Backup Using PBS Datastore

[spetrillo]

Hello all,

I am trying to backup my vms on a PVE server but each time I do I get the following:

ERROR: VM 100 qmp command 'backup' failed - backup connect failed: command error: namespace not found

What namespace is this talking about. I have mounted an iSCSI target on my PBS, and then shared that datastore with the PVE server.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[LnxBil]

You can set a namespace on the storage you configured in your PVE and maybe that is not present on the PBS.

You can check:
In PVE: Datacenter -> Storage -> $yourPBS and check if a namespace is set.
In PBS: Datastore -> $yourDataStore -> Content and check for a namespace directly under the root namespace.

 

[spetrillo]

Ok so it looks like I have a namespace in PVE but not in PBS. My new question is what does namespace buy me. Is it ok to call the namespace root, as its called in PVE?

 

[zodiac]

You can use namespaces to organize your backups in a hierarchy (think sub-directories). PVE/PBS usually has reasonable defaults, but if you back up a lot of different containers, virtual machines, nodes, and maybe several non-Proxmox systems, things can get quite unwieldy. That's when you'll think about your namespaces. But if you only have a relatively small number of things that you are backing up, then leave whatever defaults are there. You can always refine your strategies later.

 

[spetrillo]

Can I use a namespace for each vm I backup, so I can easily identify the backups? If yes then how would I pull that off?

 

[LnxBil]

Can I use a namespace for each vm I backup, so I can easily identify the backups? If yes then how would I pull that off?

No, you identify your VMs by the VM ID. Namespace is mainly useful if you have different and non-clustered PVE nodes with the same VM ID on them. It would be very hard to distinguish the VM 100 from PVE1 and VM 100 from PVE99, therefore namespaces come in handy. You would have a namespace PVE1 and PVE99 to seperate the PVE hosts from each other.

 

[spetrillo]

Ahhh...got it! This makes alot of sense now, as I have multiple PVE servers and there is naming overlap!