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Email Backup Logs

Email is a simple alerting channel for small environments. The key is to send high-signal summaries (success/failure, artifact sizes, last run timestamp) and avoid emailing secrets.

Quick Summary
  • Send only a summary; keep full logs on disk.
  • Ensure cron output is captured.
  • Verify your mail setup before relying on it.

Option A: cron MAILTO​

Cron can email job output if a local mail system is configured.

cron-mailto-example.txt
MAILTO=ops@example.com

15 2 * * * /usr/local/bin/wp-backup-run >>/var/log/wp-backup.log 2>&1

Option B: send a summary email from a script​

Example using mail (from mailutils on Debian/Ubuntu):

install-mailutils.sh
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y mailutils

Script:

email-backup-summary.sh
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

TO="ops@example.com"
LOG="/var/log/wp-backup.log"
SUBJECT="wp-backup $(hostname) $(date +%F)"

tail -n 80 "$LOG" | mail -s "$SUBJECT" "$TO"
warning

Do not email logs that contain secrets (DB passwords, tokens). If your backup scripts print sensitive values, fix the scripts first.

Test delivery​

send-test-email.sh
echo "backup mail test" | mail -s "test $(hostname)" ops@example.com

Next steps​

  • Failure alerts: opt/docker-data/apps/docusaurus/site/docs/server/linux-server/10-backup-disaster-recovery/alert-on-failed-backup-jobs.mdx.