How to Do incremental Restore using Proxmox Backup server 3.4.0

I

internalit

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Mar 25, 2025
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Hi All,
we want to know if its possible to do a incremental restore using PBS
if yes how to do that
can someone pls provides us the STEPS

thanks
 
Hi,
all backup snapshots in PBS are self contained, they are not inter-dependent when it comes to restore. So you can just restore the one snapshot you would like to restore directly.
 
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Objective​


Our goal is to enable incremental failback from an offsite (cloud) PBS to an on-premises Proxmox VE environment, minimizing restore time by transferring only the changed data back to the original VM.



Scenario Tested​


  • We have a VM with ID 104 originally hosted on-premises.
  • A backup was taken and stored in Cloud PBS during a disaster recovery scenario.
  • The VM was fully restored in the cloud using that backup.
  • A new backup was then taken from the cloud PBS after some changes.
  • Now, the on-prem VM 104 still exists, and we want to fail back incrementally using the cloud PBS backup.


Findings​


  • Restoring to the same VM ID in Proxmox requires deleting the existing VM first, which results in a full restore.
  • Restoring to a different VM ID always creates a new VM, which is also a full restore.

In both cases, the existing VM is not updated incrementally — it is replaced or recreated.

is that possible to do a incremental restore?
 
_gabriel said:
no.
The way is local PBS.
and an external/cloud PBS.

edit : or skip PBS then use ZFS send/receive.
Click to expand...
we have to use two PBS servers?

1 on prem and other on cloud?
but how we can do incremental restore? is there any documentation i can follow?
 
Last edited:
let me recap

i need to install two PBS servers
1) on prem
2) on cloud

on the on CLOUD PBS i should add the ONPREM PBS as remote and sync jobs from on prem to cloud?
and in case of disaster i can restore the jobs on cloud using cloud pbs?


but in case of failback?
i need to add on cloud PBS as remote in on Prem PBS and sync jobs? and then restore? will it be incremental restore or full?
 
Last edited:
internalit said:
is that possible to do a incremental restore?
Click to expand...
You might be able to achieve what you want using the single file restore feature, which allows to download parts of the filesystem of a VM as zip or tar archive. You will however have to copy and place the files into your VM manually, there is currently no agent like feature which would achieve this. Another option might be to mount the backup snapshot inside the VM and copy files based on that, this however depends on your VM, as the proxmox backup client is only available for linux systems at the moment.
 
_gabriel said:
yes if you want the fastest restore.

then external/cloud PBS will Remote Sync / pull backups from the Local PBS.

https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/managing-remotes.html
Click to expand...
let me recap

i need to install two PBS servers
1) on prem
2) on cloud

on the on CLOUD PBS i should add the ONPREM PBS as remote and sync jobs from on prem to cloud?
and in case of disaster i can restore the jobs on cloud using cloud pbs?


but in case of failback?
i need to add on cloud PBS as remote in on Prem PBS and sync jobs? and then restore?
 
internalit said:
i need to install two PBS servers
1) on prem
2) on cloud
Click to expand...

Yes. The cloud could be on a cheap vserver. Alternatively rent storage space from a PBS as a service provider like tuxis.nl or Inett ( there are more ).
internalit said:
on the on CLOUD PBS i should add the ONPREM PBS as remote and sync jobs from on prem to cloud?
Click to expand...

Yes, another benefit is Ransomware protection if you setup the permissions accordingly ( meaning that both PBS can pull from each other but not overwrite or remove backups on the other PBS ).

Read the manual how to do this:

https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/storage.html#ransomware-protection-recovery

You could even gain more security hy utilicing a Firewall or the packet filter ( iptables or one of it's frontends like ufw ) to block incoming connections on the cloud PBS. He would still be able to do a pull sync from your local PBS. For accessing the WebUI you could setup a VPN like Wireguard.


internalit said:
and in case of disaster i can restore the jobs on cloud using cloud pbs?
Click to expand...

Exactly. If you used a Firewall to block incoming connections to the cloud PBSyou would temporary disable it, restore everything you keed, then reenable it.

internalit said:
but in case of failback?
i need to add on cloud PBS as remote in on Prem PBS and sync jobs? and then restore?
Click to expand...

That would be one way, another would be to add the remote PBS as storage to your PVE-cluster.

Btw: I didn't read your original post since I don't want to interact with AI and it looked like it was made with one. I might be an exemption though.
 
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