Automatic Backups

Overview

Regular backups are essential for keeping your server data safe. Losing your world files, configurations, or plugin data can be devastating — especially if you’ve spent weeks or months building your server. Fortunately, the Rhino Panel provides a built-in Schedules feature that allows you to automate your backups so you never have to worry about forgetting to create one manually.

This guide will walk you through the entire process of setting up automatic backups, from creating a schedule to configuring the backup task, as well as how to manage your backups using rotation and locking.

Note

The Schedules feature uses the standard Cron syntax to define when tasks should run. If you’re not familiar with Cron expressions, don’t worry — we’ll explain the most common configurations in this guide.

Prerequisites

Before setting up automatic backups, make sure you have the following:

• An active server on the Rhino Panel (panel.syncara.host).
• Access to the server’s management dashboard (you must be the server owner or a subuser with the Schedules permission enabled).
• At least one available backup slot on your hosting plan.

Setting Up Scheduled Backups

Step 1: Navigate to the Schedules Page

1. Log in to the Rhino Panel at panel.syncara.host.
2. Select the server you want to configure from your server list.
3. In the left sidebar navigation, scroll down to the Configuration section.
4. Click on the Schedules tab.

You will see the Schedules page. If this is your first time, the page will display the message “There are no schedules configured for this server.” along with a Create schedule button in the top-right corner.

Step 2: Create a New Schedule

1. Click the Create schedule button in the top-right corner of the Schedules page.
2. A modal dialog titled “Create a schedule” will appear with the following fields:

Field	Description
Schedule name	A human-readable name to identify your schedule (e.g., Automatic Backups).
Minute	The minute of the hour when the task runs (0–59). Use * for every minute.
Hour	The hour of the day when the task runs (0–23). Use * for every hour.
Day of month	The day of the month (1–31). Use * for every day.
Month	The month of the year (1–12). Use * for every month.
Day of week	The day of the week (0–6, where 0 = Sunday). Use * for every day.

3. Additionally, you will see two toggle options:
   • Only when server is online — When enabled, the schedule will only execute when your server is in a running state. If your server is stopped or crashed at the scheduled time, the backup will be skipped. We recommend keeping this enabled so backups are only created when your server is actively running.
   • Schedule enabled — This toggle controls whether the schedule is active. Keep this enabled so your schedule will be executed automatically.

Common Cron Schedule Examples

Here are some useful schedule configurations you can use:

Schedule	Minute	Hour	Day of Month	Month	Day of Week	Description
Daily at midnight	0	0	*	*	*	Creates a backup every day at 12:00 AM
Daily at 3 AM	0	3	*	*	*	Creates a backup every day at 3:00 AM
Every 12 hours	0	*/12	*	*	*	Creates a backup at 12:00 AM and 12:00 PM
Every 6 hours	0	*/6	*	*	*	Creates a backup at 12 AM, 6 AM, 12 PM, and 6 PM
Weekly (Sunday midnight)	0	0	*	*	0	Creates a backup every Sunday at midnight

Tip

For most game servers, a daily backup at midnight or 3 AM (when player activity is typically low) is a great starting point. If your server has high activity or frequently changing data, consider backing up every 6 or 12 hours instead.

4. Once you’ve configured all the fields, click the Create schedule button at the bottom of the modal to save your schedule.

Step 3: Add a Backup Task to the Schedule

After creating the schedule, you will be redirected to the schedule’s detail page. Here you can see the schedule name, its status (Active/Inactive), the last and next run times, and the cron values you configured.

Now you need to add a task to tell the schedule what action to perform. A schedule by itself doesn’t do anything — it needs at least one task.

1. Click the three dots (⋮) menu in the top-right corner of the schedule detail page.
2. From the dropdown menu, select Add a new task.

3. A modal dialog titled “Create a task” will appear with the following fields:

Field	Description
Action	The type of task to perform. Select Create Backup from the dropdown menu. The other available options are Send Command (sends a console command to your server) and Send Power Action (starts, stops, or restarts your server).
Time offset (in seconds)	The amount of time to wait (in seconds) after the previous task finishes before running this one. If this is the first (or only) task on the schedule, this value is not applied. You can leave this at 0.
Payload	For the Create Backup action, this field allows you to specify files or directories to exclude from the backup. Enter one path per line. For example, entering plugins/dynmap/ would skip the Dynmap data folder. Leave this empty to include all files in the backup.
Continue on Failure	When enabled, subsequent tasks in the schedule will still run even if this task fails. If you only have one task (the backup), this setting doesn’t matter.

4. Click the Create task button to finalize the setup.

Note

Advanced Tip: You can add multiple tasks to a single schedule. For example, you could set up a schedule that first sends a console command like say Server backup starting in 10 seconds... to warn online players, then waits 10 seconds (using the Time offset), and then creates the backup. This gives players a heads-up before the backup process begins.

Step 4: Verify Your Setup

After creating the task, you will be taken back to the schedule detail page. You should now see the Create Backup task listed below the cron timing boxes.

