Last Revised: 2026-08-18 09:14

BACKUP, RETENTION & DISASTER RECOVERY POLICY

Article 1: Introduction, Purpose & Regulatory Framework

1.1. Purpose and Single Source of Truth (SSOT): This document constitutes the sole binding Single Source of Truth (SSOT) regarding the generation, retention, management, storage, and restoration of backup copies (Backups), as well as Disaster Recovery procedures for all infrastructure and services provided by Prootzos Online.

1.2. Corporate Identity & Remote-First Operating Model: The provision of services and backup management are executed by the sole proprietorship Prootzos Online (Registered Office: Karkavitsa 46, 27131 Pyrgos Ilias, Greece; VAT: EL 047648274; Tax Office: Pyrgos; Tel: +30 2621 121 373; Email: contact@prootzos.com; Web: https://prootzos.com), operating strictly under a Remote-First model. All related requests, administrative actions, and technical communications are conducted exclusively digitally via the Client Area and official support channels.

1.3. Hierarchy & Document Interoperability: This document is interpreted and applied in direct conjunction with:

The General Terms of Service (DOC-001).
The Common Definitions Registry (DOC-002), whose definitions are incorporated verbatim.
The Acceptable Use Policy (DOC-003), regarding abuse mitigation procedures.
The Support Policy & SLA (DOC-004), regarding availability and response times.
The Privacy Policy (DOC-005) and the Data Processing Agreement (DOC-007), regarding personal data protection (Articles 6, 17, 28, and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 - GDPR).
The Cookie Policy (DOC-006). Telemetry and backup management systems operate exclusively for technical security purposes. Any analytical tracking on the website or Client Area is strictly governed by DOC-006 via Google Tag Manager with Consent Mode v2 and a Prior Consent (Opt-in) mechanism.
The Infrastructure Constraints & Security Baseline (DOC-012), regarding system-level security measures, cgroups v2 resource enforcement, and Directive (EU) 2022/2555 (NIS2) compliance.

Article 2: Architecture & Backup Tiers

Prootzos Online strictly separates backup operations into two distinct, operationally and technically independent tiers:

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                           BACKUP ARCHITECTURE                           |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  [TIER 1: DISASTER RECOVERY (INFRASTRUCTURE)]                           |
|  - Proxmox Backup Server / Offsite Repository                           |
|  - Purpose: Full server recovery following hardware/node failure        |
|  - Management: Exclusively by the Provider                              |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  [TIER 2: USER SPACE / APPLICATION BACKUP (CONTROLLER)]                 |
|  - Generated via Controller (Web Files, Databases, Mailboxes)           |
|  - Consumption: Counts towards the Client's Storage Quota               |
|  - Management: Self-Service by the Client                               |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

2.1. System-Level / Disaster Recovery Backups (System-Level DR):

Scope: Automatically applied to all Shared Hosting nodes and core management infrastructure.
Implementation Technology: Automated snapshots and block-level backups via Proxmox VE to independent, offsite storage nodes (Offsite Backup Storage).
Purpose: Ensuring business continuity and rapid full server restoration (Bare-Metal / Full Node Recovery) in the event of catastrophic hardware failure, fire, natural disaster, or major security incidents.
Service Boundary: These backups are intended exclusively for the protection of the Provider's infrastructure. They do not constitute a client archiving service, nor is there any guarantee of retrieving individual files, database tables, or email messages on demand.

2.2. User-Space / Application-Level Backups (Controller User Backups):

Scope: Available on all Shared Hosting, Managed VPS, and Managed Dedicated Server packages via the Hosting Controller (Controller).
Content: Capability to generate backups for:

Website files (/web directory).
Relational Databases (MySQL / MariaDB / PostgreSQL dumps).
Email accounts (Maildir data).

Control & Self-Service: The Client maintains full control over scheduling (daily/weekly) and manual snapshot generation via the Controller UI.

