Using OVHcloud VPS as a Dedicated Backup Server

Overview

This guide configures an OVHcloud VPS to automatically back up your servers to Object Storage. The setup uses Plakar to create encrypted, deduplicated snapshots on a scheduled interval with web UI monitoring.

Architecture

• Backup VPS: Runs Plakar and schedules backups
• Source servers: OVHcloud servers to back up
• OVHcloud Object Storage: Stores encrypted backups

Prerequisites

• OVHcloud account with billing configured
• SSH access to source servers
• Basic familiarity with Plakar commands

Create Object Storage

Create storage user

1. Log in to OVHcloud Control Panel
2. Navigate to Public Cloud → Storage & Backup → Object Storage → Users
3. Click Create User
4. Enter description and click Create
5. Download and store credentials securely

Create storage container

1. Navigate to Public Cloud → Storage & Backup → Object Storage
2. Click Create an Object Storage container
3. Configure:
   • Name: plakar-backups
   • Container API: S3-compatible API
   • User: Select the user created above
   • Deployment: Choose 3-AZ (high availability) or 1-AZ (cost efficient)
   • Region: Select location closest to your servers
4. Click Create

Reference: OVHcloud S3 Object Storage documentation

Provision Backup VPS

Order VPS

1. Go to Bare Metal Cloud → Dedicated and Virtual Servers → Virtual Private Servers
2. Click Order → Configure your VPS
3. Select configuration:
   • Model: VPS-1 (2 vCores, 8 GB RAM, 75GB Storage) or larger
   • Region: Same as Object Storage
   • Image: Ubuntu 25.04
4. Complete order

Initial connection

Connect using credentials from delivery email:

ssh ubuntu@your_vps_ip

Change the temporary password when prompted, then reconnect.

Reference: OVHcloud VPS Getting Started guide

Install Plakar

SSH to the backup VPS and install Plakar:

ssh ubuntu@your-vps-ip

Follow the Plakar Installation Guide

Configure Object Storage

Install S3 integration

plakar pkg add s3

Add storage connector

plakar store add ovhcloud-s3-backups \
  location=s3://<S3_ENDPOINT>/<BUCKET_NAME> \
  access_key=<YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID> \
  secret_access_key=<YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY> \
  use_tls=true \
  passphrase='<YOUR_SECURE_PASSPHRASE>'

Replace:

• <S3_ENDPOINT>: e.g., s3.eu-west-par.io.cloud.ovh.net
• <BUCKET_NAME>: e.g., plakar-backups
• <YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID> and <YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY>: From Step 1
• <YOUR_SECURE_PASSPHRASE>: Strong passphrase for encryption

Passphrase

Configuring the passphrase in the store enables automated backups without prompts.

Initialize Kloset Store

plakar at "ovhcloud-s3-backups" create

Configure SSH Access

Install SFTP integration

plakar pkg add sftp

Generate SSH keys

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_plakar -C "plakar@backup"

Press Enter for no passphrase.

Copy keys to source servers

ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_plakar.pub user@source-server-1
ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_plakar.pub user@source-server-2

Test access:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_plakar user@source-server-1 'echo "Success"'

Create SSH aliases

cat >> ~/.ssh/config << 'EOF'
Host source-1
    HostName source-server-1.example.com
    User backupuser
    Port 22
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_plakar

Host source-2
    HostName source-server-2.example.com
    User backupuser
    Port 22
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_plakar
EOF

Test:

ssh source-1 'echo "Alias works"'

Configure Backup Sources

Add source connectors for each server:

plakar source add web-server-1 sftp://source-1:/var/www
plakar source add web-server-2 sftp://source-2:/var/www

Verify:

plakar source show

Test Backup

Run a manual backup to verify configuration:

# Single source
plakar at "@ovhcloud-s3-backups" backup "@web-server-1"

# Multiple sources
plakar at "@ovhcloud-s3-backups" backup "@web-server-1" "@web-server-2"

List snapshots:

plakar at "@ovhcloud-s3-backups" ls

Schedule Automatic Backups

Create scheduler configuration

cat > ~/scheduler.yaml << 'EOF'
agent:
  tasks:
    - name: Backup web-server-1
      repository: "@ovhcloud-s3-backups"
      backup:
        path: "@web-server-1"
        interval: 24h
        check: true

    - name: Backup web-server-2
      repository: "@ovhcloud-s3-backups"
      backup:
        path: "@web-server-2"
        interval: 24h
        check: true
EOF

Scheduler

The scheduler is basic and will be improved in future versions.

Start scheduler

plakar scheduler start -tasks ~/scheduler.yaml

See Scheduler Documentation for more scheduling options.

Configure Systemd Services

Create scheduler service

cat << 'EOF' | sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/plakar-scheduler.service > /dev/null
[Unit]
Description=Plakar Scheduler
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/usr/bin/plakar scheduler start -tasks /home/ubuntu/scheduler.yaml
ExecStop=/usr/bin/plakar scheduler stop
Restart=on-failure
User=ubuntu
WorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

Create UI service

cat << 'EOF' | sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/plakar-ui.service > /dev/null
[Unit]
Description=Plakar Web UI
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/plakar at "@ovhcloud-s3-backups" ui -listen :8080
Restart=always
User=ubuntu
WorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

Installation Path

If Plakar is installed elsewhere, update the path. Use which plakar to find it.

Enable and start services

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable plakar-scheduler plakar-ui
sudo systemctl start plakar-scheduler plakar-ui

Check status:

sudo systemctl status plakar-scheduler
sudo systemctl status plakar-ui

Access Web UI

Option 1: Custom token (recommended)

Update the UI service with a custom token:

cat << 'EOF' | sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/plakar-ui.service > /dev/null
[Unit]
Description=Plakar Web UI
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
Environment="PLAKAR_UI_TOKEN=your-secure-token-here"
ExecStart=/usr/bin/plakar at "@ovhcloud-s3-backups" ui -listen :8080
Restart=always
User=ubuntu
WorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

Reload and restart:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart plakar-ui

Access: http://your-vps-ip:8080?plakar_token=your-secure-token-here

Option 2: Auto-generated token

Retrieve the token from logs:

sudo journalctl -u plakar-ui -n 100 --no-pager | grep -i token

Look for:

launching webUI at http://:8080?plakar_token=d9fccdbd-77a3-41a0-8657-24d77a6d00ac

Access: http://your-vps-ip:8080 with the token from the URL.

Security

Configure firewall to restrict port 8080 access or use a reverse proxy with SSL.

Troubleshooting

Authentication errors

• Verify SSH keys and user permissions on source servers

Can’t connect to Object Storage

• Check S3 credentials and endpoint URL
• Verify passphrase: plakar store show ovhcloud-s3-backups

Permission denied

• Ensure SSH user has read access to backup directories

Services won’t start

• Check status: systemctl status plakar-scheduler
• View logs: journalctl -u plakar-scheduler or journalctl -u plakar-ui

Alternative UI access

• Install Plakar locally and configure the same store with OVHcloud S3 credentials to access backups without VPS connection