Single File Restore for XFS or BtrFS?

[proxwolfe]

Hi,

I just discovered the excellent option to restore single files from my VM backups (backed up to PBS) - exactly what I needed!

Restoring a file from a VM using ext4 file system worked like a charm when I tested it.

For my next project, I will need to use either XFS or BtrFS in the VM - are any (or both) of them supported as well when it comes to single file restore?

Thanks!

 

[t.lamprecht]

Hi,

Most filesystems that Linux supports are supported directly (some complexer ones requiring various drive mapping may fail, but even LVM is supported nowadays).

So yes, XFS and BTRFS are supported and work out fine here in general.

Note that we use a separate minimal kernel+restore daemon in a VM for file-restore, currently the kernel is based on 5.11.
So if a filesystem would use a feature that the 5.11 kernel cannot understand at all, it could cause troubles.
But 5.11 is not too old (and we plan to update it soonish), also breaking new FS feature are not that common, but I thought it'd be good to have that disclaimer in general.

 

[proxwolfe]

I just realized that single file restore does not work with encrypted backups - is that right? Or am I missing something?

That might turn into a deal breaker for encryption for me...

 

[Felix.]

That might turn into a deal breaker for encryption for me...

As far as I know the GUI cannot provide this functionality.
But using the Proxmox Backup Client you can browse and extract files from an encrypted backup and even mount it directly as a (read-only) filesystem.
https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/how-to-mount-encrypted-backup.80354/ discusses this in more detail.

 

[t.lamprecht]

I just realized that single file restore does not work with encrypted backups - is that right? Or am I missing something?

It works if the encryption key is available, normally that's in the place where you create the backup, for example Proxmox VE.

If you add an encryption key to a Proxmox VE storage definition of a PBS instance it can be used for file restore in the same spirit as it can be used for a full restore.