Proxmox Backup Server 3.3 released!

[t.lamprecht]

We’re excited to share the newest release of Proxmox Backup Server 3.3, packed with updates and improvements inspired by your valuable input!

This version is based on Debian 12.8 ("Bookworm") but uses the newer Linux kernel 6.8.12-4 as stable default and kernel 6.11 as opt-in, and ZFS 2.2.6 (with compatibility patches for Kernel 6.11).

Here are some of the highlights

• New push direction for remote synchronization jobs
• Support for removable datastores
• New webhook notification target
• New change detection modes for speeding up file-based host and container backups
• Countless improvements for general client and backend usability

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Check out the full release notes and share your feedback below!

Release notes
https://pbs.proxmox.com/wiki/index.php/Roadmap

Press release
https://www.proxmox.com/en/news/press-releases

Watch the talk from SFSCON24:
"Proxmox Backup Server: Backup for your Datacenter" - Christian Ebner
https://www.sfscon.it/talks/proxmox-backup-server-backup-for-your-datacenter/

Download
Alternate ISO download:
https://enterprise.proxmox.com/iso
https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads

Documentation
https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs

Community Forum
https://forum.proxmox.com

Bugtracker
https://bugzilla.proxmox.com

Source code
https://git.proxmox.com

This release is a testament to the power of collaboration within our community. A big THANK YOU for your contributions, ideas, and support—we couldn’t have done this without you!

FAQ
Q: Can I upgrade the latest Proxmox Backup Server 2.x to 3.3 with apt??
A: Yes, please follow the upgrade instructions on https://pbs.proxmox.com/wiki/index.php/Upgrade_from_2_to_3

Q: How does this integrate into Proxmox Virtual Environment?
A: Just add a Proxmox Backup Server datastore as a new storage target in your Proxmox VE. Make sure that you run the latest Proxmox VE 8.3.

Q: Is Proxmox Backup Server still compatible with older clients or Proxmox VE releases?
A: We are actively testing compatibility between all currently supported major versions, including the previous version. Full compatibility with even older (major) client versions is supported only on a best effort basis.

Q: How do I install the proxmox-backup-client on my Debian or Ubuntu server?
A: We provide a "Proxmox Backup Client-only Repository", see https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/installation.html#client-installation

Q: What will happen with the existing backup tool (vzdump) in Proxmox Virtual Environment?
A: You can still use vzdump. The new backup is an additional, but very powerful way to backup and restore your VMs and containers.

Q: Is there any recommended server hardware for the Proxmox Backup Server?
A: We recommend enterprise-grade server hardware components, with fast local SSD/NVMe storage. Access and response times from rotating drives will slow down all backup server operations. See https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/installation.html#recommended-server-system-requirements

Q: Can I install Proxmox Backup Server on Debian, in a VM, as LXC or alongside with Proxmox VE?
A: Yes, but all this is not the recommended setup (expert use only).

Q: Where can I get more information about upcoming features?
A: Follow the announcement forum and pbs-devel mailing list https://lists.proxmox.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pbs-devel, and subscribe to our newsletter https://www.proxmox.com/news and see https://pbs.proxmox.com/wiki/index.php/Roadmap.

 

[Johannes S]

• Support for removable datastores

This is huge! People who don't have a tape device now can have air-gapped backups with external disks in the GUI, that's great news.
Thanks a lot

 

[bennetgallein]

Pushing to remote datastores is huge! Great work

 

[Bruno Gaiotto]

Muito bom!

 

[itsit_cc]

Hi congrats for this nice update
Has there been any progress so far about the "Proxmox VE host backup" feature request that is listed in the Roadmap for quite some time now?

 

[einsibjani]

• Support for removable datastores

Until now, I've used a workflow where I created a datastore called 'removable', then created a zfs on *two* seperate SATA disks, both with mountpoint set to the path of the 'removable' datastore.
Each week I run an ansible playbook that:

1. Enable maintenance mode in PBS
2. Unmounts the removable disk
3. Exports the ZFS

Then I swap the disks and:
1. Import the ZFS
2. Mount the disk
3. Disable maintenance mode

If I want to use the new removable datastore feature and I want to keep rotating two disks, I assume I would create two separate datastores, one on each disk? Is it possible to create a removable datastore on SATA disks or is it only for USB?
Does PBS enable maintenance mode when you unmount a removable datastore?

