# Backup Agent

Learn how to restore a backup.

The **SimpleBackups Agent** is a lightweight, locally installed service that allows you to run backups from your server **without needing SSH access**. It's the ideal solution when SSH is not an option—whether due to compliance restrictions, isolated (air-gapped) environments, or containerized infrastructure like Kubernetes sidecars.

## Why use the Agent?

While most users connect their servers to SimpleBackups using SSH, there are cases where that's not possible or convenient. The Agent provides an alternative that:

- Requires **no SSH access**
- Works without opening **firewall ports**
- Can run in **restricted environments** (Kubernetes, local dev machines, private networks)
- Is installed via a **single command line**

It's self-hosted, secure, and still gives you full access to the SimpleBackups dashboard for managing and monitoring your backups.

## How it works

1. You install the agent on your machine (Linux, macOS, or inside a container)
2. It connects to SimpleBackups using secure HTTPS (no SSH needed)
3. When triggered by SimpleBackups (e.g. on schedule or via webhook), it runs the configured backup jobs

**Security:**
Your data stays local. The Agent only sends logs and metadata to SimpleBackups — the actual backup process (e.g., dumping a database, copying files) happens directly on your machine.

## Requirements

- The server must have **internet access,** and **whitelisting these domains:**
- Port 443 (HTTPS): `my.simplebackups.com`, `get.simplebackups.app`, `ws-us2.pusher.com`
- Port 41055 (Syslog/TLS): `logs5.papertrailapp.com`
- Docker is optional, but supported
- Minimal resources — the agent is lightweight and runs in the background

## Installation

Installing the Agent is simple. You'll receive a one-line installation command from the Server connection page that:

- Downloads the agent
- Authenticates it with your SimpleBackups account
- Starts it in the background as a service

![Backup Agent screenshot 1](https://simplebackups.com/docs/docs-assets/media-helpkit-co/ca0e8d5deb82a78bb539.gif)

## Use cases

The Agent is especially useful for:

- **Enterprise environments** with strict access policies
- **Kubernetes sidecars** where running SSH is not ideal
- **Air-gapped servers** with outbound access only
- **Local development machines** where backups are needed but SSH is overkill

## Limitations

- The agent requires outbound internet access
- It currently doesn’t support Storage Backup
- Some advanced SSH-only features may not be available (e.g. automated restore - manual restore works fine though)