Acronis Backup-support for Proxmox is here, but...

[devaux]

As you may already know, Acronis is working on a Proxmox integration for its backup system. A first version has just been released. So far, the system works, but I have some concerns about the implementation.
Perhaps someone here might be interested. I have created a thread about this on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/acronis/comments/1miy6nm/feedback_and_suggestions_for_acronis_integration/

EDIT: Looks like the Reddit-Bots deleted the thread. I'll sent a message to the mods so they can maybe whitelist it. In meanwhile here the text:

Hi Acronis Team,Great work on the Proxmox implementation! The agent is installed and running smoothly so far—nice job!I have a few concerns about the current setup and would appreciate any insights on potential improvements:

1. Agent Installation on All PVE Hosts: Currently, the Acronis agent must be installed on every Proxmox VE (PVE) cluster node. We’ve noticed I/O performance regressions when running the agent on VMs, particularly Windows-based servers. Installing it directly on the PVE host raises concerns about potential slowdowns across the entire system. Are there plans to optimize this to reduce performance impacts?
2. Agent Updates: We’ve experienced issues where updating the Acronis agent isn’t seamless, sometimes requiring a reinstallation and a full PVE host reboot, which disrupts operations. Are there improvements planned to streamline the update process and minimize downtime?
3. Security Concerns: Given past vulnerabilities in the Acronis agent, installing it directly on the PVE host feels risky, as it could expose the hypervisor to potential exploits. Is there a roadmap to address these security concerns, perhaps through enhanced hardening or isolation?

Ideally, we’d love to see an appliance-based backup solution similar to what’s offered for VMware, or at least the option to install the agent on a dedicated Linux VM rather than the PVE host itself. Since Proxmox provides robust API calls, this seems feasible and would address our performance, update, and security concerns.Any updates on these points or plans for such enhancements? Thanks in advance for your insights!

 

[fabian]

in particular, they should really use the backup provider API provided by PVE (which would also allow them to easily run the agent itself in a VM, if desired).