File restore on ZFS, no .zfs/snapshot visible?

Nov 22, 2020
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Hi,

When I backup a VM disk formatted in ZFS in PVE 7.3 to a PBS 2.3 datastore, I can use "file restore" to see files on the various ZFS dataset.

But I couldn't find a ".zfs/snapshot/" on the file restore interface, is it possible to browse the dataset snapshots in some way in PVE/PBS ?

Note: the datasets have multiple snapshots and I can see them by "cd .zfs/snapshot/xxx" on the VM itself.

Thanks!
 
is snapdir set to "hidden"? then the .zfs dir is not contained in the directory listing of the dataset..
 
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is snapdir set to "hidden"? then the .zfs dir is not contained in the directory listing of the dataset..

After setting snapdir=visible on the zpool I redid a backup, "file restore" on it shows .zfs/snashot/ but when I try to click on "+" on one of the snapshot I get an "Error" popup with the following message:

ELOOP: Too many symbolic links encountered (400)

Tried a few things but still got the above Error popup from "file restore", may be there's something else to try?

Note: I don't know if the kvm that reads the backup volume behind file restore could turn on snapdir=visible automatically but it would be nice, on the live VM turning it on might have consequences for users of the VM (rsync & cie), but in a file restore context it's always useful I think.
 
Tried a few things but still got the above Error popup from "file restore", may be there's something else to try?

hmm, no, that likely means we'd have to improve something in the file-restore image to handle this properly.

Note: I don't know if the kvm that reads the backup volume behind file restore could turn on snapdir=visible automatically but it would be nice, on the live VM turning it on might have consequences for users of the VM (rsync & cie), but in a file restore context it's always useful I think.

I think that wouldn't work - we only have read-only access to the backed up data, and changing properties on datasets requires write access. what we could do would be to mount all snapshots manually somewhere (either on-demand, iike the snapdir does, or up-front)..
 
hmm, no, that likely means we'd have to improve something in the file-restore image to handle this properly.

Ok thanks, I can open a ticket if this helps (we have basic support on PBS)

I think that wouldn't work - we only have read-only access to the backed up data, and changing properties on datasets requires write access. what we could do would be to mount all snapshots manually somewhere (either on-demand, iike the snapdir does, or up-front)..

May be just "blindly" add a ".zfs" to the directory listing if you know this is a ZFS dataset, even in "hidden" a "cd .zfs" might work from the kvm without any other change? (I haven't looked at PBS/PVE code for this file restore kvm)
 
Ok thanks, I can open a ticket if this helps (we have basic support on PBS)
just filing a bugzilla entry would be enough: https://bugzilla.proxmox.com
May be just "blindly" add a ".zfs" to the directory listing if you know this is a ZFS dataset, even in "hidden" a "cd .zfs" might work from the kvm without any other change? (I haven't looked at PBS/PVE code for this file restore kvm)
that might work - once the first issue is ironed out ;)
 
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