5 1 0:Proxmox VE Backup

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Overview

Proxmox VE is an open-source server virtualization environment built on Debian GNU/Linux. It supports two virtualization technologies:

• KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine), an open-source virtualization technology built into the Linux kernel, that allows a Linux machine to function as a hypervisor, enabling it to run multiple, isolated virtual machines (VMs) on the same physical hardware.
• LXC (Linux Containers), a virtualization technology that enables multiple isolated Linux systems (containers) to run on a single host, using the host's resources more efficiently than virtual machines. Containers are often used for deploying applications in isolated environments.

SEP sesam offers efficient and comprehensive data protection for Proxmox VE environments, supporting both virtual machines (VMs) and containers. Using the capabilities of underlying storage systems, SEP sesam enables online backups of running VMs, minimizing system disruption and downtime during backup operations. This seamless integration ensures that Proxmox environments are securely backed up with minimal impact on performance.

Additionally, datastores in SEP sesam can be configured on a wide range of different storage types and systems. By using the integrated Si3 target deduplication feature, you can significantly reduce disk usage while enhancing overall storage performance.

Backup and restore of virtual machines (KVM)

For virtual machines in Proxmox VE, SEP sesam provides advanced integration when used with storage systems that support snapshot capabilities, such as LVM with thin provisioning or ZFS. In the snapshot backup mode, SEP sesam performs a live backup of the Proxmox virtual machine. This means that data blocks are copied while the VM is running, without requiring to suspend or stop the VM. As a result, operation downtime is minimized, even though the backup process might take longer.

Depending on the storage type where the VM disks are provisioned, SEP sesam offers different backup methods, such as LVM, ZFS, or VZDUMP. Before performing backup, SEP sesam checks the disk configuration for a VM and if necessary changes the selected backup option.

If an incompatible backup option is selected, or backup option for a VM is not selected, SEP sesam automatically determines the most suitable backup option based on the detected storage type. If all VM disks are on LVM or ZFS storage, SEP sesam performs the backup using the corresponding LVM or ZFS option. In case VZDUMP is explicitely selected as the backup option, SEP sesam will not switch to other options, even if all VM disks are on LVM or ZFS storage. VZDUMP will be used to perform the backup as specified.

The VZDUMP is used as a fallback option when the selected backup option (LVM or ZFS) does not match the storage type detected by SEP sesam, or if the storage types are mixed. VZDUMP captures the entire VM as a whole, and only the COPY backup level is supported.

When SEP sesam automatically changes the backup option, a warning is logged in the backup results. It is recommended to review the backup results for any warnings that indicate a change in the backup option to know which option was used to perform a backup.

Restores are always performed using the same method as the original backup; for example, an LVM backup will be restored to LVM, and a ZFS backup will be restored to ZFS. Additionally, when restoring an LVM backup, the restored volumes are always created in the default Proxmox volume group, "pve". Backups performed using VZDUMP can be restored to a different Proxmox node or to a different storage target.

Backup and restore of Linux Containers (LXC)

For Proxmox containers (CTs), SEP sesam always uses the VZDUMP utility to perform backup, regardless of the backup option selected. This approach simplifies the backup process for containers, ensuring consistent handling across different storage environments.

During the backup, the container is briefly suspended to ensure data consistency, and the entire container is captured. By default, only the root disk mount point is backed up, while other mount points and specific temporary files (for example, /tmp/?*, /var/tmp/?*, /var/run/?*pid) are excluded.

Supported backup levels

SEP sesam offers different backup levels depending on the underlying storage system:

• For storage systems without snapshot capabilities (vzdump utility): Only the COPY level is supported, providing a complete backup of the VM or container.

• For snapshot-capable storage systems (LVM with thin provisioning or ZFS): SEP sesam supports FULL and INCR backup levels. Full backups capture the entire VM data, while incremental backups only capture changes since the last backup, optimizing storage usage and backup times.

Prerequisites

To ensure error-free operation of SEP sesam and improve performance, make sure that the following conditions are met:

• Verify that your Proxmox VE version is listed in the support matrix.
• Download the appropriate SEP sesam Client version for your distribution from the SEP Download Center. For Debian package installations, refer to article Debian repository. The SEP sesam Client package includes all necessary components for backing up Proxmox VE.
• Install the SEP sesam backup Client on your Proxmox server, or if using a Proxmox cluster, on each cluster node.
• Add all nodes as clients in the SEP sesam GUI using fully qualified domain names (FQDNs). Do not use plain IP addresses, or backup will not work.
• Ensure the client’s hostname exactly matches the hostname returned by the Proxmox server.
• Ensure proper name resolution for all Proxmox nodes and the Proxmox resource (for clusters). Hostnames of the nodes must be resolvable from all nodes.
• For storage systems using LVM, make sure that thin provisioning is enabled.

Adding the Proxmox server to SEP sesam environment

Add your Proxmox server as a client to the SEP sesam environment. This section describes only instructions that are specific for a Proxmox client. For more details on all available options, see Configuring Clients.