2.3. Special Status of Managed VPS & Managed Dedicated Servers:

In Managed VPS and Managed Dedicated Server environments, the Proxmox module within the Controller provides the Client exclusively with Power Management controls (Start, Stop, Reboot) and resource usage statistics. No access to Proxmox Console/VNC, virtualization-level snapshots, or backup orchestration is provided via the UI.
The creation and retention of offsite bare-metal/VM snapshots on an independent storage node is provided exclusively as an Optional Professional Service (Offsite VM Backup Storage Add-on), configured, managed, and executed exclusively on the Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) backend by the Provider under a monthly subscription (DOC-009, DOC-011).
Any promotional discounts or special pricing on additional storage (Backup Storage Add-ons) apply exclusively to the initial billing cycle; renewals are billed at the standard official price list (DOC-011).

Article 3: Storage Calculation, Quota Allocation & Upgrades

3.1. Inclusion in Storage Quota: All local backups, compressed archive files (.tar.gz, .zip, .sql), and temporary dumps generated by the Controller or Client scripts within the hosting directory (/var/www/clients/clientX/webY) count fully and in their entirety towards the total Storage Quota of the selected package.

3.2. cgroups Enforcement & Resource Isolation:

Compliance with Storage Quota limits is enforced at the file system and Linux kernel level (cgroups v2), pursuant to DOC-012.
The Client has continuous visibility over storage consumption exclusively via the Controller UI.

3.3. Consequences of Quota Exceeded:

If backup generation leads to complete exhaustion (100%) of the allocated Storage Quota:

The backup generation process is automatically aborted and fails.
Disk write capabilities are immediately locked (Write Lock).
Incoming email rejection (SMTP 552 5.2.2 Over Quota Bounce) is automatically triggered by the Dovecot MDA upon exhaustion of either the specific Mailbox Quota defined in the Controller or the total Storage Quota of the hosting package.
Database malfunctions or table locks (Database Table Corruption / Lock) may occur.
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, and without prejudice to cases of proven gross negligence or willful misconduct by the Provider, Prootzos Online shall not be liable for any data loss or operational disruption resulting from Storage Quota exhaustion due to backup accumulation.

3.4. Storage Upgrades & Prorated Billing: If an immediate increase in Storage Quota is required to ensure uninterrupted backup generation, the Client may execute an immediate package Upgrade or purchase a Storage Add-on via the Client Area. The charge for the remainder of the current billing cycle is calculated automatically on a prorated basis (Prorated Billing), pursuant to DOC-011. No temporary free storage extensions are granted under any circumstances.

Article 4: Data Restoration Workflows

4.1. Self-Service Restoration via Controller:

The Client may independently execute restorations (Restore) of files, databases, and emails directly from available snapshots stored within the Controller.
This process is executed autonomously, free of charge, with the Client bearing sole responsibility for selecting the correct restoration point.
Overwrite Warning: Restoring a backup completely overwrites existing live data of the respective service with snapshot data. This action is irreversible.

4.2. Prohibition / Absence of Automated Restore via Client Area:

It is explicitly stated that the Client Area functions exclusively as an interface for account administration, billing, SSL certificates, domains, and support tickets.
There is no technical capability or feature for executing direct backup restorations from within the Client Area. All restoration actions must be executed exclusively within the Controller.

4.3. Manual Recovery from Disaster Recovery Storage (Billable Service):

If the Client experiences data loss and lacks a local backup within the Controller, a formal request (Support Ticket) may be submitted via the Client Area to attempt manual recovery from the Provider's central Disaster Recovery backups, subject to the following terms:

Service Classification: Professional Service (Billable Professional Service).
Fee / Billing: A fixed one-time recovery fee (Disaster Recovery Restore Fee), pursuant to DOC-009 and DOC-011. This constitutes an independent, standalone fee per recovery incident, billed separately, and cannot be offset against existing support hours or active maintenance retainers.
Warranty of Outcome: None. Prootzos Online applies best efforts but does not warrant that DR systems contain the most recent state of Client data.
Fee Exemptions: This service is provided free of charge strictly and exclusively if the need for restoration arose from proven hardware failure or a verified outage of the Provider's core infrastructure.

