da-sync — DirectAdmin Backup SFTP Sync Script

Automatically sync DirectAdmin backups to offsite SFTP storage with Telegram notifications and retention management.

Built and maintained by HostRainbow — Web Hosting & VPS Provider.

What is da-sync?

DirectAdmin's built-in backup scheduler creates backups on your server but has no native offsite transfer. If your server gets compromised, hacked, or the disk fails — your backups are gone too.

da-sync.sh is a single lightweight bash script that runs after DirectAdmin finishes its backup and:

📦 Finds the backup archives DA just created
☁️ Uploads them to any SFTP server (Hetzner Storage Box, any VPS, any SFTP host)
🗑️ Automatically deletes old backup folders based on your retention settings
🔔 Sends Telegram notifications — success, failure, partial, or skipped
⏭️ Skips already-uploaded files on re-runs (safe to run multiple times)
📝 Logs everything to /var/log/da-sync.log

No dependencies beyond sshpass, sftp, and curl. No database. No daemon. Just one script.

Requirements

DirectAdmin server (AlmaLinux, CentOS, CloudLinux, Ubuntu)
DirectAdmin Admin Backup configured and running on a schedule
sshpass — yum install sshpass -y or apt install sshpass -y
sftp — usually pre-installed (yum install openssh-clients -y)
curl — for Telegram notifications (yum install curl -y)
Any SFTP destination: Hetzner Storage Box, another VPS, NAS, etc.

Quick Start

# 1. Create directory and upload script
mkdir -p /opt/da-sync

# 2. Upload da-sync.sh then lock down permissions
chmod +x /opt/da-sync/da-sync.sh
chmod 600 /opt/da-sync/da-sync.sh   # protects your SFTP password

# 3. Edit the config section at the top of the script
nano /opt/da-sync/da-sync.sh

# 4. Test with dry run — no files transferred, no Telegram sent
bash /opt/da-sync/da-sync.sh --dry-run

# 5. Run for real
bash /opt/da-sync/da-sync.sh

# 6. Add to cron — runs at 3:45 AM (after DA finishes at 2:00 AM)
echo "45 3 * * * root bash /opt/da-sync/da-sync.sh" > /etc/cron.d/da-sync
chmod 644 /etc/cron.d/da-sync

Configuration

Edit the CONFIG section at the top of da-sync.sh. Everything is in one place — no separate config file.

DA Backup Settings

# Path where DA stores backups (DA Admin Panel → Backup → Where)
DA_BACKUP_BASE="/home/your-admin-user/admin_backups"

# Must match your DA "Where" folder format setting
DA_FOLDER_FORMAT="fulldate"

DA Folder Format Options

Match this to your DirectAdmin → Admin Backup and Restore → Where dropdown:

DA Panel Setting	`DA_FOLDER_FORMAT` value	Example path created
Nothing	`nothing`	`/admin_backups/user.tar.zst`
Day of Week	`dow`	`/admin_backups/Monday/`
Day of Month	`dom`	`/admin_backups/11/`
Week of Month	`wom`	`/admin_backups/week-3/`
Month	`month`	`/admin_backups/May/`
Full Date	`fulldate`	`/admin_backups/2026-05-12/`

SFTP Settings

SFTP_HOST="uXXXXXX.your-storagebox.de"
SFTP_PORT="23"
SFTP_USER="uXXXXXX"
SFTP_PASS='your-sftp-password'   # single quotes always — see note below
REMOTE_PATH="/"

⚠️ Always use single quotes for SFTP_PASS. Double quotes cause bash to interpret special characters like $, !, @ in your password, breaking authentication silently.
SFTP_PASS='my$ecure!Pass'   # correct
SFTP_PASS="my$ecure!Pass"   # wrong — bash interprets $ and !

Retention Settings

KEEP_LOCAL=7     # keep 7 days of backups on local server
KEEP_REMOTE=14   # keep 14 days of backups on remote SFTP

Telegram Notifications

da-sync sends Telegram messages after every run so you always know your backups are safe.

Setup

Step 1 — Create a bot via @BotFather on Telegram:

/newbot → follow prompts → copy the token

Step 2 — Get your Chat ID. Add the bot to your group or start a direct chat, send any message, then run:

curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_TOKEN>/getUpdates"
# Look for: "chat":{"id": -1001234567890}

Step 3 — Enable in config:

TELEGRAM_ENABLED=true
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN='123456789:AABBccDDeeffGGhhIIjj'
TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID='-1001234567890'

Notification Types

Event	Message	Controlled by
All files synced	✅ Backup Sync OK	`TELEGRAM_ON_SUCCESS=true`
Some synced, some failed	⚠️ Backup Sync PARTIAL	`TELEGRAM_ON_FAILURE=true`
All uploads failed	❌ Backup Sync FAILED	`TELEGRAM_ON_FAILURE=true`
All files already synced	⏭️ Backup Sync Skipped	`TELEGRAM_ON_SKIP=false`
Script error (folder missing etc.)	❌ DA-Sync ERROR	always sent

Example Success Message

✅ Backup Sync OK — srv119.yourdomain.com

Date: 2026-05-12
Host: srv119.yourdomain.com
Remote: uXXXXXX.your-storagebox.de:2026-05-12

Files synced (2):
  • admin.root.tar.zst (40K)
  • user.hostrainbow.tar.zst (303M)

Retention: Local 7d / Remote 14d
Duration: 134s

HostRainbow — hostrainbow.in

Hetzner Storage Box Setup

Hetzner Storage Box is the recommended SFTP destination — fast internal transfers within the Hetzner network, affordable, and reliable.

