ServerCrate gives Linux servers, VPS instances, and workstations a private encrypted offsite backup endpoint using Restic over SFTP. No proprietary agents, no cloud provider lock-in - just standard Restic pointed at a ZFS-backed private vault.
Linux servers - whether running at home, on a VPS, or in a data center - are exposed to a wide range of failure modes that local backups don't protect against: hardware failure, ransomware, accidental deletion, provider outages, and physical disasters.
A good Linux backup strategy follows the 3-2-1 rule: three copies of your data, on two different media types, with one stored offsite. ServerCrate provides the offsite component - an encrypted remote vault that stores your Restic snapshots in a different physical location from your server.
Restic is available in the official repositories for most major Linux distributions and installs in seconds.
The recommended way to automate Restic backups on modern Linux systems is a systemd service and timer pair. This gives you precise scheduling, logging via journald, and dependency management.
A good Linux server backup strategy covers the directories that are either difficult to reproduce or critical to recovery:
You generally don't need to back up /usr, /bin, /lib, or other OS directories - these can be reinstalled. Focus on the data and configuration that would be painful to recreate.
Restic's forget command prunes old snapshots based on your retention policy. A sensible default for most Linux servers:
Run forget with --prune to both mark old snapshots for deletion and reclaim the storage in one step.
ServerCrate plans are flat monthly pricing with no egress fees. Restore your backups as many times as needed without additional charges.
Restic is in the official repos for all major Linux distros. Debian/Ubuntu: apt install restic. Fedora/RHEL: dnf install restic. Arch: pacman -S restic. Alpine: apk add restic. Any Linux (binary): download the static binary from the Restic GitHub releases - no package manager or dependencies required.
For servers running PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MariaDB, dump the database to a file before running Restic, then back up the dump. Never back up live database files directly - this risks capturing an inconsistent state. For PostgreSQL: pg_dumpall > /var/backups/postgres/dump.sql as the postgres user, then include /var/backups in your Restic backup paths. See the systemd timer guide for chaining pre-backup hooks.
restic backup /home --exclude /home/user/.cache --exclude /home/user/Downloads. You can also use an exclude file with --exclude-file. Common excludes: /proc, /sys, /dev, /run, /tmp, and package manager caches.Free plan, no credit card, vault ready in seconds. Works with every major Linux distro.