[SOLVED] Prune simulator OK but real prune KO :-(

[maxiprox]

Good morning everyone,
On a PBS v3 with backups (without prune) that have been in place for a few months, I set up a policy using the Proxmox prune simulator.
Today (February 18), I noticed that it deleted everything older than February 4 (daily ok, everything else no). I don't understand where I went wrong.
Thanks for suggestion

 

[janus57]

Hi,

You should tell more about your setup :

• How many backups per day (show the Schedule)
• What you want to keep ?
• Show the logs of the prune task

Best regards,

 

[maxiprox]

Thanks for your help,
there are about twenty VMs on the node, and they are all backed up twice a day, keep all.
I have plenty of free space on the PBS datastore, and pruning is (should be) as shown.

This is the last one that worked (job dated 2026-02-10):

root@pbs:/var/log/proxmox-backup/tasks# proxmox-backup-manager task log UPIDbs:00000BE3:00000674:00000233:698A66F0runejobbs_backup:root@pam:
prune job 'default-pbs_backup-9e0d5d4c-962'
task triggered by schedule 'daily'
Starting datastore prune on datastore 'pbs_backup', root namespace, down to full depth
retention options: --keep-daily 14 --keep-weekly 8 --keep-monthly 12 --keep-yearly 2
Pruning group :"vm/105"
keep vm/105/2024-12-29T20:00:56Z
keep vm/105/2025-04-27T19:01:13Z
keep vm/105/2025-05-25T19:01:04Z
keep vm/105/2025-06-30T19:02:17Z
keep vm/105/2025-07-31T19:02:27Z
keep vm/105/2025-08-31T19:01:17Z
keep vm/105/2025-09-30T19:02:32Z
keep vm/105/2025-10-26T20:01:19Z
keep vm/105/2025-11-16T20:01:06Z
keep vm/105/2025-11-23T20:01:13Z
keep vm/105/2025-11-30T20:01:09Z
keep vm/105/2025-12-07T20:01:10Z
keep vm/105/2025-12-14T20:01:13Z
keep vm/105/2025-12-21T20:01:53Z
keep vm/105/2025-12-26T11:27:00Z
keep vm/105/2026-01-25T20:15:57Z
remove vm/105/2026-01-26T20:17:09Z
removing backup snapshot "/mnt/datastore/pbs_backup/vm/105/2026-01-26T20:17:09Z"
keep vm/105/2026-01-27T20:17:19Z
keep vm/105/2026-01-28T20:17:29Z
keep vm/105/2026-01-29T20:16:59Z
keep vm/105/2026-01-30T20:17:29Z
keep vm/105/2026-01-31T20:16:03Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-01T20:16:04Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-02T20:17:04Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-03T20:19:35Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-04T20:18:38Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-05T20:17:48Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-06T20:17:51Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-07T20:16:53Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-08T20:16:49Z
remove vm/105/2026-02-09T12:28:46Z
removing backup snapshot "/mnt/datastore/pbs_backup/vm/105/2026-02-09T12:28:46Z"
keep vm/105/2026-02-09T20:18:06Z
Pruning group :"vm/201" (...CUT)
I'm only including the first part of the log with the first VM; the rest is the same.

This is the one from the next day (Job from 2026-02-11) where there are no more backups but the lines "removing backup snapshot" are missing.
I don't understand what happened.

root@pbs:/var/log/proxmox-backup/tasks/74# proxmox-backup-manager task log UPIDbs:00000BE3:00000674:00000260:698BB870runejobbs_backup:root@pam:
prune job 'default-pbs_backup-9e0d5d4c-962'
task triggered by schedule 'daily'
Starting datastore prune on datastore 'pbs_backup', root namespace, down to full depth
retention options: --keep-daily 14 --keep-weekly 8 --keep-monthly 12 --keep-yearly 2
Pruning group :"vm/105"
keep vm/105/2026-02-03T20:19:35Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-04T20:18:38Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-05T20:17:48Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-06T20:17:51Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-07T20:16:53Z
keep vm/105/2026-02-08T20:16:49Z
protected vm/105/2026-02-09T20:18:06Z
Pruning group :"vm/201" (...CUT)

I'm confused, in the meantime, I'll update to PBS 4.1.2

Regards,
Maxi

 

[SteveITS]

Without double checking our logs the fact that the Feb 11 log starts with the 2/3 backup implies to me the others were removed before that task run?

Is there any sync job? Or retention set on the backup job?

Normally retention is additive...14 days and then also 8 previous weeks.

 

[maxiprox]

Good morning everyone,
I’ve identified the issue: I changed the backup method from “unencrypted” to “encrypted.” Management approved the change and requested that all remaining “unencrypted” backups be removed. The former administrator carried this out but forgot to inform me.
I have now revoked his access; as of today, I am solely responsible.
I apologize for the unnecessary “noise” in the chat.

Regards,
Maxi