SFTP_HOST="uXXXXXX.your-storagebox.de"
SFTP_PORT="23"
SFTP_USER="uXXXXXX"
SFTP_PASS='your-password'
REMOTE_PATH="/"

Recommended: use a subuser — create a dedicated subuser in Hetzner Console → Storage Box → Subaccounts. Restrict it to a specific folder with SFTP access only. Set REMOTE_PATH="/" so dated backup folders land right at the subuser root.

SSH key auth (optional) — Hetzner Storage Box supports SSH keys on port 23:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub | ssh -p23 uXXXXXX@uXXXXXX.your-storagebox.de install-ssh-key

Usage

# Normal run
bash /opt/da-sync/da-sync.sh

# Dry run — simulate without transferring anything or sending Telegram
bash /opt/da-sync/da-sync.sh --dry-run

Re-run Skipping

After a successful upload, da-sync creates a .synced marker file next to each archive. On the next run, those files are skipped. To force a re-upload:

rm /home/admin/admin_backups/2026-05-12/*.synced
bash /opt/da-sync/da-sync.sh

Supported Archive Formats

Format	Description
`.tar.zst`	Default in newer DirectAdmin versions (Zstandard)
`.tar.gz`	Older DirectAdmin versions (gzip)
`.tar.bz2`	bzip2 compressed
`.zip`	zip format

Cron Timing

# /etc/cron.d/da-sync
# DA runs at 2:00 AM — sync at 3:45 AM gives a safe buffer
45 3 * * * root bash /opt/da-sync/da-sync.sh

# For large servers with many accounts, use 4:00 AM
0 4 * * * root bash /opt/da-sync/da-sync.sh

Log Output Example

[2026-05-12 03:45:01] ========================================
[2026-05-12 03:45:01] da-sync.sh — HostRainbow (hostrainbow.in)
[2026-05-12 03:45:01] DRY_RUN : false
[2026-05-12 03:45:01] Source  : /home/admin/admin_backups/2026-05-12
[2026-05-12 03:45:01] Remote  : uXXXXXX.your-storagebox.de:2026-05-12
[2026-05-12 03:45:01] Files   : 2
[2026-05-12 03:45:02] UPLOAD: admin.root.tar.zst (40K)
[2026-05-12 03:45:02] OK: admin.root.tar.zst
[2026-05-12 03:45:02] UPLOAD: user.hostrainbow.tar.zst (303M)
[2026-05-12 03:45:16] OK: user.hostrainbow.tar.zst
[2026-05-12 03:45:16] --- Local retention: keeping 7 most recent ---
[2026-05-12 03:45:16] --- Remote retention: keeping 14 most recent ---
[2026-05-12 03:45:17] Remote has 1 folder(s) — no cleanup needed
[2026-05-12 03:45:17] ========================================
[2026-05-12 03:45:17] Done — Synced: 2 | Skipped: 0 | Errors: 0
[2026-05-12 03:45:17] Duration: 16s
[2026-05-12 03:45:17] ========================================

Security

chmod 600 da-sync.sh — SFTP password lives in the script; make it root-readable only
Never commit a configured script with real credentials to a public repo
The .gitignore excludes *.synced marker files and logs automatically

Troubleshooting

"Backup folder not found"

ls /home/your-admin-user/admin_backups/
# Match what you see to the DA_FOLDER_FORMAT table above

"Permission denied" on SFTP

Use single quotes for the password — double quotes break special characters.

Telegram notification not arriving

# Test manually
curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/sendMessage" \
  -d "chat_id=<CHAT_ID>" -d "text=test"

# Also check the log
tail -50 /var/log/da-sync.log

About HostRainbow

HostRainbow is a web hosting provider based in India offering shared hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, and offshore hosting. This script was built and battle-tested on our own DirectAdmin production infrastructure.

🌐 hostrainbow.in
🖥️ Shared Hosting · VPS · Dedicated · Offshore Hosting

License

MIT — free to use, modify, and distribute. Attribution appreciated.

Contributing

Pull requests welcome. Tested on a different distro, DA version, or SFTP provider? Open a PR or issue.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 3 Commits
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
da-sync.sh		da-sync.sh

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Repository files navigation

da-sync — DirectAdmin Backup SFTP Sync Script

What is da-sync?

Requirements

Quick Start

Configuration

DA Backup Settings

DA Folder Format Options

SFTP Settings

Retention Settings

Telegram Notifications

Setup

Notification Types

Example Success Message

Hetzner Storage Box Setup

Usage

Re-run Skipping

Supported Archive Formats

Cron Timing

Log Output Example

Security

Troubleshooting

About HostRainbow

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da-sync — DirectAdmin Backup SFTP Sync Script

What is da-sync?

Requirements

Quick Start

Configuration

DA Backup Settings

DA Folder Format Options

SFTP Settings

Retention Settings

Telegram Notifications

Setup

Notification Types

Example Success Message

Hetzner Storage Box Setup

Usage

Re-run Skipping

Supported Archive Formats

Cron Timing

Log Output Example

Security

Troubleshooting

About HostRainbow

License

Contributing

About

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