Dedicated backup and restores
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Backups are retained for different periods depending on various factors and whether you’re using a Dedicated Gen 2 or Dedicated Gen 3 Environment. These processes can be either manual or automated.
Dedicated Generation 2 Backups 
Platform.sh takes a byte-for-byte snapshot of Dedicated Gen 2 production environments every 6 hours. Backups are retained for different durations depending on when they were taken.
| Backup retention period | Retention | # of backups from time period available |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 days ago | Every backup taken in that period | 6 (1 day) to 18 (3 days) |
| 4-6 days ago | One backup per day in that period | 1 (4 days) to 3 (6 days) |
| 2–6 weeks ago | One backup per week | 1 (2 weeks) to 5 (6 weeks) |
| 8–12 weeks ago | One bi-weekly backup | 1 (8 weeks) to 3 (12 weeks) |
| 12–22 weeks ago | One backup per month | 1 (12 weeks) to 3 (22 weeks) |
Put another way, the number of backups available for restoration - in each of the backup age groupings described above - might look as follows for a few Dedicated environment ages:
| Environment age | 72 hours old or younger | 4-6 days old | 2-6 weeks old | 8-12 weeks old | 12-22 old | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 week | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| 12 weeks | 18 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 29 |
| 52+ weeks | 18 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 32 |
Backups are created using snapshots saved to encrypted elastic block storage (EBS) volumes. An EBS snapshot is immediate, but the time it takes to write to the storage service depends on the volume of changes.
- Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is 6 hours (maximum time to last backup).
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO) depends on the size of the storage. Large EBS volumes take more time to restore.
These backups are only used in cases of catastrophic failure and can only be restored by Platform.sh. To request a restoration, open a support ticket.
Dedicated Generation 2 restoration
The restoration process for Dedicated Generation 2 Environments may take a few hours, depending on the infrastructure provider in use. In the ticket, specify if you want backups of files, MySQL, or both. Uploaded files are placed in an SSH-accessible directory on the Dedicated Gen 2 cluster.
MySQL is provided as a MySQL dump file on the server. You may restore these to your site at your leisure. You are also free to make your own backups using standard tools (mysqldump, rsync, etc.).
Note
Platform.sh does not proactively overwrite your production site with a backup. You are responsible for determining a “safe” time to restore the backup, or for selectively restoring individual files if desired.
Dedicated Generation 3
For Dedicated Generation 3 Environments, automated backups are retained for a specific amount of time depending on their type and your backup schedule. Manual backups are retained until you delete them or replace them with another backup.
| Type | Basic | Advanced | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6-hourly | - | - | 1 day |
| Daily | 2 days | 1 week | 1 month |
| Weekly | - | 4 weeks | - |
| Monthly | - | 1 year | 1 year |
Dedication Generation 3 restores
Dedicated Generation 3 Environments allow for backups and restores the same way as Grid, so you can use them with the management console and the Platform.sh CLI.