Backup & Storage

Backup Basics

The backup functionality can be used for scheduled backups, to easily migrate from one machine to another and to configure a standby server for fault tolerance. Although 3CX can backup to a local drive, this is only recommended as a temporary storage location. You should configure backups to be stored offsite / off instance via:

Schedule backup or restore function during off-peak hours, as 3CX services are stopped during restore!

Configuring a Backup/Storage Location

To configure a backup location:

  1. Go to your admin console, System → Storage.
  2. Enable Remote Data Storage & Archive.
  3. Select and configure the backup Location Type:
  1. Google Storage - upload your saved JSON key and click “Connect” to select a path in a Google Cloud storage bucket. See more info on how to configure Google Cloud storage.
  2. FTP - set the FTP server path with the appropriate username and password. Supported protocols are FTP, FTPS and FTPES.
  3. SMB - set the path to the Windows share and use your domain, username and password to connect.
  4. SFTP - “SSH File Transfer” - set the SSH (Secure SHell) server path with the appropriate username, password and/or OpenSSH key. See more info on how to create and/or convert OpenSSH keys. Note: The below SFTP services are not supported:
  1. MS Azure Blob Storage
  1. AWS S3 Buckets - upload an IAM Config file, get Access Key ID and Secret, select a region with a bucket name. See more info on how to configure AWS S3 Buckets.
  2. You can also use a Microsoft Sharepoint / MS 365 account file storage. See the guide on how to configure this.
  1. Enable Backup Archive and specify the folder name.
  2. Click “Save”

To use the “Local disk” just disable Remote Data Storage & Archive and set the directory in Backup → Settings - browse to select a local backup path with appropriate filesystem permissions. Do not set the backup location to any of the 3CX Phone System local installation folders, as these are removed during uninstall. Setting a local backup path in Linux requires the specified directory to be owned by the

phonesystem
user and have permissions to be writable by the PBX. 

Note: For 3CX Hosted the Settings option is not shown, as the local backup location is pre-set.

Backup Now

  1. Now click the “Backup Now” button and specify a name for the backup.
  2. Check the box to include local recordings in the backup.
  3. Set an optional encryption password.
  4. Click “OK” to start the backup immediately. Your System Admin and System Owner are notified via email when the backup completes or fails. Notify more users from Event Log → Notifications.
  5. The new backup appears in the backup repository window.

Scheduled Backup

To schedule a backup:

  1. Click the “Scheduled Backups” button and enable the “Enable Scheduler” option.
  2. Choose when to backup, “Hourly”, “Daily” or “Weekly” and the day and time.
  3. Choose a backup rotation, i.e. the number of backups to keep before overwriting the oldest.
  4. Click “OK” to schedule your backup.

Restoring a Backup

You can restore a backup immediately when moving 3CX to another server or upgrading from an old version. When you have failover enabled, we recommend that you enable scheduled restore to keep the passive server constantly up to date in standby mode.

  1. First select the backup to restore and then click the “Restore” button.
  2. Click “OK” to confirm the restore. All 3CX services will restart during the operation.

Configure Active Passive Failover

The failover option allows you to to keep a second server on standby, updated with your latest data and settings:

  1. Click on the “Failover” button and enable the “Enable Failover” option.
  2. Select whether this server is the passive or the active server.
  3. If you select Passive:
  1. Enter the IP of the active server.
  2. Select when to failover and make this server the active server.
  3. Select which services this passive server should monitor and the time interval at which it should do so.
  4. You can specify a script that should be run before and after the restore. Use this for example to make an update to your DNS server.
  5. Configure scheduled restore to ensure that the passive config is always up to date with the active.
  1. When a failover occurs, the passive server gets promoted to active. The new active server already has the latest backup installed as it was restored earlier by the scheduled restore. Scripts can be used to update the DNS to the new Active IP Address and shutdown the previous active server completely.

More information on our failover option can be found here: Configuring failover with 3CX.

Backup and Restore via Command Line

For Backup and Restore using the Command line take a look at our guide.

See also

Last Updated

This document was last updated on 04 June 2026

https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/backup/