[TUTORIAL] restoreing PBS backup without PBS but with downloaded *.IMG file

[vongehlens]

Hello all,

i you read this you might be as desperate as i was because i´d found a chicken-and-egg problem at a friend who called me to fix his crashed PVE storage...
here we go...

Situation:

- backups are done from PVE to Proxmox-backup-server (PBS)
- needed to restore a VM backup without Proxmox-backup-server able to restore to the PVE (chicken-and-egg-problem (PBS inside a PVE and underlying PVE storage crashed))
- PBS still accessible via WebGUI and the download of backups was possible


Issue:
how to get the downloaded drive-scsi0.img file (yes, it downloaded as *.IMG not at *.img.fidx!) as harddisk into a newly created VM?


Approach:
use the proxmox forum and find a lot of information that you need to map the *.IMG file using PVE and Proxmox-backup-client. also use google and find the same information in other forums.

Result:
proxmox-backup-client does require the PBS to be available as repository, so mapping did not work because PBS was the machine we wanted to restore (=chicken-and-egg-problem)

Solution:
imagine, because of frustration, and after reading all the official documentation but without finding a working solution, that your heros at Proxmox eventually might have decided that *.IMG files might be just simple disk images… then decide that you try to import that *.img file into a new VM and try to boot it...



how to do that:

1. have an PVE at hand
2. create an empty VM with the hardwarespecs of the VM you like to restore but do just add a 2gb disk,
3. delete the 2gb disk
4. copy the *.IMG file of that PBS download onto the PVE
5. use the usual command to import a disk
   1. qm importdisk <vmid> <source> <storage> [OPTIONS]
   2. here i´d to use:
      1. qm importdisk 120 drive-scsi0.img ds-vmachines01 –format raw
6. ...wait…
7. boot the vm and enjoy

lessons learned:

- review and rethink your architecture and what could happen if disaster strikes and what you do need then

- avoid chicken-and-egg situations

- be brave and try out something that is not inside the documentation.



Request to Proxmox Team:
- please update your documentation and mention that *.IMG files can be imported by „qm importdisk <vmid> <source> <storage> --format raw“

and finally: you guys at Proxmox do such a phenomenal great job, honestly, that i all time lift my hat and applaude! - Respect! - all the products are really cool and enterprise ready as your culture and support is. Keep going!



kind regards
Stephan

 

[aaron]

thanks for sharing that. I took the liberty to add the tutorial prefix

- review and rethink your architecture and what could happen if disaster strikes and what you do need then

- avoid chicken-and-egg situations

Yeah, that is one of the big reasons why we recommend installing the PBS bare metal to avoid circular dependencies.

- please update your documentation and mention that *.IMG files can be imported by „qm importdisk <vmid> <source> <storage> --format raw“

We will look into how to make it obvious that those are normal disk images