1. From Main Selection -> Components -> Clients, select the appropriate location (e.g., Virtualization/Proxmox) and click New Client. The New Client window is displayed.
2. Enter the name of the Proxmox server or, if you are adding a cluster node, the exact hostname of the client as returned by the Proxmox server.
   It is very important that the name of the client matches the hostname returned by the Proxmox server. For example:

  "Proxmox-VE:109" fv - - - - 5368709120 - ,uuid=109,powerState=running,description=vm-on-node1,hostSystem=pxmx-node2,network=,guest_os=,ips=,cpu_cores_per_socket=,cpu_cores=,total_memory=,not_expandable,single_selection

In this example, the VM named 109 is running on hostSystem=pxmx-node2. This information is returned by the Proxmox API and pxmx-node2 has to be configured in SEP sesam as a client with the name pxmx-node2. Or if, for example, one server is configured in SEP sesam as pxmx-node1.srv.qa.hk.sep.de, the other can be configured as pxmx-node2.srv.qa.hk.sep.de.

	Tip
	The name of the Proxmox node on which the VM resides can also be checked when creating a backup task. For details, see the steps of the backup tasks.

3. From the Platform drop-down list, select Linux. By selecting the Platform the Operating system - Linux is set automatically.
4. Set the virtualization server options. First, select the Virtualization server option, and then from the VM server type drop-down list, select Proxmox-VE.

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5. Switch to the Proxmox-VE Access tab and enter the credentials for Proxmox VE (user name, i.e., admin@internal and password).

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6. Click OK.

Before proceeding, you should validate that you can back up to SEP sesam. Run a test Path backup manually to ensure that the backups work. For details on typical backup configuration, see Standard Backup Procedure.

Configuring Proxmox backup

Configuring a Proxmox backup on the SEP sesam Server involves creating a Proxmox backup task, setting up a backup schedule (specifying when you want to back up your data) and linking the schedule to a backup event (specifying how and where to back up the data). For each VM in Proxmox VE an individual backup task has to be configured. However, you can group these tasks, enabling you to trigger the backup of multiple VMs with a single event.

For general details on backup configuration and prerequisites, see Standard Backup Procedure. Configuring a Proxmox backup differs slightly from the standard procedure and requires some Proxmox-specific steps, which are described below.

Note

The virtual machine that you want to back up must not have any defined internal or external snapshots. When backing up a VM via a hypervisor, SEP sesam cannot capture data on external disks or RDM (Raw Device Mapping) disks if SCSI controllers are not attached to the VM. In such cases, these disks are silently skipped during the backup process, the backup is marked as successful without any warnings about the missing data. If you restore this VM using the "overwrite" option, the disks are re-created, and any existing data on the restore target will be lost. To ensure data on external or RDM disks is backed up, add one or more SCSI controllers to the virtual machine before starting the backup, even if no devices are using the SCSI interface. Alternatively, you can install a SEP sesam Client directly on the VM and perform an additional file or application-level backup.

1. From Main Selection -> Tasks -> By Clients, select the Proxmox client and click New Backup Task. The New Backup Task window opens.
2. Select Proxmox-VE task type, and then select one of the backup options - LVM, VZDUMP or ZFS.

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Note

If you select an incompatible option or do not select a specific backup option for a VM, SEP sesam automatically determines the appropriate option based on the detected storage type where the VM disks are provisioned. For containers, SEP sesam defaults to using the vzdump utility, regardless of the backup option selected. If the backup option is changed by SEP sesam, a warning is written in the backup results.

3. Select the Source. Click the Browse button (large arrow) and select the Proxmox virtual machine that you want to back up from the list of VMs detected on the host system.
   If you click on the details, you can also see on which host system the VM is running.

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4. To access the Proxmox VE, the credentials defined in client configuration are used. To change the default credentials, switch to the Proxmox-VE tab and specify your user account (e.g., root@pam) and the password required to access the Proxmox management frontend.
5. Configure the options for backup as required and then click OK to create the task.
6. If you want to start the newly created task immediately, right-click the name of the task and click Immediate Start. To create a periodic backup, select an existing schedule or create a new schedule. For more details, see Creating a Schedule. Then, create a backup event for your backup task. For more details, see Creating a backup event.

	Note
	You can assign individual backup tasks to a task group and then trigger the backup of all tasks belonging to that group with a single event. The tasks are processed according to the number of available channels. The remaining tasks are placed in the execution queue and are started sequentially. For details, see Adding a Task to the Task Group.

Monitoring backup

You can view the status of your backup jobs in the SEP sesam Web UI in context views Last Backup State or Backups. The backup status overview provides detailed information about the last run of backup jobs, including task name, start and stop time of the last backup, backup level, data size, throughput, assigned media pool, etc.

See also

Proxmox VE Restore – Proxmox Troubleshooting Guide – Standard Backup Procedure

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