 

[Chris]

Hi congrats for this nice update
Has there been any progress so far about the "Proxmox VE host backup" feature request that is listed in the Roadmap for quite some time now?

No, unfortunately there is no ETA for this feature.

 

[Chris]

If I want to use the new removable datastore feature and I want to keep rotating two disks, I assume I would create two separate datastores, one on each disk?

The best way to solve this would probably be to have a regular datastore and 2 removable datastores, one for each disk. You could then sync contents to the one or the other removable datastore, filtered by e.g. only the last n snapshots of a group.

Is it possible to create a removable datastore on SATA disks or is it only for USB?

Yes, the removable datastore can be located on any unmountable storage partitions, for some more details please see https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/storage.html#removable-datastores

Does PBS enable maintenance mode when you unmount a removable datastore?

Yes, to handle unmounting correctly the maintenance mode unmounting has been introduced, once again please see the section of the documentation in the link above.

Hope this answers your questions!

 

[OsvaldoP]

Thanks a lot!
Removeable Disks are great!

How is it possible to create removable datastore via cli? I not able to regornize the correct parameter

proxmox-backup-manager disk fs create ...?

thanks!

 

[ojaksch]

The now stable "change detection modes" are hell fast! After changing that setting from "none" to "metadata", the first next backups took two up to three time more as usual, but all following backups were done in half the time as in the past, if not much lower than in half the time. Stunning!

 

[Chris]

Thanks a lot!
Removeable Disks are great!

How is it possible to create removable datastore via cli? I not able to regornize the correct parameter



thanks!

You can create a new removable datastore by providing the UUID for the backing device

proxmox-backup-manager datastore create <name> <path-on-device> --backing-device <UUID>

 

[hernicus]

I've updated to 3.3 and the new webhook notification option is not showing up for me. Any advice?

 

[t.lamprecht]

I've updated to 3.3 and the new webhook notification option is not showing up for me. Any advice?

Force refresh the web interface (CTRL + SHIFT + R) to clear the browser cache.

 

[hernicus]

Force refresh the web interface (CTRL + SHIFT + R) to clear the browser cache.

I've tried clearing cache, Incognito mode and different browsers and I still don't see the option.

 

[t.lamprecht]

This looks wrong, with 3.3.0 the version in the header is also not separated with a minus sign anymore, in your screenshot it still is.

Either something went wrong with the upgrade, some old daemon is still running or your browser has an issue, unlikely after you tried different ones.

 

[thiagomespb]

What is the current status of the feature to back up Proxmox VE hosts using Proxmox Backup Server, and are there any challenges or updates on its development?

 

[OsvaldoP]

You can create a new removable datastore by providing the UUID for the backing device

proxmox-backup-manager datastore create <name> <path-on-device> --backing-device <UUID>

thanks for answering!

 

[MarvinE]

You can create a new removable datastore by providing the UUID for the backing device

proxmox-backup-manager datastore create <name> <path-on-device> --backing-device <UUID>

Hello, thanks for this nice new feature. But I always get "Error: parameter verification failed - 'backing-device': value does not match the regex pattern"

 

[Chris]

Hello, thanks for this nice new feature. But I always get "Error: parameter verification failed - 'backing-device': value does not match the regex pattern"

How does the UUID you are trying to use look like? What filesystem is on the device you are trying to create the removable datastore on? Please note that there are limitations, among others ext4 and xfs are currently supported, see https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/storage.html#removable-datastores

edit: correction of supported filesystems

 

[MarvinE]

How does the UUID you are trying to use look like? What filesystem is on the device you are trying to create the removable datastore on? Please note that there are limitations, only ext4 and xfs are currently supported, see https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/storage.html#removable-datastores

Ok thats the problem, I tried to use my existing datastore which is a ntfs partition. In past I had a script to mount / unmount and edit datastore.cfg to make it possible use removable datastores. NTFS UUIDs looks different.

but most modern file systems supported by the Proxmox Linux kernel should work.

Would be nice if we can test if it still works with ntfs, my UUID is a simple string with 16 characters/digits in uppercase.