Article 5: Data Retention & Suspension Framework

5.1. Active Hosting Accounts:

Local backups within the Controller are retained according to the rotation schedule configured by the Client or the package default profile (1 to 7 daily snapshots, subject to available Storage Quota).
Older snapshots are automatically and permanently purged by the system upon creation of newer snapshots.

5.2. Service Suspension Framework:

A strict functional separation is maintained between commercial and technical suspension:

5.2.1. Automated Billing Suspension: Executed automatically via API from the Client Area to the Controller in the event of overdue invoices. It retains data, vHosts, and mailboxes intact on disk for a grace period of thirty (30) calendar days, disables access to the Controller UI, and displays a default holding page. Automated creation of new backups is suspended during this period.
5.2.2. Immediate Technical Abuse Quarantine / Suspension: Executed immediately and without notice at the system and Firewall level (L1–L4, file permissions chmod 000, mail queue freeze, null-route IP) pursuant to DOC-003 and DOC-012 in cases of Outbound Abuse, DDoS attacks, outbound spamming, or security breaches. Backups of the compromised account are immediately frozen to prevent contamination of backup repositories.

5.3. Terminated Accounts & Data Retention Automation:

Following the lapse of thirty (30) calendar days of suspension without settlement, or upon explicit cancellation/termination request:

The service is set to Terminated status.
All hosted payload data (web files, databases, mailboxes, and local backups within the Controller) are permanently, automatically, and irreversibly deleted.
Corresponding system-level DR snapshots are permanently purged during the subsequent automated rotation cycle (within 14 days). Following termination, data recovery is technically impossible.
The purging, deletion, or anonymization of inactive or terminated client records in the Client Area is executed via automated routines (Data Retention Automation) according to the retention schedules of DOC-005. Permanent deletion applies strictly to hosted payload data; accounting, billing records, and tax invoices are retained as required by applicable tax legislation and DOC-011.

5.4. System & Security Logs Retention: System logs (Web Access Logs, Mail Logs, Auth Logs, Firewall Drops) are centrally aggregated (Graylog/Monit) and retained for twelve (12) months based on legitimate interest in network security (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)) and NIS2 Directive compliance, pursuant to DOC-005 and DOC-012. These logs contain no website or database file copies and are not subject to client backup export requests.

Article 6: Allocation of Responsibilities, RACI & Scope Creep Protection

6.1. Primary Responsibility of the Client: Hosting services constitute managed infrastructure and not data insurance services. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law and without prejudice to cases of proven gross negligence or willful misconduct by the Provider, the Client bears sole, complete, and ongoing responsibility for:

Maintaining regular, independent backup copies of their data and downloading them to an external, local storage medium (Offsite Local Storage).
Verifying the integrity (Integrity Testing) and operational validity of generated backups.
Ensuring adequate available Storage Quota within their package.
Protecting backups against malware infection or application/CMS vulnerabilities.

6.2. Backup Responsibility Matrix (RACI):

Activity / Task	Prootzos Online	Client	System Automation	Terms & References
Hardware & Disaster Recovery Storage Maintenance	A / R	I	R	Core Managed Service
User Backup Scheduling & Generation	I	A / R	R	Via Controller
Storage Quota Monitoring	I	A / R	R	Enforced via cgroups v2 (DOC-012)
Restoration from Controller Snapshot	I	A / R	R	Self-service via Controller UI
Manual Recovery from DR Storage (on-demand)	R	A	-	Billable Pro Service (DOC-009)
Offsite Snapshots for Managed VPS/Dedicated	R	A	R	Add-on Subscription (DOC-009/011)
Application Code Integrity (CMS/DBs)	-	A / R	-	Sole Client Responsibility

Legend: A = Accountable, R = Responsible, I = Informed.

