For incremental backups, it says...
"... other data such as Apache configurations and databases is not incrementally backed up, and so will always be included regardless of this option"
So for my mysql db - just to make sure I understand this - when I do an incremental backup, the database itself (all of it) will be included in the incremental backup, correct?
I don't need to do a separate backup of just the database to have the latest copy backed up.
Also, when restoring - would I need to restore each incremental backup in order - or just the most recent? I'm thinking just the most recent, but I want to make sure.
Chris
You need to turn on the "databases" feature to have it backed up, but don't need to do that separately.
What the help file says there is that, even if you select "Incremental" as backup mode, databases and Apache config etc. are always backed up "full", IF they are backed up. There is no notion of "incremental" backups for these things, but only for home directory contents.
When restoring, you need to restore the latest FULL and then (only) the latest INCREMENTAL.
I have no idea why the Virtualmin people keep calling it "incremental", because actually it is a "differential" backup. Incremental means "changes since last full OR incremental", while differential means "changes since last full". And the latter is what Virtualmin does, i.e. backup changes since the last "full".
I agree with Locutus!
I have been misled on what "incremental" backups really are. I was skeptical when the incremental backup file sizes were tiny. I soon realized these weren't of much use if they were restored directly. As a fallback option, I ended up restoring "full" backups.
@Locutus, when you say we should restore "full" then a specific "incremental" backup, does that mean restoring by running the restore tool via Virtualmin? Or do I need to manually extract the contents of the "incremental" backups and then replace any applicable files in public_html? Thanks.
Hi exius, I meant the former. Restore the full and then the desired incremental backup, both with Virtualmin's restore function. The incremental will overwrite the contained files restored from the full.
The only real difference between full and incremental in Virtualmin is that the incremental contains home directory contents that have been modified since the last full. Everything else, like domains, configuration, DB contents, is identical and depends on the settings of the backup job. This means a Virtualmin incremental backup e.g. still contains the full database dump (if that feature is active for the backup job).