• The schedule status should show Active (indicated by a green badge).
• The Next run field should display the date and time of the next scheduled backup.
• The Create Backup task should be visible in the task list with edit (pencil icon) and delete (trash icon) buttons.

Your automatic backup is now fully configured! The panel will automatically create a backup at every scheduled interval without any manual intervention.

Tip

You can manually trigger the schedule at any time by going to the Schedules list page, clicking the three dots menu next to your schedule, and selecting Run Now. This is useful to test if your backup task works correctly before waiting for the next scheduled run.

Backup Rotation

Our system uses backup rotation to ensure your automatic backups always run successfully. Here’s how it works:

• Every hosting plan has a maximum number of backups that can be stored at the same time (this limit depends on your plan).
• When a new backup is created and your server has already reached its backup limit, the system will automatically delete the oldest unlocked backup to make room for the new one.
• This process repeats every time a new backup is created, ensuring you always have the most recent backups available.

Caution

Backup rotation permanently deletes the oldest backup. This action is irreversible — once a backup is removed by rotation, the data cannot be recovered. If you have a specific backup that you need to keep (for example, a stable version of your server before a major update), make sure to lock it or download it to your local computer.

How Rotation Works in Practice

Let’s say your hosting plan allows a maximum of 3 backups. Here’s what happens over time:

Action	Backup Slot 1	Backup Slot 2	Backup Slot 3	What Happened
Day 1 backup	Backup A	—	—	First backup created
Day 2 backup	Backup A	Backup B	—	Second backup created
Day 3 backup	Backup A	Backup B	Backup C	All slots full
Day 4 backup	Backup A → Deleted	Backup B	Backup C → Backup D	Oldest (A) deleted, new (D) created

Locking a Backup

If there is a specific backup you want to protect from automatic rotation and keep permanently, you can lock it. A locked backup will never be automatically deleted by the rotation system.

How to Lock a Backup

1. In the Rhino Panel, navigate to the Backups tab on your server’s page (this is in the left sidebar, under the server management section).
2. You will see a list of all your existing backups with their names, sizes, and creation dates.
3. Find the backup you want to protect.
4. Click the three dots (⋮) menu on the right side of that backup entry.
5. Select the Lock option from the dropdown menu.

The backup will now be marked as locked and will be protected from automatic deletion.

How to Unlock a Backup

If you no longer need to keep a specific backup protected, you can unlock it at any time:

1. Go to the Backups tab.
2. Find the locked backup.
3. Click the three dots (⋮) menu.
4. Select the Unlock option.

The backup will become eligible for rotation again, meaning it may be automatically deleted if it becomes the oldest backup and the limit is reached.

Caution

Important: Locked backups still count toward your total backup limit. If you lock too many backups, there may not be enough available slots for new automatic backups to be created — which means your scheduled backup task could fail. We recommend locking only the backups that are truly important and keeping at least 1–2 slots free for automatic rotation.

Managing Your Schedules

Editing a Schedule

If you need to change the timing or other settings of an existing schedule:

1. Go to the Schedules page.
2. Click on the name of the schedule you want to edit.
3. Click the three dots (⋮) menu in the top-right corner.
4. Select Edit schedule.
5. Modify the fields as needed and save.

Disabling a Schedule

If you want to temporarily stop a schedule without deleting it:

1. Edit the schedule (see above).
2. Toggle off the Schedule enabled option.
3. Save the changes.

The schedule will remain in your list but will not execute until you re-enable it.

Deleting a Schedule

To permanently remove a schedule:

1. Go to the schedule’s detail page.
2. Click the three dots (⋮) menu.
3. Select Delete schedule.
4. Confirm the deletion.

Note

Deleting a schedule will not delete any backups that were previously created by that schedule. Your existing backups will remain intact on the Backups page.

Best Practices

Here are some recommendations to get the most out of your automatic backups:

• Schedule backups during low-activity hours. Running a backup while many players are online may cause brief lag spikes. Midnight or early morning hours are typically best.
• Don’t over-lock your backups. Keep at least 1–2 backup slots free so rotation can work properly. Only lock backups that represent major milestones (e.g., before a big update or world reset).
• Download important backups locally. For critical backups, don’t rely solely on the panel — download them to your own computer or cloud storage for extra safety.
• Test your schedule after creating it. Use the Run Now feature to trigger the schedule manually and verify that the backup is created successfully.
• Consider your server’s data size. If your server has a lot of data (e.g., large world files, many plugins), backups may take longer to complete. Make sure your backup schedule has enough time between runs.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Possible Cause	Solution
Backup task is not running	Schedule is disabled	Edit the schedule and enable the Schedule enabled toggle
Backup task is not running	”Only when server is online” is enabled and the server is stopped	Start your server, or disable the “Only when server is online” option
Backup fails	Backup limit reached and all backups are locked	Unlock or delete an old backup to free up a slot
Backup fails	Insufficient disk space on the server	Remove unnecessary files or contact support to upgrade your plan

If you continue to experience issues with your automatic backups, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team at support@syncaracloud.id.