6.3. Disclaimer on vHost Options Directives & SLA Exclusion:

In Managed VPS and Managed Dedicated environments where the Options tab is active, any web server crash or daemon startup failure resulting from syntactically incorrect custom directives (Apache, Nginx, PHP-FPM) remains the sole responsibility of the Client.
Debugging and restoring configuration files is executed strictly as a Billable Professional Service with a minimum charge of one (1) hour, pursuant to DOC-009 and DOC-012.
Any downtime caused by erroneous custom directives in the Options tab is explicitly excluded from SLA availability calculations (DOC-004) and establishes no right to an Account Credit.
Prootzos Online assumes no liability if malware introduced via client CMS/plugin vulnerabilities is included in backups. Malware cleanup from backups is an exclusively billable service.

Article 7: Disaster Recovery Plan & NIS2 Compliance

7.1. Business Continuity Targets (RPO & RTO Baseline): For systems covered under the Provider's central Disaster Recovery architecture (Shared Hosting nodes and Core Management daemons), the following operational targets apply:

Metric	Infrastructure Target (DR Target)	Description
RPO (Recovery Point Objective)	$\le$ 24 Hours	Maximum theoretical data loss window for system infrastructure in the event of total node failure (based on daily DR snapshots).
RTO (Recovery Time Objective)	$\le$ 8 Hours	Estimated timeframe for physical hardware/hypervisor replacement and operating system reactivation.

Note: RPO/RTO metrics govern core infrastructure availability and do not constitute a guarantee of instant restoration for custom third-party applications without valid backups.

7.2. DR Invocation & NIS2 Timelines:

In the event of major datacenter catastrophe (Hardware Fire, Major Hypervisor Corruption), emergency response teams provision a standby node and execute block-level restores from the Proxmox Backup Server repository, issuing simultaneous status alerts in the Client Area.
In the event of a security incident affecting the integrity, availability, or confidentiality of backup repositories, Prootzos Online enforces the NIS2 incident notification framework (DOC-012):

Early Warning: Within 24 hours of detection to competent supervisory authorities (CSIRT/EETT) and affected Clients.
Incident Notification: Within 72 hours, detailing severity assessment and initial mitigation.
Final Report: Within one (1) month, delivering Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and permanent remediations.

Article 8: Personal Data Processing & GDPR Compliance

8.1. Data Processor Role (Art. 28 GDPR): During backup generation, storage, and retention containing third-party personal data, Prootzos Online acts strictly as a Data Processor on behalf of the Client, who remains the Data Controller, pursuant to Article 28 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and the specific provisions of the Data Processing Agreement (DOC-007).

8.2. Technical & Organizational Security Measures: All backups stored on central DR infrastructure are safeguarded via:

In-Transit Encryption (TLS/SSH/VPN tunnels).
Encryption-at-Rest on offsite DR storage nodes.
Access restrictions enforced via L1–L4 Firewalls (DOC-012) and key-based authentication.

8.3. Right to Erasure (Art. 17 GDPR) & Backup Lifecycle:

Due to the immutable technical structure of snapshots and encrypted dumps, selective erasure of individual data subjects (Art. 17 GDPR - Right to Erasure) from historical backup archives is technically impossible without compromising archive integrity.
Such data is automatically purged or overwritten upon completion of the respective retention cycle.
If the Client (Data Controller) executes a restoration (Restore) from a historical snapshot, the Client assumes sole legal responsibility for immediately re-applying the erasure of the requesting data subject within the live production database.

Article 9: Final Provisions, Amendments & Jurisdiction

9.1. Prevailing Language: This document has been executed in the Greek language, which constitutes the official, primary, and legally binding Master Version. Any translation into the English language (DOC-010-EN) is provided strictly for convenience; in the event of any discrepancy or conflict of interpretation, the Greek version shall prevail unconditionally.

9.2. Policy Amendments: Prootzos Online reserves the right to amend this Policy pursuant to the Governance Framework (DOC-001). Major Changes (vX.0) shall be communicated to Clients via email or the Client Area at least thirty (30) calendar days prior to taking effect.

9.3. Governing Law & Jurisdiction: This Policy is governed by the Laws of Greece and applicable European Union law. Any dispute arising from its application or interpretation shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of Pyrgos Ilias, Greece.