ToolsBackups

Restore from backup

Each automated backup creates a Backup Recovery Point in the VM’s Backups tab. From there you can roll back the existing VM, spin up a new VM from the recovery point, or restore one captured disk in place. Restore behaves identically to Snapshot restore — backups and snapshots share the same recovery flow.

Open the recovery point

  1. On the server detail page, open the Backups tab.
  2. Scroll to Backup Recovery Points.
  3. Click Details on a recovery point to inspect its captured disks, recovery storage, and mount instructions.
  4. Click Restore to start a recovery.

Recovery Point Details

The Details drawer shows:

  • Captured disks — count and total recovery storage (for example 2 disks · 60 GB).
  • Per-disk topology, including label, UUID, target device path (vda, vdc, …), filesystem type, and capture state (mounted for live, captured root volumes; instructions_pending for data volumes that need a guest mount after restore).
  • Mount instructions for each captured data volume, surfaced in the same view.

Mount instructions follow the standard four-step sequence:

$# 1. Format (first time only)
$sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/vdc
$
$# 2. Create mount point
$sudo mkdir -p /mnt/volume_<id>
$
$# 3. Mount
$sudo mount /dev/vdc /mnt/volume_<id>
$
$# 4. Persistence (use UUID for stability)
$echo "UUID=$(blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/vdc) /mnt/volume_<id> ext4 defaults 0 0" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Restore modes

When you click Restore, three modes are presented in the side panel.

Replace Current VM

Roll back the current VM’s root disk and all captured data disks to the recovery point. The VM is briefly stopped, disks are replaced in place, and it restarts automatically.

Use this when the existing VM is the right target and you want a clean, in-place rollback (for example after a bad deploy).

Replacing the current VM overwrites live data. Anything written after the recovery point is lost. Take a manual snapshot of the current state first if you might need it.

Create New VM

Provision a brand-new VM from the recovery point. The platform suggests a name based on the recovery point timestamp (for example test-62709Z). New live block volumes are created from each captured disk and auto-attached to the new VM.

Use this for non-destructive recovery, migration testing, or cloning a known-good build to another VM.

The restore preview lists each disk that will appear on the new VM, with its target device and original mount path:

vmroot-test-clone · vda · /
testblockstorage  · vdc · /mnt/volume_<id>

Restore Selected Disk

Roll back a single captured disk in place on the current VM. Useful when only one volume is corrupted and you don’t want to disturb the rest of the VM.

Pick the captured disk from the dropdown. The preview confirms exactly what will be replaced — for example This will roll back vmroot-test-clone (vda) in place.

Restore preview and impact

Each mode shows an Restore Preview with the snapshot set and a summary of the disks that will be created or replaced. An amber Restore Impact banner explains the side effects:

ModeImpact
Replace Current VMThe current VM is stopped, root disk is replaced, captured data disks are reattached, then the VM is started again.
Create New VMA new VM and new live block volumes are created and billed as active resources.
Restore Selected DiskThe selected disk is rolled back in place. The VM may be briefly stopped and started automatically.

After restore

  • For Replace Current VM and Restore Selected Disk, the VM resumes on the same IP with the same hostname.
  • For Create New VM, a new VM appears in the Cloud VMs list with a fresh IP. Update DNS and any callers when you’re ready to cut over.
  • Captured data volumes are auto-attached but not auto-mounted inside the guest. Open Backup Recovery Points → Details → View instructions for the exact mount commands.

Troubleshooting

Restore is queued but doesn’t start Open the Activity feed. A pending operation may be blocking the restore — wait for it, or cancel and retry.

New VM has no IP after Create New VM restore Wait a minute; the IP appears once provisioning completes. If it stays blank, check Activity for a failed VM create event.

Data volume isn’t visible after restore The volume is attached but unmounted. Run the mount instructions from Recovery Point Details inside the guest.