### Plesk Backup and Restore Functions

Plesk provides robust backup and restore capabilities to ensure the security and recoverability of your data. You can back up the entire server, individual user accounts, subscriptions, and more. Here’s a summary of the backup features and what is included or excluded at different levels:

**Backup Levels and Contents**

- **Server Level**

  - **Configuration Only:** 

    - Plesk license key.

    - System services, accounts, sites, databases, mailboxes, mailing lists.

    - SSL/TLS certificates.

    - DNS information.

  - **Configuration and Content:**

    - All of the above, plus:

      - Websites’ content.

      - Emails’ content.

      - Mailing lists’ content.

      - Databases’ content.

      - Logs and statistics.

      - Custom error pages.

- **User Account Level**

  - **Configuration Only:** 

    - Settings and configuration for the account, sites, databases, mailboxes, mailing lists.

    - SSL/TLS certificates.

    - DNS information.

  - **Configuration and Content:**

    - All of the above, plus:

      - Websites’ content.

      - Emails’ content.

      - Mailing lists’ content.

      - Databases’ content.

      - Logs and statistics.

      - Custom error pages.

- **Subscription Level**

  - **Configuration Only:** 

    - Settings and configuration for the subscription, sites, databases, mailboxes, mailing lists.

    - SSL/TLS certificates.

    - DNS information.

  - **Configuration and Content:**

    - All of the above, plus:

      - Websites’ content.

      - Emails’ content.

      - Mailing lists’ content.

      - Databases’ content.

      - Logs and statistics.

      - Custom error pages.

**Exclusions from Backups**

- **Server Level:** 

  - Backup settings (FTP settings, scheduled backups, global backup settings).

  - Firewall rules.

  - Additional Administrator Accounts.

  - Selected Mail/DNS servers.

  - Database servers.

  - Installed extensions and their settings.

  - Plesk internal settings (panel.ini, secret key, PHP interpreter settings).

- **Reseller, Customer, and Subscription Levels:** 

  - Backup settings (FTP settings, scheduled backups).

**Storing Backups**

- **Internal Plesk Storage:** Backup storage located on your Plesk server.

- **External FTP Storage:** Backup storage on an external server. You must provide Plesk with the server’s hostname and FTP user credentials.

**Backup Types**

- **Full Backup:** Includes all data each time a backup is created, regardless of previous backup states.

- **Incremental Backup:** Contains only data changed since the last backup, reducing backup duration and disk space usage.

**Backup Creation by Customers**

- Customers with backup permissions can create and manage their own backups through the Customer Panel (`Websites & Domains > Backup Manager`).

- Backups created by customers, resellers, or administrators are visible in the backup tasks list (`Tools & Settings > Backup Manager`).

**Creating Password-Protected Backups**

- To secure backups, you can add password protection:

  - In remote storage settings (`Websites & Domains > Backup Manager > Remote Storage Settings`).

  - When downloading or uploading backup files.

Password protection ensures that even if external backup storage is compromised, the backup data remains secure.