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How a backup run works

4 min read

The stages of a backup run - control (blue), each source (primary), finishing (grey)
The stages of a backup run - control (blue), each source (primary), finishing (grey)
Stage What happens
Trigger · Resolve A schedule fires or someone clicks Run now; the run is queued and its plan, server, credential and target are looked up.
Preflight Connection, pinned host key, tools on the server, free space, target health and encryption policy are checked. A failure here writes nothing.
Pre-hooks Optional scripts or container pauses that make the data consistent.
Capture · Transport The data is read on the server (tar, a dump tool, docker export…) and streamed over SSH. No agent, and no temporary copy on the server unless the format needs one.
Package · Compress · Encrypt Always in this order. Compressing after encrypting would gain nothing, so it is impossible.
Hash · Store · Verify A SHA-256 checksum is taken, the artifact is uploaded, then read back and compared.
Catalog The artifact rows and the run’s signed manifest are written. The manifest goes last: it marks the run complete.
Post-hooks · Retention · Notify · Audit Services are resumed, old backups pruned by the retention policy, people notified and the audit log written.
The states a run moves through
The states a run moves through

Succeeded

Every source was stored and verified.

Succeeded with warnings

Stored, but something was skipped or dropped - read the run report.

Failed

A stage failed. The run console shows which one and why.

Interrupted

The platform stopped mid-run. Nothing half-written counts as a backup.

Failures that are usually temporary - a dropped connection, a busy target - are retried automatically. By default a plan retries 2 more times, waiting 1 minute, then 5 minutes. A plan can allow at most 5 retries. Permanent failures, such as a wrong password, fail at once.