Website backup storage in Kenya

One backup server for every client website you manage

Agencies end up responsible for sites spread across shared hosting, VPSes and client-owned accounts. Pull all of them into one storage server you control, with each client in its own folder and its own retention rules, so a hacked or expired site can be put back quickly.

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Client websites

40 sites

We suggest

Storage S1 KES 2,000/mo

At about 8 GB per site including history, 100 sites need around 800 GB, which fits the 1 TB of Storage S1 with a little growth room.

Order Storage S1

When a client site breaks, they call the developer

Kenyan web agencies and freelancers often look after dozens of sites they did not host: a school on one shared plan, a hotel on another provider, a few WordPress shops on a VPS. Each host has its own backup policy, some keep only a few days, and some keep nothing the client can reach. When a site is defaced or a hosting account lapses over unpaid renewals, the client still expects you to bring it back.

A storage server gives you one place for all of it. Use the remote destination option in WHM or JetBackup where you control the server, pull files over SFTP or rsync where you only have a cPanel login, and export databases with WP-CLI or mysqldump. Tools like restic deduplicate the many identical WordPress core files across sites, so fifty sites do not cost fifty times the space.

Organise it the way you bill: a folder or repository per client, a retention period per contract, and a record of the last good backup you can show them. If a client leaves, you can hand over their archive and delete it cleanly, which also helps when they ask how their customer data is handled.

The problem

Problems web developers know too well

Hacked sites with infected backups

Malware often sits in a WordPress site for weeks before anyone notices. If the host keeps only seven days of backups, every copy is already infected. Longer, versioned retention lets you go back to a date before the first suspicious file.

Hosting accounts that expire

A client forgets to renew, the reminder goes to an old email, and the hosting company deletes the account. Your own copy of the files and database means a lapse becomes a re-upload, not a rebuild from scratch.

Backups scattered across hosts

One site backs up to Google Drive, another to the host, a third to nothing. When something breaks you lose time just finding out what exists. A single storage server with a consistent layout answers that in seconds.

Updates that break the site

A plugin or theme update takes a WooCommerce shop down an hour before a client promotion. Snapshots taken before every update window let you roll back the files and database while you work out which change caused it.

What runs on it

Ways to get client sites onto the storage server

Which route fits depends on how much access you have to each host. With root on the storage server you can accept any of them.

WHM remote backup destinations

If you run your own WHM server, the Backup Configuration screen can send cPanel account backups to an additional SFTP or rsync destination. Point it at the storage server and full account archives arrive on schedule.

JetBackup

On servers that use JetBackup, an administrator can add an SSH destination and run incremental account backups to it. Clients can then restore single files, databases or email from the panel. This needs admin access to the hosting server.

rsync over SSH

Where a host gives you SSH, rsync pulls only changed files from public_html into a per-client folder on the storage server. Run it from the storage side with a cron job so the client host never holds credentials to your archive.

restic

Takes encrypted, deduplicated snapshots of the folders rsync collects. Identical WordPress core and plugin files across many sites are stored once, and you can keep different retention per client by using separate repositories.

WP-CLI

Run wp db export over SSH to get a clean database dump of a WordPress site, then copy it along with wp-content. Handy for scripting backups of many sites with one loop in a shell script.

UpdraftPlus

For clients on shared hosting without SSH, the WordPress plugin can send scheduled backups to remote storage. Sending to your own server over SFTP or SCP needs the paid Premium edition.

Sizing

How much storage do your client sites need?

Set the number of sites you look after. We assume an average full backup of about 4 GB per site, and roughly double that once 30 days of versions are kept.

5–100 sites Storage S1 At about 8 GB per site including history, 100 sites need around 800 GB, which fits the 1 TB of Storage S1 with a little growth room.
105–450 sites Storage S2 Up to 450 sites at 8 GB each come to about 3.6 TB, inside the 4 TB of Storage S2. Its 8 GB of RAM helps when many restic jobs run each night.
455–900 sites Storage S3 Up to 900 sites need roughly 7.2 TB with 30 days of versions. Storage S3 offers 8 TB and four cores for overlapping backup jobs.
905–1,350 sites Storage S4 Up to 1,350 sites at about 8 GB each come to around 10.8 TB, within the 12 TB of Storage S4, suited to hosting resellers.
1,355+ sites Storage S5 Above 1,350 sites, Storage S5 gives 16 TB. At 1,800 sites the estimate is about 14.4 TB, leaving some headroom for a few unusually large shops.

