October 10, 2025

Change the Destination for Plesk Backups (Linux)

If /var is tight or you’ve mounted a larger disk, you can relocate Plesk’s backup storage and its temporary archive area in minutes. This guide walks through preparing new paths, updating /etc/psa/psa.conf for DUMP_D and DUMP_TMP_D, setting correct permissions, moving existing backups (including .discovered), restarting sw-cp-server, and testing. Includes notes on mounts and rollback so you can switch destinations safely without interrupting customer sites.

If your /var partition is tight or you’ve mounted a bigger disk just for backups, Plesk makes it easy to point backup data—and the temporary archives used during downloads—somewhere else. Below is a safe, copy‑pasteable walkthrough.

Works on Plesk for Linux (Obsidian and later). Steps are adapted from Plesk’s KB.

What we’re moving (and why)

Backup storage (DUMP_D): where Plesk keeps server, account, and domain backups. Default: /var/lib/psa/dumps.
Temporary backup files (DUMP_TMP_D): used when Plesk composes a .tar/.zip to download or transfer. Default: /tmp. If /tmp is small, downloads can fail.

1) Choose and prepare your new locations

Pick paths on a filesystem with plenty of space (local disk, mounted volume, or NFS with proper permissions).

# Example destinations
BACKUP_DIR=/mnt/backup/plesk_backups
TMP_DIR=/mnt/backup/tmp

# Create them
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR" "$TMP_DIR"

# Required ownership/permissions
chown psaadm:psaadm "$BACKUP_DIR"
chmod 755 "$BACKUP_DIR"          # for DUMP_D

chmod 1777 "$TMP_DIR"            # for DUMP_TMP_D (sticky bit, like /tmp)

# Example destinations

BACKUP_DIR=/mnt/backup/plesk_backups

TMP_DIR=/mnt/backup/tmp

# Create them

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR" "$TMP_DIR"

# Required ownership/permissions

chown psaadm:psaadm "$BACKUP_DIR"

chmod 755 "$BACKUP_DIR" # for DUMP_D

chmod 1777 "$TMP_DIR" # for DUMP_TMP_D (sticky bit, like /tmp)

Plesk requires psaadm:psaadm and 755 for the backup directory, and 1777 for the temp directory.

2) Update Plesk’s config (`/etc/psa/psa.conf`)

Edit the file and set the two paths:

vi /etc/psa/psa.conf

1 2	vi /etc/psa/psa.conf

Change (or add) these lines:

# Backups directory
DUMP_D     /mnt/backup/plesk_backups
DUMP_TMP_D /mnt/backup/tmp

# Backups directory

DUMP_D /mnt/backup/plesk_backups

DUMP_TMP_D /mnt/backup/tmp

Save, then verify:

grep -v '#' /etc/psa/psa.conf | grep -wE 'DUMP_D|DUMP_TMP_D'

1 2	grep -v '#' /etc/psa/psa.conf \| grep -wE 'DUMP_D\|DUMP_TMP_D'

You should see your new paths echoed back.

3) Move existing backups (and the hidden index)

If you already have backups, move them so Plesk still sees and manages them:

# Move current backups and the hidden .discovered directory
mv /var/lib/psa/dumps/* "$BACKUP_DIR"/
mv /var/lib/psa/dumps/.discovered/ "$BACKUP_DIR"/

# Move current backups and the hidden .discovered directory

mv /var/lib/psa/dumps/* "$BACKUP_DIR"/

mv /var/lib/psa/dumps/.discovered/ "$BACKUP_DIR"/

That hidden .discovered folder is part of Plesk’s backup catalog—don’t skip it.

4) Restart Plesk’s control panel server

service sw-cp-server restart

1 2	service sw-cp-server restart

Restarting sw-cp-server applies the change (it’s a quick bounce and doesn’t restart customer sites).

5) Test

In Tools & Settings → Backup Manager, create a small manual backup and confirm it lands in your new DUMP_D path.
Download a backup from the Backup Manager and watch a temp file appear in DUMP_TMP_D. If /tmp was previously too small, this resolves that failure mode.

Rollback (if needed)

Revert the two lines in /etc/psa/psa.conf to their previous values, move files back to /var/lib/psa/dumps/ (including .discovered/), and restart sw-cp-server.

Notes & gotchas

Mounts first: If using a new volume or NFS, ensure it’s mounted at boot before Plesk starts, or backups will fail.
Permissions matter: psaadm:psaadm and 755 for DUMP_D; 1777 for DUMP_TMP_D.
Why move .discovered/? It keeps Plesk’s backup inventory intact after the path change.