[SOLVED] Proxmox Backup Server vs Normal Backup within Proxmox

[YaseenKamala]

Hello All,

I was wondering to know beside that PBS will allow us to centralize our backups and reducing workload. in term of functionalities are we getting any extra features that we can't have with normal backups that we already have within ProxMox.

Secondly I read some discussions on the forum saying that the backups are incremental what does that mean? if it's incremental why we can't see the first original backup file with the incremented ones.

Anyone could help me please a bout that to understand more.

Thanking in advance for any help.

 

[dylanw]

Hi,

The other backup targets in Proxmox VE are simply storage devices, and as a result, can only support full backups, i.e., upon every backup, a full copy of the VM must be created and stored. PBS is a dedicated backup solution and thus, comes with many extra features that provide a significantly better experience. Some of the primary features/benefits would be:

• Incremental backup: Only changes in data since the last backup need to be sent to the backup server (in contrast to full backups mentioned above). This means that if you run a VM backup per day, you're only sending whatever has changed since the previous backup, rather than the entire guest daily.
• Deduplication: Within a datastore [1], the server searches for duplicate chunks [1] of data and removes these, meaning that if many VM backups are based on the same operating system, this common data can potentially be stored just once, but used by many backups, rather than stored once for each.
• Verification: Because data is stored with checksums, the server can verify the integrity of a backup, so that you aren't caught off guard by broken backups.
• Client-side encryption: If enabled, even if the backup server is compromised, your data is secure because only you have the key.
• Live-restore [2]: The live restore feature can allow you to start a VM when the restore job is started, rather than waiting for it to finish.
• Single file restore [2]: Access single files/directories from a VM backup without having to restore the full backup.
• Enterprise-grade support: In case you consider purchasing a support subscription [3], you will have access to our highly stable enterprise repository, and access to support with a guaranteed response time, should you have any problems.

For more information, you can have a look at the introduction section of the PBS admin guide [4] and the PBS FAQ [5].

[1] https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/technical-overview.html?highlight=verification
[2] https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/pve-admin-guide.html#vzdump_restore
[3] https://proxmox.com/en/proxmox-backup-server/pricing
[4] https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/introduction.html
[5] https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/faq.html

 

[YaseenKamala]

Hi @dylanw ,

Thank you so much for your reply it was really detailed and gave me a much bigger understanding. and at the same time I am trying to test both of them which is totally true PVE backups are full backups.


While yes we can have the incremental backups with PBS and other security good stuff again thank you so much.

 

[YaseenKamala]

@dylanw one more question where I can find which versions of ProxMox VE are supported by PBS because I have two nodes one version 5.4 and version 6.3. I don't have PBS option on 5.4.

Is there a link which says which versions are supported?

Thank you so much.

 

[czechsys]

Proxmox 5.x is EOL. You need 6.x at least.

 

[dylanw]

@YaseenKamala I'm happy to help
As @czechsys mentioned, Proxmox VE 5.x is EOL and has been for roughly a year [1]. You should schedule an update as soon as possible to at least version 6 [2]. If you choose to upgrade to version 7 (latest and recommended), you will still need to upgrade to version 6 before following the upgrade guide from 6 to 7 [3].

Also worth pointing out is that the live-restore and single-file restore, which I mentioned above where only introduced for PVE 6.4 [4]. Furthermore, PBS 2 is required for single-file restore from VMs that use ZFS and LVM internally, i.e., if within the virtual machine, ZFS or LVM has been set up to manage storage devices [5].

[1] https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/proxmox-ve-support-lifecycle.35755/
[2] https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Upgrade_from_5.x_to_6.0
[3] https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Upgrade_from_6.x_to_7.0
[4] https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Roadmap#Proxmox_VE_6.4
[5] https://pbs.proxmox.com/wiki/index.php/Roadmap#Proxmox_Backup_Server_2.0

 

[YaseenKamala]

Proxmox 5.x is EOL. You need 6.x at least.

Upgraded to 6.4 successfully, thank you very much for your support .

 

[YaseenKamala]

@YaseenKamala I'm happy to help
As @czechsys mentioned, Proxmox VE 5.x is EOL and has been for roughly a year [1]. You should schedule an update as soon as possible to at least version 6 [2]. If you choose to upgrade to version 7 (latest and recommended), you will still need to upgrade to version 6 before following the upgrade guide from 6 to 7 [3].

Also worth pointing out is that the live-restore and single-file restore, which I mentioned above where only introduced for PVE 6.4 [4]. Furthermore, PBS 2 is required for single-file restore from VMs that use ZFS and LVM internally, i.e., if within the virtual machine, ZFS or LVM has been set up to manage storage devices [5].

[1] https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/proxmox-ve-support-lifecycle.35755/
[2] https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Upgrade_from_5.x_to_6.0
[3] https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Upgrade_from_6.x_to_7.0
[4] https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Roadmap#Proxmox_VE_6.4
[5] https://pbs.proxmox.com/wiki/index.php/Roadmap#Proxmox_Backup_Server_2.0

Indeed you really helped me thank you so much. and managed to upgraded to 6.4 successfully, I am trying to understand to configure my PBS to back my server to NAS.