What Happens to Your Data

Cancelling a resource isn't an immediate shut-off. The server keeps running until a scheduled termination date - usually the end of the month you've already paid for. On that date the server is destroyed and everything on its disks is gone for good. Synteq doesn't keep customer backups, so if you want to keep any of your data you need to copy it off before the termination date.

This page walks through the timeline, explains what gets destroyed, and shows you what to back up.

Here's the full life of a cancelled resource, in order:

1. You schedule the cancellation. This happens when you click Confirm Cancellation in the cancel dialog. Nothing is destroyed yet. A yellow Cancellation scheduled banner appears at the top of the resource's detail page showing the termination date.

1. The resource keeps running. All the way up to the termination date, the server is fully usable. Power on/off, console access, network, reinstall - everything still works. This is your window to copy off anything you want to keep.
2. On the termination date, the resource is destroyed. The portal removes the VM (or wipes the dedicated server), releases the IP addresses, and clears any reverse DNS records. The resource disappears from your list.
3. After termination, the data is gone. Synteq doesn't keep backups of customer disks. There is no undo and no recovery - even Support can't get it back.

Until that termination date arrives, the cancellation is just a schedule. You can undo it in one click and the resource carries on as if you'd never cancelled. 

Once the termination date passes, the resource is destroyed and there's no way back.

If you want to keep anything from the server, copy it off before the termination date. The common things people forget:

• Application data: your databases, file storage, user uploads, anything your app writes to disk.
• Configuration files: /etc, app config files, environment variables, secrets and API keys.
• Custom system tweaks: kernel modules, network config, anything you'd otherwise have to figure out from scratch.
• SSH host keys: if other systems trust this server by its SSH host key, save the keys in /etc/ssh/ so a replacement server can keep the same identity.

The simplest way to pull data off is rsync or tar over SSH to another machine or to local storage on your laptop. There's no rush - you have until the scheduled date.

The IPv4 and IPv6 addresses on a cancelled resource go back into Synteq's pool when the resource is destroyed. If you order a new resource later, you'll get fresh addresses - there's no way to carry your old IPs across a cancellation.

If you need to keep a specific IP address across a rebuild, don't cancel - reinstall the operating system instead. A reinstall keeps the same VM (or same dedicated server) and the same IPs; only the disk contents are replaced. 

Any reverse DNS records (PTRs) you set through the portal are tied to the IP address. When the IP is released on the termination date, the PTR is cleared with it. If you order a new resource later and want the same hostname behaviour, set a fresh PTR on the new IP. 

Cancelling halfway through a billing period doesn't shut the server down today - it still runs to the end of the period you've already paid for. The cancellation is a schedule, not an immediate kill.

If you genuinely need an immediate destruction (compliance reasons, for example), open a Support ticket and ask. Self-serve cancel only schedules the end-of-period termination.