[SOLVED] Having trouble adding new storage to PBS

[helis]

Hi.

I'm not very experienced with Proxmox, the infrastructure I'm dealing with now was built by another person and I'll be unable to reach them for a couple weeks, meanwhile the problem needs solving. I just can't put the puzzle together and I need to understand how things fit, if someone would help me.

So, the layout. I have a cluster with a bunch of nodes running Proxmox 7.1 and 7.2. One of the nodes runs a VM with PBS 2.1-2 installed, there's nothing else on this node. I have a USB HDD attached to another node (not the one with the PBS VM), I've made this HDD into a storage in Proxmox web GUI, and I can write backups onto it by selecting a VM and pressing "Backup now". However, I need these backups to have the "File Restore" option, which they currently don't. As I've come to understand, I need to use PBS to make backups if I want them to have that option. Proxmox's datacenter already has a PBS-type storage, which was added and configured by the person before me.

The task at hand is to on-demand backup some VMs on that HDD I've mentioned. The HDD is freshly bought so it's not included in the PBS storage currently present in the cluster. So, as I understand it, I need to
1) Remove the storage I've made out of the HDD in the PX web GUI.
2) Add a new PBS-type storage.
This is where I'm having trouble understanding how all this fits together. When I add a PBS storage in the PX web GUI, it never asks me to specify the path to the disk, it just asks me of "ID" and "Storage". I take it, "ID" is just a name as it's displayed in the GUI and "Storage" is the actual name of the storage in PBS? So do I first need to create a storage in PBS? But when I do it, THEN it asks me for the path, so looks like the disk has to be mounted in a local directory somewhere on the PBS server. But PBS is on a VM. So how do I go about it, do I HAVE to physically attach the HDD to the node with the PBS VM and do a passthrough? If so, are there other ways still? Having physical access to the hardware is a bit of an issue at the moment.

 

[Lukas Wagner]

So do I first need to create a storage in PBS? But when I do it, THEN it asks me for the path, so looks like the disk has to be mounted in a local directory somewhere on the PBS server. But PBS is on a VM. So how do I go about it, do I HAVE to physically attach the HDD to the node with the PBS VM and do a passthrough? If so, are there other ways still? Having physical access to the hardware is a bit of an issue at the moment.

Yes, the disk needs to be mounted in the filesystem of the Proxmox Backup Server. So for you case, you would need to pass the disk from the host to the guest. There is no alternative to that I'm afraid.

Your setup is a bit unusual. Usually the Backup Server should be a separate host and not be a part of the same cluster that you are trying to backup. Since you wrote that the node running the PBS-VM runs nothing else, I'd suggest removing that node from the cluster and then installing Proxmox Backup Server bare metal without virtualization in between.

However, since

Having physical access to the hardware is a bit of an issue at the moment.

I'm not sure if this is an option for now.

Also, I'd strongly recommend against using USB-drives for anything production-grade. I've had bad experiences with the reliability of those USB-SATA-Controllers inside.

 

[helis]

Since you wrote that the node running the PBS-VM runs nothing else, I'd suggest removing that node from the cluster and then installing Proxmox Backup Server bare metal without virtualization in between.

I see. I'll do that when I can.

So for you case, you would need to pass the disk from the host to the guest. There is no alternative to that I'm afraid.

Got it. Well, gonna have to find a way to reattach the disk then.

Also, I'd strongly recommend against using USB-drives for anything production-grade. I've had bad experiences with the reliability of those USB-SATA-Controllers inside.

Yeah, this is just a one-time thing, needs to be done ASAP and there's no other storage big enough available right now. Hopefully we won't even need it.


Thank you, I think it clicked finally.