts is the space your server’s backups actually use together: data that doesn’t change between two backups is only stored once. Once you reach the limit, you can’t create or keep new backups until you free up space; the daily automatic backup will continue to run. If needed, you can add more backup storage on the ZapX Pass page.

Create a backup

Open your game server’s management page and select the Backups tab in the sidebar.
Click New backup.
In the Create backup dialog, enter a name if you want, such as “Before update.” If you leave the name blank, the backup is automatically named “Backup” followed by the date.
Click Create backup.

The backup appears in the list right away. Its status changes from Waiting to Running and then to Completed. You don’t need to stop your server—the backup is created while it’s running.

Info

You can’t start a backup while another process is in progress, such as an installation, game change, update, wipe, migration, or restore. Wait for the process to finish, then try again.

If all slots are in use

If all backup slots are in use, you have two options:

Delete an old backup using Delete (trash icon), then create a new one.
Turn on Automatically delete oldest backups. When you create a new backup, the oldest manual backup is then automatically removed. This also applies to database backups.

If you’ve reached the storage limit

If your account has reached its storage limit, we’ll reject new backups, and scheduled runs will be skipped (you’ll see a notice on the schedule). We never delete existing backups, including after a downgrade. You can still restore and delete backups, and the daily automatic backup continues to run. Delete old backups, including backups from other services, turn off the daily backup for services that don’t need it, upgrade your ZapX Pass, or add backup storage on the ZapX Pass page.

Restore a backup

Open the Backups tab for your game server.
Click Restore (arrow icon) next to the backup you want.
Review the Restore backup? dialog: the server will stop briefly, and the current data will be replaced with the selected backup.
Confirm by clicking Restore.

You can see the progress in the list under Restoring backup. If your server was running before, it will restart automatically afterward.

Warning

Restoring a backup completely replaces your current server data. Any files, worlds, or settings created after the backup was made will be lost. If needed, create a new backup of the current state first.

Backups with multiple games installed

A backup always saves the entire server, not just the active game. If you’ve changed games or installed additional games since the backup was made, the dialog will show which game was active when the backup was created and which installations will be removed during the restore. For more information about changing games, see our guide Change game.

Download a backup

Open the Backups tab.
Click Download (download icon) next to the backup you want.

The download starts right away in your browser. You’ll receive a .tar.gz file named after the backup. You can download any backup with the status Completed. If you’re using a server shared with you, you’ll need permission to read files.

Tip

You can upload individual files from a downloaded backup to your server at any time using the Files tab.

Rename and delete backups

Rename: Click Rename (pencil icon) next to the backup, enter a new name in the Rename backup dialog, and click Save.
Delete: Click Delete (trash icon) and confirm in the Delete backup? dialog. Deletion can’t be undone.

Schedule automatic backups

With ZapX Pass Pro or ZapX Pass Max, your server can also create backups at times you choose:

Open your game server’s Schedules tab.
Click New schedule.
In the Create schedule dialog, enter a Name and select Backup as the Action.
Choose a preset such as Daily at 04:00, Every 6 hours, or Every hour. Select Custom to enter your own cron expression, for example, using our Crontab generator.
Click Create.

Backups from your schedules appear in the list as Auto-backup, followed by the name of your schedule, and share slots with your manual backups. If all slots are in use, the schedule replaces its oldest scheduled backup; a schedule never deletes your manual backups. The daily automatic backup is unaffected: it doesn’t use a slot, and the latest one is always kept.

Info

There must be at least 5 minutes between schedule runs. A backup created by a schedule also backs up your game databases.

For more about schedules and other actions, see our guide Scheduled tasks.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You now know how to create, restore, download, and schedule backups for your game server. If you have any other questions or need help, our support team is available every day! 🙂

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

We automatically back up your game server every day, even without a pass. With ZapX Pass, you can also create, restore, and download backups yourself at any time. Automatic backup schedules are available with ZapX Pass Pro and higher.

Each game server has 1 manual backup slot with ZapX Pass Plus, 3 with Pro, and 5 with Max. The latest automatic backup is in addition to these and doesn’t use a slot. There’s also an account-wide storage limit for all backups of your services combined, daily backups included: 250 GB with Plus, 500 GB with Pro, and 1,000 GB with Max. You can add more backup storage on the ZapX Pass page if needed.

No. The backup is created while your server is running. Your server only stops briefly when you restore a backup, and it restarts automatically afterward if it was running before.

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Game Server Backups: Create, Restore, and Download

Introduction

The daily automatic backup

Backup slots with ZapX Pass

Create a backup

If all slots are in use

If you’ve reached the storage limit

Restore a backup

Backups with multiple games installed

Download a backup

Rename and delete backups

Schedule automatic backups

Conclusion

Frequently asked questions

Game Server

The daily automatic backup

Create a backup

If all slots are in use

If you’ve reached the storage limit

Restore a backup

Backups with multiple games installed

Download a backup

Rename and delete backups

Schedule automatic backups

Conclusion

Game Server

Servers & Hosting

ZAPX

Resources

ZAP-Hosting