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How to Run Backups on Locally-Mounted Remote Filesystems

Last modified: July 30, 2019

Overview

This document describes how to run backups on locally-mounted remote filesystems.

To mount or unmount a partition, you must place the partition in the /etc/fstab file. This file contains a list of mountable file systems and their configuration options. The backup utility only mounts or unmounts partitions that appear in the /etc/fstab file.

Warning:
  • We strongly recommend that you do not perform backups to remote filesystems (for example, NFS, CIFS, smbfs, or other types of network drive systems). While you can store a backup directly to a remote filesystem, cPanel & WHM does not support this configuration.
  • We strongly recommend that you work with a qualified system administrator to manage this custom backup path to avoid potential risks.
  • We are not responsible for any data loss that an attempt to perform the steps in this document causes.

Configure the filesystem

If you use a mounted filesystem to store backups, we strongly recommend that you mount the system with the noexec option. To do this, open the /etc/fstab file with a text editor and edit its entry to resemble the following example:

/dev/sda5 /backup ext3 defaults,noexec 0 0

The example above describes the following configuration options:

  • /dev/sda5 — The device.
  • /backup — The default mount point.
  • ext3 — The file system type.
  • defaults,noexec — The mount options.
  • 0 — The dump options.
  • 0 — The fsck order.

Remount a backup disk

To remount a backup disk while the system reboots, run the following command:

mount -o remount,noexec /backup

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