Proxmox + CubeBackup (Self-hosted backup for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365)

[Joshua_Reed]

Hi there,

Complete newbie with Proxmox here.

I'd like to create something with Proxmox. It would be to backup our Google Workspace (Drives, Shared Drives, Gmail, Contacts, etc) using CubeBackup. Cubebackup make their product available on Docker. So that's a good start. It's also available on Linux.
https://www.cubebackup.com/en/download/google-workspace-backup

I was going to use Active Backup for Google Workspace on Synology, but CubeBackup seems clearly superior in features. Then I thought using CubeBackup Docker with OpenMediaVault. It just seems that using Btrfs/ZFS isn't that user friendly over there.

Then I remembered of Proxmox today! It must be the best way to do this.

I don't have the hardware yet. I don't have an unlimited budget but we'll purchase what's needed.

Here's what I'd need:

• Proxmox and the VMs will be on a SSD.
• The data of the backup wil be on a HDD.
  • I might use 2 HDDs in Mirror. But I'm not sure yet.
• I'd like to have Snapshot Replication of the folder where the data of CubeBackup is stored.
  • Something like Synology does if possible. For example, on Synology, we can create Snapshots of any Folder. Then we specify when we want the snapshots taken (e.g. 6 times a day). We specify the retentions policy: e.g. Keep 7 daily snapshots, 5 weekly snapshots, 12 monthly, 5 yearly.
  • Then if something happens to the data, we can easily navigate into the snapshots (Using the File Manager (Similar to Windows Explorer)) to find a previous version of a file, for example. Or we can restore the whole folder to a previous version.
  • Synology uses Btrfs, but any other filesystem that basically does the same would be great for me (e.g. ZFS or else)
• I'd like the data used for CubeBackup to be available to other VMs. For example, I'd like to sync the database to another computer using SyncThing.

Do you think Proxmox would be a great fit for this application?

If yes : If you'd point me in the right direction that'd be awesome!

 

[Joshua_Reed]

First of all, is it possible to make snapshots of specific folders on Proxmox?
Is there a GUI in order to do so?
What'd be the preferred filesystem to use ?
Please

 

[aaron]

First of all, is it possible to make snapshots of specific folders on Proxmox?

If you use ZFS and create dedicated datasets.

Is there a GUI in order to do so?

no

Proxmox VE is based on Debian, so you are flexible and can do a lot. But don't expect that it is possible out of the box with a nice GUI

Maybe setting up a VM that is stored on the HDDs for that is a better idea? You have a clean separation and can also create network shares if you need them. If performance is not too important, then you can use ZFS or BTRFS in the VM as well and use auto snapshots there.

 

[Joshua_Reed]

If you use ZFS and create dedicated datasets.

no

Proxmox VE is based on Debian, so you are flexible and can do a lot. But don't expect that it is possible out of the box with a nice GUI

Maybe setting up a VM that is stored on the HDDs for that is a better idea? You have a clean separation and can also create network shares if you need them. If performance is not too important, then you can use ZFS or BTRFS in the VM as well and use auto snapshots there.

Hi Aaron,

I guess I should first start playing with Proxmox on a spare machine I have, and experiment. To start getting the hang of it, I guess.

I think I have a preference for Btrfs (but I might be wrong), maybe because it seems it'd use less RAM. And it's part of the kernel. And the requirement for ECC RAM seems less tight with Btrfs vs ZFS (but again I might be wrong).

Btrfs (and ZFS) are so cool! I mean, I wonder why there's no GUI yet to manage these! Well I guess I'll need to get used to commands for these.

I see there's some tools that could help though:

• Snapper
• Snapper-GUI (Seems abandonned)
• zhangyuannie/butter (Butter is a simple GTK application for Btrfs snapshot management.)
• There's probably more.

But that'd need to be use from within one of the VMS right? Proxmox itself doesn't do that right?

So if I understood well, to share a drive/folder with other VMs we need to setup shared (network) folders. Is that correct? No way to say : "This drive is formatted in Btrfs, VM1, VM2 and VM3 can have access to it?"

 

[Dunuin]

And the requirement for ECC RAM seems less tight with Btrfs vs ZFS (but again I might be wrong).

That's a recommendation, not an requirement.

I think I have a preference for Btrfs (but I might be wrong), maybe because it seems it'd use less RAM.

You can limit how much RAM you want ZFS allow to use: https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/ZFS_on_Linux#sysadmin_zfs_limit_memory_usage
But you shouldn't limit it too much or it might become slow.

But that'd need to be use from within one of the VMS right? Proxmox itself doesn't do that right?

Unless you run brtfs/ZFS inside a VM, VMs won'T be able to manage btrfs/ZFS, so those stuff will have to be run one the PVE host.

So if I understood well, to share a drive/folder with other VMs we need to setup shared (network) folders. Is that correct?

Jup.

No way to say : "This drive is formatted in Btrfs, VM1, VM2 and VM3 can have access to it?"

You may want to have a look at virtfs. But that is not part of the PVE webUI.

 

[Joshua_Reed]

That's a recommendation, not an requirement.


You can limit how much RAM you want ZFS allow to use: https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/ZFS_on_Linux#sysadmin_zfs_limit_memory_usage
But you shouldn't limit it too much or it might become slow.


Unless you run brtfs/ZFS inside a VM, VMs won'T be able to manage btrfs/ZFS, so those stuff will have to be run one the PVE host.


Jup.


You may want to have a look at virtfs. But that is not part of the PVE webUI.

VirtFS. Hum.. Interesting. Could be promising.

I've just did my first install of ProxMox on a uses PC I had (i5-2500, 8GB RAM, 1x 500GB SSD, 2x 500GB HDDs, 1x 80GB HDD). I'll experiment a bit before asking more questions.
I did choose btrfs raid 1 (with only 1 SSD) to install ProxMox on. I saw the warning saying that btrfs is a technology preview in Proxmox. From what I've read raid 1 in btrfs is supposed to be mature (compared to raid 5 and 6). I'm giving it a try.

Here's one of the things I like about btrfs: "You can "roll back" to a snapshot, and you get to keep all of the data that was written after that point in time (!) and "roll forward" again without a problem. In ZFS rolling back to a snapshot in time, by definition, invalidates all the data that happens after the time of the snapshot you're rolling back to."

Thanks for the help given so far! Appreciate it.