Export files from backup xxx.tar.zst file

[lukas.m29]

Hello, I have an LXC container "SMB" on which I keep my data. This container has mountpoints added with the value "backup=1". Assuming that the backups (xxx.tar.zst files) are kept on another disk (as a regular directory in ext4 format), in case of a failure of, for example, the host system disk or any other disk, can I connect the disk containing the backups to my Linux computer, mount it and then extract the "xxx.tar.zst" file and take out my lost data from it?

 

[Dunuin]

Try it yourself and get familiar with it, so you know what to do in case of an failure.
How to work with VMAs is described here (I guess thats a typo, as PVE versions that support zstd aren't using tar anymore): https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/VMA

ZSTD: https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/xenial/man1/unzstd.1.html

 

[lukas.m29]

I have already tested this and it is possible to recover files this way in case of a critical failure.

PS. VZDump still uses .tar. This is the format my backup file

 

[f4w44d]

This was my scenario and steps I took, hope it helps.

[Condition:]
Proxmox boot drive catastrophic failure, no backup image or backup of configuration files located. VM LXC 'vzdump' backups safely exist elsewhere. VM disks exist on ZFS store mountpoints.

[Objective:]
Create bootable Proxmox system with correct VM information; bootable ASAP.

[Desired:]
To NOT fully restore VMs from backup as VM disks on ZFS store are ok.

[Initialization:]
1. Perform clean install of Proxmox & update
2. Configure storage: Obtaining details from backup log files, import ZFS storage and configure proxmox->datacentre->storage

[Restore process]
Extract VM config single file 'pct.conf' from .tar.zst archive located within archive at '/etc/vzdump/pct.conf' into ./tmp folder (folder tmp must already exist)

Following command Result: Will extract output file as ./tmp/etc/vzdump/pct.conf

> tar -xvf vzdump-lxc-ID-<datestamp>.tar.zst -C ./tmp ./etc/vzdump/pct.conf

Take details from vzdump backup log file (e.g VM ID) and copy pct.conf to /etc/pve/lxc/<VMID>.conf

Do this for all VMs for which the config data needs to be applied.