diff --git a/debian/conf/tmpfiles.d/gitlab.conf b/debian/conf/tmpfiles.d/gitlab.conf
index 3cc94df5b7..7698713a3e 100644
--- a/debian/conf/tmpfiles.d/gitlab.conf
+++ b/debian/conf/tmpfiles.d/gitlab.conf
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 L /run/gitlab/cache - - - - /var/cache/gitlab
+L /run/gitlab/backup - - - - /var/lib/gitlab/backup
diff --git a/debian/gitlab.postinst b/debian/gitlab.postinst
index 27162e0173..387f6416e0 100755
--- a/debian/gitlab.postinst
+++ b/debian/gitlab.postinst
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@ case "$1" in
     runuser -u ${gitlab_user} -- sh -c "mkdir -p ${gitlab_data_dir}/.bundle"
     # Create locale for app/assets/javascripts/locale
     runuser -u ${gitlab_user} -- sh -c "mkdir -p ${gitlab_data_dir}/locale"
+    # Create backup directory for tmp/backup symbolic link
+    runuser -u ${gitlab_user} -- sh -c "mkdir -p ${gitlab_data_dir}/backup"
     # Create more required directories
     mkdir -p ${gitlab_pid_path}
     chown ${gitlab_user}: ${gitlab_data_dir}/public ${gitlab_cache_path} \