Proxmox Backup Server: Complete Configuration Guide

Proxmox Backup Server Setup

PBS (Proxmox Backup Server) is a purpose-built backup solution with deduplication, encryption, and verify-by-default.

Installation

Deploy PBS on a dedicated server (physical or VM, separate from the cluster):

BASH

# Add PBS repo
echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs bookworm pbs-no-subscription" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pbs.list
apt update && apt install proxmox-backup-server

Create Datastore

BASH

# Via CLI
proxmox-backup-manager datastore create vm-backups /mnt/backup-disk

# Set retention policy
proxmox-backup-manager datastore update vm-backups   --keep-daily 7   --keep-weekly 4   --keep-monthly 6

Add PBS to Proxmox Cluster

In Proxmox GUI: Datacenter → Storage → Add → Proxmox Backup Server

TEXT

Server: 10.0.0.20
Datastore: vm-backups
Fingerprint: (from PBS dashboard)

Backup Jobs

BASH

# Via Proxmox GUI: VM → Backup → Add backup job
# Or CLI:
vzdump 100 101 102 --storage pbs-backup --mode snapshot --compress zstd --node pve1

Deduplication Performance

PBS stores incremental, deduplicated chunks. A 50GB VM backup might only use 2GB on PBS after the first full backup. Deduplication ratio commonly reaches 5:1 to 20:1 on similar VMs.

Encryption

BASH

# Generate encryption key on client
proxmox-backup-client key create /etc/pve/priv/pbs-enc.key

# Backup with encryption
vzdump 100 --storage pbs-backup --encrypt --keyfile /etc/pve/priv/pbs-enc.key

Verify Backups

PBS auto-verifies backups. Manual verification:

BASH

proxmox-backup-client verify --repository admin@pbs!token@10.0.0.20:vm-backups

Disaster Recovery Test

Monthly test: restore a VM to an isolated network, boot it, verify services work. An untested backup is not a backup.