How to Back Up and Restore Your Server

Regularly backing up your server is the most important step you can take to protect your server files, such as worlds and settings. If something goes wrong, you can restore the server to a working state with just a few clicks. This guide will walk you through using the backup tool in the Pterodactyl panel.

Part 1: Creating a Backup Manually

It's a good practice to create a manual backup before making any major changes, like installing a new plugin or modifying the world.

1. Log in to the game panel at game.valuegamenode.com.

2. Select the server you want to back up from the "My Servers" list.

3. Navigate to the "Backups" tab in the left-hand menu.

4. Click the blue "Create Backup" button.

5. Give the backup a descriptive name, for example, Before-dynmap-install-2025-08-24.

   • You can leave the "Ignored Files" field empty unless you want to exclude specific files or folders from the backup.

6. Click "Start backup". This can take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes, depending on the size of your server's files.

Once the backup is complete, it will appear in the list. You can download it to your own computer by clicking the download icon next to its name.

Part 2: Restoring a Backup

If something unexpected happens to your server, you can restore it to a previous state from an existing backup.

Important: Restoring a backup will overwrite all current server files. Make sure you are restoring the correct backup.

1. Log in to the panel and navigate to your server's "Backups" tab.

2. Find the backup you want to restore from the list.

3. Click the restore icon (usually a circular arrow) to the right of the backup's name.

4. The panel will show a warning about overwriting files. Confirm the restoration by clicking the red "Restore Backup" button.

5. Wait for the restoration to complete. Afterward, restart your server from the "Console" page.

Part 3: Scheduling Automatic Backups

You can set the panel to create backups automatically, for example, once a day.

1. In your server's control panel, navigate to the "Schedules" tab.

2. Click "Create Schedule".

3. Give the schedule a name, such as Daily-Backup.

4. Define the schedule using the "Cron" fields. If you want the backup to run every night at 3:00 AM, set the values as follows:

   • Minute: 0

   • Hour: 3

   • Day (Month): * (this means every day)

   • Month: * (every month)

   • Day (Week): * (every day of the week)

5. Click "Create Schedule".

6. Select the schedule you just created from the list and go to the "New Task" tab.

7. From the "Action" dropdown menu, select "Create Backup".

8. You can leave the other fields empty. Click "Create Task".

Now, your server will automatically create a backup every night. The panel usually retains a certain number of recent backups, automatically deleting the oldest ones.