Backups
A backup is a snapshot of your Hosted CTFd instance that is managed on the CTFd Cloud.
Backups are different from CTFd exports in a few key ways.
- Backups are stored separately from your instance on our cloud infrastructure and managed by us
- Backups include challenge container images while Exports do not
Pricing
Backups have a recurring fee. The fee is the same for all tiers.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Monthly | $6 / month |
| Annual | $60 / year |
You must have a payment method on your Hosted CTFd Cloud profile before you take a backup. We charge the fee only after the backup completes. The fee renews every 30 days on the Monthly plan, and every year on the Annual plan.
If your account has a discount, the discount applies to the backup fee. Discounted accounts can only use the Annual plan.
Taking a Backup
Go to https://cloud.ctfd.io/admin.
Open the settings of the instance that you want to back up.
Click the Backups tab.
Select the Monthly or Annual plan.
Click Take Backup.
The backup runs in the background. When the backup completes, its status changes to completed.
Viewing and Deleting Backups
The Backups page shows all of your backups. For each backup, it shows the instance, tier, status, and billing status.
To delete a backup, click Delete next to the backup. When you delete a backup, billing for that backup stops.
Deleted backups are permanently removed. You cannot recover or restore a deleted backup.
Unpaid Backups
If we cannot charge the backup fee, the backup becomes unpaid. If the payment fails, we send you an email.
- You cannot restore an unpaid backup.
- To make the backup usable again, update your billing information on your Hosted CTFd Cloud profile and pay the invoice.
- If a backup stays unpaid for 3 months, we permanently delete it. :::
Restoring a Backup
You can restore a completed and paid backup to a new instance or to an existing instance.
To a New Instance
Go to https://cloud.ctfd.io/admin.
Click the green Create button.
In Restore from Backup (Optional), select your backup.
Complete the other fields and create the instance.
The new instance must be the same tier as the backup. Store packs are not installed on an instance that is restored from a backup. The instance stays offline until the restore completes. The new instance is billed as a usual Hosted CTFd instance.
To an Existing Instance
A restore replaces all of the data on the existing instance. This includes the database, uploaded files, and challenge service images. The instance is offline while the restore runs. You cannot undo a restore. :::
Go to https://cloud.ctfd.io/admin.
Open the settings of the instance that you want to restore into.
Click the Restore tab.
In Backup, select your backup. You can only restore a paid backup of the same tier as the instance.
Optional: Select Take a backup of this instance before restoring. Then select the Monthly or Annual plan. This backup is billed like other backups. The restore starts only after this backup completes.
Select the confirmation checkbox.
Type the subdomain of the instance to confirm.
Click Restore.
You cannot restore an instance again within 1 hour of a restore. If you must restore again sooner, contact us.