Recommended backup strategy for VMs/CTs/zfs datasets

[escher]

Hi guys, I need advice about choosing the right backup strategy.
I am running Proxmox VE on ZFS RAID1, with additional ZFS RAID1 in the same case. Running mostly CTs, some with persistent data on mounted bind shares.

Now, there are couple of backup solutions that come to my mind:
- ZFS snapshots
- PBS
- regular cron jobs with vzdump
- regular cron job on each VM/CT backing up data
- rsync
-...

I am a bit drowned in the sea of possibilities and not sure which one to choose.
Any hints, recommendations? Pros and cons?

Also, is it better to keep data locally on the VM/CT (and backup whole VM/CT), or on separate zfs datasets mounted as bind shares (and backup only those)?

Thanks!

 

[oversite]

i found it very useful if having linux guests to run backup server client backups along with PVE VM/CT backups, when not full restore needed gives me quick access to files. I don't use CTs so i cannot tell if this helps. Also I don't remember if there is a windows backup client but i don't think so.
Regardless, the PBS is absolutely fantastic for me, even better than fantastic, a true gem.

 

[oversite]

i found it very useful if having linux guests to run backup server client backups to PBS along with PVE VM/CT backups, when not full restore needed gives me quick access to files. I don't use CTs so i cannot tell if this helps. Also I don't remember if there is a windows backup client but i don't think so.
Regardless, the PBS is absolutely fantastic for me, even better than fantastic, a true gem.

 

[escher]

So for Linux guests (I am only interested in those) you do both - backup via PBS and PVE built-in backups?
Meaning creating back-ups twice, with PVE backups creating full backup every time, but with ability to restore specific files.

Regarding PBS:
- is that already production-ready or still in Beta?
- you need a separate PBS server outside of the Proxmox itself or it can be a VM/CT inside of the Proxmox that will be backed up?

 

[oversite]

So for Linux guests (I am only interested in those) you do both - backup via PBS and PVE built-in backups?
Meaning creating back-ups twice, with PVE backups creating full backup every time, but with ability to restore specific files.

Regarding PBS:
- is that already production-ready or still in Beta?
- you need a separate PBS server outside of the Proxmox itself or it can be a VM/CT inside of the Proxmox that will be backed up?

nonononoooo both host-VM backup and guest backup is thru pbs. The VM is done as usual with PVE using pbs, the guest backup is to the same pbs datastore but using pbs backup client installed in the guest linux.

For the pbs separate vs virtual, i do both. I have one hw PBS server that also has PVE installed but is not part of the other PVE, this let's me if PVE cluster would go down, i can restore the most important VMs directly on the PBS box until the cluster is up again.
The other PBS that is a virtual vm inside the cluster, it has it's datastore on another NFS box so the data is reachable if the ceph/PVE cluster is down meaning the virtual PBS can be restored somewhere else and still reach the backuped data. These two pbs are synced as a remote meaning the standalone PBS is synced to the NFS box thru the pbs VM.

Regarding production-ready - no. As long as it's beta, it's not. It's however enterprise-ready by design so as soon as there is a stable release, it's production ready. They are so active at the coding so i would not be surprised if there is a stable release before 2021.

 

[H4R0]

zfs autosnapshot for quick rollbacks (broken update, ransomware etc.), pbs for longterm backups

 

[Cookiefamily]

is that already production-ready or still in Beta?

Adding to what @oversite said: If they follow through with their roadmap, the first release will be in Q4/2020 -> in the next two months.
It is pretty stable already and we are on 0.9-4, so pretty close to beeing officially released.

 

[escher]

zfs autosnapshot for quick rollbacks (broken update, ransomware etc.), pbs for longterm backups

Do you mean https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs-auto-snapshot ?
Is https://github.com/jimsalterjrs/sanoid something similar?
Also found https://github.com/psy0rz/zfs_autobackup .

 

[H4R0]

Do you mean https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs-auto-snapshot ?
Is https://github.com/jimsalterjrs/sanoid something similar?
Also found https://github.com/psy0rz/zfs_autobackup .

I meant the first, but its also available as apt package "apt install zfs-autosnapshot"

They all do the same.