Minecraft Server Backup

Put this script in your minecraft-server folder to backup your world and nether every hour for one week (7*24 backups)

#!/bin/bash
NR=`date +%u%H`
FOLDER=backups/backup_$NR
LOG=backup.log
WD=MINECRAFT_DIRECTORY_HERE
 
cd $WD
 
echo "performing backup for " `date` "to Folder $FOLDER " >> $LOG
if [ -d $FOLDER ]
        then
                #echo "folder exists, deleting old backup first..."
                rm -r $FOLDER
                mkdir -p $FOLDER
                cp -R world/ $FOLDER/
                cp -R world_nether/ $FOLDER/
                echo "(1) backup ready" >> $LOG
        else
                #echo "seems like first backup, create folder..."
                mkdir -p $FOLDER
                cp -R world/ $FOLDER/
                cp -R world_nether/ $FOLDER/
                echo "(2) backup ready" >> $LOG
fi

For your crontab (enter crontab -e to edit (vi))

50 0-23 * * *   PATH_TO_MINECRAFT/mc_backup.sh

this calls the backup ever hour at .50, you may play with this to reduce the backup data amount.