Offsite/Remote Backup Strategy

[Riesling.Dry]

Hi there,

I have a proxmox server with ~10 virtual machines. In another hosting location I have a blank server. I would like to use the second one as backup for the proxmox instance with scheduled, rotating backups.

What is the best way to do this?

I suppose there some proxmox built-in feature for that and I am too blind to see it? Would it make sense to install proxmox also on the 2nd machine. The 2nd machine is basically empty and can be re-configured as needed. Should I set up a proxmox cluster w. the two? The 2nd box it is not too powerful, not too reliable (=not always reachable) doesn’t have too much bandwidth, but it is basically online, has a large disk and is therefore perfect for storing backups.

Before proxmox I used OpenVZ and did my backups w. a script called „ezvzdump“ triggered by cron to rsync/ssh to the second box - I could do the same w. or new proxmox server, but I guess, there is a more professional/powerful/proxmox-proprieraty solution that also considers the KVMs?

After my newbie understanding of proxmox, I guess that I would need to add the 2nd server (or its disk?) as storage to the main proxmox server? If this is correct? How do I do that?

I am googeling for this since a couple of days and also couldn’t find anything here in the forum. http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Storage_Model seems to be about onsite backups not offsite. Addl. ppl. say, NFS should not be used for such a setup, due to security considerations? I tried LVM, and iSCSI, but could not find where to set the details for the 2nd server.
So apologies if this question has already been asked/answered!

Thanks for your feedback resp. pointers into the right direction!

krgds,
~R.

 

[mir]

1) install sshfs and mount remote server dir locally.
2) Make backups to the locally mounted remote server dir.

Case closed;-)

DigitalOcean has a tutorial: https://www.digitalocean.com/commun...e-sshfs-to-mount-remote-file-systems-over-ssh

 

[Riesling.Dry]

Cheers for the fast and competent reply, mir - I will try that!

...it is not "pure promox" though. Isn't there a proxmox-feature for this?

~R.

 

[mir]

There is no proxmox feature for this. You will have to do it from the command line but once it is configured you can add the local mounted folder inside proxmox.

1) cluster->storage tab: Add Directory
2) Remember to choose 'Backup' for contents
3) Increase 'Max Backups' to the number of backups for each VM/CT you would like to keep.

 

[svendsen]

I don't recommend backing up directly to remote storage. Instead backup to local storage and rsync to remote storage.

Also recommending patching Proxmox Backup to support differential backup:
http://ayufan.eu/projects/proxmox-ve-differential-backups/

 

[Riesling.Dry]

1) install sshfs and mount remote server dir locally.
2) Make backups to the locally mounted remote server dir.

Case closed;-)

Just tried it and there is my 1st proxmox backup!

Will add a cron to rsync (or maybe rather cp -rf) the mounted directory on the second machine to store the backups there remotely.

Thanks A LOT mir! Your solution is awesome and straight-forward! Thumbsup!

Maybe this feature should be considered in future releases of proxmox.

~R.

 

[Riesling.Dry]

That looks very promising too, svendsen - I will give it a try occasionally, thanks

~R.

 

[1nerdyguy]

Not to necro a thread, but can this be done in a cluster? Would each host need the SSHFS installed and mounted, or just do it on one and check "shared".

 

[groyk]

I am new to Proxmox, but regarding backup i have a question.

If you mount remote disk for backup, i believe an hacker has access to backup If he brakes into your main server.?

For my servers i always accessed via SSH from backupserver and used rsync. That way your backup is not reachable from the produktion server.

I might be wrong?

 

[LnxBil]

For my servers i always accessed via SSH from backupserver and used rsync. That way your backup is not reachable from the produktion server.

I might be wrong?

No, this works fine and is more secure. Generally, it is good advice to only accept incoming connection rather than allowing outgoing ones, so in this case incoming SSH from your backupserver.