While migrating a user to a new server in VestaCP, we may come across the message, “Error: backup admin.2017-02-13.tar doesn’t exist”

As part of our Server Management Services, we assist our customers with several VestaCP queries.

Today, let us discuss the causes and fixes of this error.

How to migrate user to the new server in VestaCP

1. Initially, we make user backup on the old server. For example, here we use admin as the reference.

   v-backup-user admin

2. Then we copy the tarball to the new server and place it in the /home/backup directory

   scp /home/backup/admin.2014-01-14.tar new-server:/home/backup/

3. Finally, we restore backup on the new server

   v-restore-user admin admin.2014-01-14.tar

In case we wish to restore data under another username, we simply rename the archive. If the username doesn’t exist on the server, the account will create automatically.

mv /home/backup/admin.2014-01-14.tar /home/backup/newuser.2014-01-14.tar
v-restore-user newuser newuser.2014-01-14.tar

Fix “Error: backup admin.2017-02-13.tar doesn’t exist​”

Moving ahead, let us discuss how our Support Techs fix this error for our customers.

When we come across the error, first and foremost, we need to cross-check the permission of the “/home/backup” is under the ownership of the admin user.

We use the ls -al command to list the directory. Then we use the chown command to change the ownership.

ls -al /home/backup
chown admin:admin /home/backup

If the permission is intact, we need to verify if there is a symlink from /home/backup and /backup.

In case it is not, we run the command below:

ln -s /home/backup /backup

Once done, we need to ensure that the backup file exists in the /home/backup directory.

Suppose it is not, then we need to move the backup inside the /home/backup directory.

For instance, suppose the file is in the user home directory, then we use the command below to move the file:

mv /home/USERNAME/backup_file.tar /home/backup/

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Conclusion

To conclude, the Error: “backup doesn’t exist” in VestaCP occurs while migrating a user to a new server. Today, we saw how our Support Techs resolve it.