Backups & restore
Backups go to your own S3-compatible bucket — MonitorFree never holds a copy of your files or database.
Setting up a backup
From a server's Backups tab, create a config with: a name, your S3-compatible bucket details (endpoint, region, bucket, access key, secret key — any S3-compatible provider works, not just AWS), a list of absolute paths to archive, and a schedule (manual, daily, or weekly at a fixed UTC hour). Not sure which paths matter? Click Suggest paths — the agent scans common locations (nginx/apache site roots and configs, conventional webroots, docker-compose projects, systemd service working directories) and offers a checklist; nothing is added automatically.
Optional retention: keep only the last N successful runs, older ones are pruned from your bucket automatically.
Database dumps
Turn on "also dump a database on this server" in the backup config to fold a live database dump into the same archive — no second upload, no second set of credentials to manage.
| Engine | How it's dumped |
|---|---|
| PostgreSQL | pg_dump |
| MySQL / MariaDB | mysqldump |
| SQLite | A plain file copy of the database file |
You provide the database's own username/password — even though the dump runs on the same server as the database, the database engine itself still requires authentication (that's a separate check from SSH/agent access, not something MonitorFree can bypass). The password is encrypted at rest and never appears in a process list.
Restoring — same server
From a completed backup run, click Restore. You can restore everything or pick specific files/folders, and optionally restore into an alternate path instead of overwriting the originals (useful for inspecting a restore before committing to it). Restoring always requires an explicit confirmation — there's no silent one-click overwrite of live data.
Restoring to a different (or brand-new) server
The scenario the same-server restore can't help with: the original server is gone entirely. MonitorFree can restore a backup onto any Linux server reachable over SSH — it doesn't even need the agent pre-installed.
-
Check the target first. Point a preflight check at the new server's IP and an SSH
key — MonitorFree connects and verifies OS, free disk space, and that the tools the restore needs
(
tar, and the right database client if the backup includes a dump) are present. - Restore. With the same connection details, MonitorFree downloads the backup from your S3 bucket, uploads it to the target over SFTP, extracts it, and imports the database dump if there is one — with a live progress log the whole way.
- Optionally reinstall the agent. Once the restore completes, one more click creates a new server entry and installs the agent on the restored box remotely, so monitoring resumes without you running the install command by hand.
Pro/Business feature.
.tar.gz in your own bucket — download it
directly and restore with ordinary tar/psql/mysql commands if
you'd rather not use the guided flow.