File-Based incremental backup for Windows Server VMs?

[oliwel]

Hi All,

I am using PVE for quite a while with lInux guest and as this works like a charm we are evaluating to migrate a larger customer project using Windows Server to this platform. I checked a lot of threads here in the forum and also "on the internet" but I am unable to find a nice solution that provides an easy file-based incremental backup for Windows VMs *without* installing backup software inside the VMs like Veeam does on ESXi....

It seems to be possible to mount volumes on virtual disks using mount.ntfs but this really sounds like a clumsy hack for me and not for something with "production" quality. Is this likely supported by the new Proxmox Backup Server or can anyone recommend a (commercial) product for this use case?

best regards

Oliver

 

[aaron]

With PBS in combination with PVE you will get the ability to have "incremental" backups on the hypervisor level. A colleague of mine explained the technical details recently on the user mailing list.

I guess that you ask for "file level" backups because you want to be able to restore single files from a backup right? We are working on making it much simpler to do that.

For now, you would either need to restore the backup to a new VM or use the backup client in a Linux machine to attach the disk from the backup as a virtual disk. This is done with proxmox-backup-client map ....

 

[oliwel]

H Aaron,

yes you are right I need a solution where - at best - the customer can browser his backuped files and just say "restore this file/folder from yesterdays backup". It would be ok to have a UI for some sort of central helpdesk but it is not acceptable that I need a technican to do some "manual stuff" to restore a file.

I guess that you ask for "file level" backups because you want to be able to restore single files from a backup right? We are working on making it much simpler to do that.

Is there a roadmap for this and is it likely that my use case will be supported? The project will likely start in Q3 this year and need some time to grow so if such a feature will be delivered in the next 12 month I am happy to wait.

Oliver

 

[ronneyb]

Storagecraft shadowprotect…. Installs app in the windows machine, creates full or incremental backups, allows you to restore individual files easily, can run a virtualized instance of your backed up machine in virtual box, windows 10 hyperv, etc. very flexible.. have used it for years in VMware shop and now in proxmox shop.