Setting up S&Box backups with Wisp Schedules

Introduction

A backup is three things: automatic, tested, and stored elsewhere. The Wisp panel natively provides local and scheduled backups. To go further (offsite, long retention), combine with external SFTP or a script. Practical guide with direct recommendations.

Prerequisites

• An active S&Box server at VeryCloud
• Access to the Wisp panel
• Optional: external storage (other VPS, NAS, S3-compatible)

Step 1: Manual backups via Wisp

For a quick snapshot before a risky operation:

1. Open your server in the panel
2. Sidebar → Backups
3. Click Create Backup
4. Give a meaningful name (e.g. pre-gamemode-switch-2026-05-17)
5. Wait for status to reach Complete

The backup contains the full /home/container/ folder (config, users, local data, package cache).

Step 2: Scheduled backups (Schedules)

This is where you'll spend 95% of your config time:

1. Sidebar → Schedules
2. Create Schedule
3. Configure:
   • Name: Daily backup 3 AM
   • Cron: 0 3 * * * (every day at 3 AM)
   • Only when server online: YES (otherwise Wisp tries on a stopped server)
4. Add a Task:
   • Action: Create Backup
   • Optional: Send console command first (say Backup in progress, micro lag possible)

Step 3: Retention strategy

Wisp has a per-server backup limit based on your plan. Reasonable strategy for S&Box:

💡 Too many backups = disk quota explosion. Adjust to your server size (a light sandbox: 50-200 MB; a custom RP: several GB).

Step 4: Offsite backups (3-2-1)

The rule: 3 copies, 2 different media types, 1 offsite.

Method 1 — SFTP pull from an external VPS

On an external machine (another VPS, NAS):

#!/bin/bash
SFTP_HOST="sftp.verycloud.fr"
SFTP_PORT="2022"
SFTP_USER="your.wisp.user"
DEST="/backups/sbox/$(date +%F)"
mkdir -p "$DEST"

sftp -P $SFTP_PORT $SFTP_USER@$SFTP_HOST <<EOC
cd /home/container
get -r users
get -r cloud
get *.cfg
bye
EOC

# Keep 30 days
find /backups/sbox -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -mtime +30 -type d -exec rm -rf {} \;

Get SFTP credentials in Settings → SFTP Details.

Method 2 — rclone to S3 / Backblaze B2

If you have an S3 or B2 bucket:

rclone sync /backups/sbox b2:mybucket/sbox-backups \
  --transfers 4 --backup-dir b2:mybucket/sbox-old/$(date +%F)

Step 5: Test a restore

An untested backup isn't a backup. Once a month:

1. On a test server (another Wisp instance or local)
2. Restore the latest backup
3. Verify the server boots, users/config.json is intact, gamemode data is coherent

Step 6: Restore in case of incident

1. STOP the server from console
2. Sidebar → Backups
3. Click the desired backup → Restore
4. Confirm (Wisp replaces /home/container/ content)
5. START the server

⚠️ Restore overwrites current state. To compare before/after, download the backup (Download) and inspect locally.

Step 7: Snapshot before each risky change

Before:

• Switching gamemodes
• Updating a custom package
• Modifying users/config.json or a critical file
• Testing a new script

→ Manual backup every time. Takes 30 seconds, saves you hours of regret.

Troubleshooting

Backup fails with "out of space"

• You hit your plan's disk quota
• Delete old manual backups and configure rotation
• Or upgrade plan

Schedule doesn't trigger

• Check Only when online isn't checked if you want it to run server-down
• Verify cron format (Wisp uses standard 5-field syntax)
• Check the schedule's execution history

Restore fails at startup

• Backup captures package cache which can be corrupt — delete cloud/packages/ and restart, S&Box re-downloads from sbox.game

Useful commands

# Useful cron
# Every 6 hours
0 */6 * * *

# Every day at 3 AM
0 3 * * *

# Every Monday at 4 AM
0 4 * * 1

# 1st of each month at 5 AM
0 5 1 * *

Conclusion

Wisp backups = automatic, scheduled, retained per your strategy. Add an SFTP or S3 offsite for the 3-2-1, test your restores, and snapshot manually before any sensitive operation. Three clicks per schedule, and it changes everything in an incident.

Going further: send Discord notif after each successful backup, monitor backup size over time, automate restoration to staging.

Resources

• Wisp Schedules Documentation
• Cron syntax
• rclone — sync to cloud storage
• Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage