Backup restoration failed
I recently had to restore my Linode from a backup. It got to around 80% then showed a 'Backup restoration failed' message within the Notification section of the dashboard. And then my heart sank :) On the third attempt I didn't get any error messages so I rebooted the server and after a lot of checking it did come back to life.
After the event I bought this up with support who said the following:
"Behind the scenes I see the reason for the restore failure was due to the presence of socket "files". The inability to restore these files typically does not cause an issue with the actual functioning of the restored system, even though our system reports that they were unable to be restored. These "files" are placeholders created by running processes for interprocess communication at the time the backup was taken. Should you encounter issues restoring from backups in the future, please feel free to try booting the Linode normally anyway and if it appears to be running successfully, reach out to our Support team. If we can confirm that the reason was due to problems with socket files, it is highly unlikely that there was an actual problem as these are recreated by processes that need them."
I'm adding this post in case it helps someone and to ask whether other users rely wholy on the Backup service or whether they use other methods?
1 Reply
tlambert
Linode Staff
Due to the wording of the error message, the solution of just booting your Linode anyway is completely unclear. We're always looking to improve the platform so we've gone ahead and shared your experience with the team.
Regarding alternative backup methods, this guide on backing up your data offers a few different suggestions. In addition to those, you can use a service such as Restic to send backups to an Object Storage Bucket.
Finally, you can Download your Disk Image to your local computer. Please keep in mind that on its own, this image is designed to run on our platform and will not inherently work on its own. Results may vary, but it may be possible to retro-fit the image to work as a VirtualBox instance.