This is an estimate: a brochure site may be a few hundred megabytes while a WooCommerce shop with years of product images can be tens of gigabytes, so check your largest sites.

Storage S1

KES 2,000/mo

1 core
2 GB RAM
1 TB SATA storage
2 TB transfer

Order S1

Storage S2

KES 5,000/mo

2 cores
8 GB RAM
4 TB SATA storage
8 TB transfer

Order S2

Storage S3

KES 7,000/mo

4 cores
16 GB RAM
8 TB SATA storage
16 TB transfer

Order S3

Storage S4

KES 15,000/mo

6 cores
24 GB RAM
12 TB SATA storage
24 TB transfer

Order S4

Storage S5

KES 20,000/mo

8 cores
32 GB RAM
16 TB SATA storage
32 TB transfer

Order S5

Before you go live

Setting up backups for client websites

0 of 8 done. Tick them off as you go.

List every site you are responsible for, with its host, login method (SSH, SFTP or cPanel only) and the client contact.
Create one folder or restic repository per client, named consistently, so restores and hand-overs are quick.
Pull backups from the storage server where possible, so a hacked client site holds no credentials to your archive.
Back up the database and wp-content (or the whole public_html) together, at the same time, for each site.
Encrypt each repository and keep passwords in your team password manager, not in the backup scripts.
Agree retention per contract, for example 30 daily and 6 monthly copies, and apply it with automatic pruning.
Restrict SSH on the storage server to key logins and your office or CI IP addresses, with fail2ban enabled.
Restore one client site to a staging subdomain each month and check that pages, forms and checkout work.

Built for Kenya

Notes for Kenyan agencies

Clients who pay for hosting late

Annual hosting renewals are easy to miss, especially when the account was opened with a staff email that no longer exists. Your own backup turns an expired account into an afternoon of restoring, and protects your relationship with the client.

Customer data in site backups

Contact forms, WooCommerce orders and school portals collect names, phone numbers and emails. Those backups hold personal data under the Data Protection Act, 2019, so encrypt them, limit staff access and delete a client archive when the contract ends.

Pull from server to server

Office upload speeds make it slow to move many sites through your own connection. Run backup jobs directly between the hosting servers and the storage server so the traffic never touches your office line, and your team can keep working during the day.

Questions

Website backups: your questions, answered

How do I back up a cPanel site to a remote server?

If you have WHM, add an SFTP or rsync additional destination in Backup Configuration. With only a cPanel login, generate a full backup and copy it over, or use SSH and rsync if the host allows it. JetBackup, where installed, can also send backups to an SSH destination.

Is the host backup enough for my client WordPress sites?

It is a useful extra, but you do not control it. Retention can be short, restores may need a support ticket, and the backups disappear with the account if it is suspended. Keeping your own copy means you decide how far back you can go.

How long should I keep website backups?

Long enough to get back to a clean copy after a hack that went unnoticed. Thirty daily copies plus a few monthly ones is a sensible starting point. For shops and booking sites, more frequent database backups matter more than very long file history.

Can I give clients access to their own backups?

Yes. With root access you can create a separate SFTP user per client, locked to their folder with a chroot. They can download their archive whenever they need, without seeing anyone else, and you can remove the user when the contract ends.

Will backing up many sites slow them down?

Not much if you schedule sensibly. rsync and restic only transfer changed files after the first run. Stagger jobs through the night, and for busy shops use mysqldump --single-transaction so the database is not locked while the dump runs.

Does HostingKE manage my client backups?

No. The storage plan is a server with full root access, and you build the backup jobs, retention and restores yourself. That keeps the encryption keys, the folder layout and the client relationship in your hands.

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