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Getting Started

Follow these steps to create an account, connect a Linux server, configure a destination, and verify your first backup.

1. Check the prerequisites

Read Before You Start. You need a Linux x86_64 server with root access, flock, outbound HTTPS access to vectaapp.com, and a place to store a restic repository.

2. Create and verify your account

Create an account with an email address and a password of at least eight characters containing a lowercase letter, an uppercase letter, and a digit. Verify the email before signing in. Email verification gates the dashboard. If the message is missing, check spam and use the resend action on the verification or login screen.

3. Connect a server

Open Agents, register a new agent, and give it a name. The dashboard generates a registration token that is valid for 24 hours and can be used once. Copy the install command shown in the registration dialog and run it on the target server as root:

curl -fsSL https://vectaapp.com/install.sh | sudo bash -s -- --token <TOKEN>

Replace <TOKEN> with the token from the dashboard. The installer downloads and verifies restic and the agent, registers the agent, writes its mode-600 configuration file, installs the cron schedule, and runs the agent once. The agent API key is saved in that local configuration file and is not shown in the dashboard. When registration succeeds, the agent appears in the dashboard after a check-in.

4. Create a backup job

Create a job and select the registered agent. Give the job a name, enter the source path to back up, and enter a restic repository URL. See Destinations for formats. If the URL starts with sftp:, provide the SSH port or leave it empty for port 22.

Choose an interval or a five-field cron schedule. Cron schedules use UTC; 03:00 means 03:00 UTC. The default schedule is every six hours.

5. Configure the destination

After the job is created, run this command on the agent machine:

sudo vecta-agent setup <JOB_ID>

Replace <JOB_ID> with the job ID shown by the dashboard. Setup asks for S3 or B2 credentials when required, probes SFTP key authentication, and initializes a missing repository. A newly generated repository password is printed once and requires a SAVED confirmation. Read Your repository password before continuing.

6. Run and verify

An enabled job that has never run starts on the agent's next check-in, usually within about two minutes. Watch its progress in Jobs. When it succeeds, open Logs and check the snapshot ID, processed files, and transferred bytes. Transferred bytes can be much lower than processed bytes on later deduplicated runs.

7. Test a restore

Run a small restore into a separate writable directory and check the files. Restoring Data explains the command and why this test matters.

What's next

Read Jobs for schedules and controls, or Troubleshooting if the agent or first run does not appear.