Transcription
What's going on everybody? It's Carmine from Barine Tech. Today, we're going to be talking about setting up Proxmox Backup Server as a VM on your Proxmox VE server.
So, in the past, we have made a video going over how to set up Proxmox Backup Server, but I did it as a standalone machine on its own separate hardware outside of the VE environment. Today, we're going to be making it as a virtual machine. This isn't a method that I really like doing because my idea is that if the server goes down, so does the Proxmox Backup Server. Or, we have a total system failure, we lose the backup server. I get that everybody doesn't have extra hardware that they can make another server to do the backup server with.
So, today we're going to cover how to set it up as a VM, send out the backup server, and actually send it to backup and backup and save your data. So, let's get right into it. So, you can see over here, I'm in my cluster that we talked about last week. I'm actually going to come over to my Mini Lab. So, this is my Mini Lab server. We're going to run the backup server off of this.
But the first thing we need to do is come over to Proxmox's website. We're going to come over to downloads. We're going to come over to backup server. So, you can see I changed over here to backup server, and then we're just going to come over here for the latest ISO. So, I'm just going to right-click, copy link, and I'm going to come back over to my virtual environment. And then we here over here, I'm going to go into my Mini Lab, and then I'm going to do my drive that I can put my ISO on there. There we go.
Going to do download from URL to make it easier. Query the URL, and we're going to download. We're going to give this a couple couple minutes, and then we'll be right back when we're all set. Okay, so that task is all done. We see over here it says task okay. So, I'm going to close this out, and now we can start setting up our own VM. So, you could base this off what you need, but they do have the requirements on the page. So, we come over here to say recommended system requirements. They're going to say a modern AMD or Intel-based 64-bit with at least four cores, 4 GB of memory, and then you add your storage for your actual backups.
So, you can pretty much run whatever you want. It's just running backups, so you don't need to give it, you know, eight cores and 32 gigs of RAM. You can make it buy with, you know, four cores or maybe even less. On my backup machine that I run, I run just a simple Pentium machine, so it's nothing fancy, but it does the backups for me. So, we're going to give it a few cores and then we'll go from there.
So, now that we have our Proxmox Backup Server ISO, we can actually start on building out the VM. So, I'm just going to click on my Mini Lab because that's where I'm going to build it. We're going to go to the top right and click create VM. And over here, we're going to start setting up our VM. So, I'm going to name it PBS. You can name it whatever you want. Next, I'm going to select the ISO image. So, mine's on my local disk, so that's where I'm going to get my ISO. If yours is on a different one, just select it from there. We click next. We're going to click next again. Leave this all default over here. We're going to leave this default, and then as well, we're going to add the drive that's actually going to be used for the data store for the server.
So, over here in the bottom left, I'm going to click add. Head. We're going to click on SCSI one. And then over here is where we're actually going to give the the machine the additional storage on another drive that's going to be used for the backup server to save all the backups. So, you see I have LVM USB, so I'm going to use this. You could use whatever drive you want. I'm going to give it 200 gigs. You can give it as much storage as you want based on your hardware and your needs. So, at this point, you should have SCSI zero, which is going to be the OS drive, and SCSI one, which is going to be the storage drive. Doing it this way just makes it so there's less steps later on, and it just works just as easily to set up the machine with everything we need. We're going to click next. Over here, we're going to give it four cores. You can give it as much as you want or as little as you want, but the recommended is four cores. For RAM, I'm going to give it 4 gigs. You can give it more or less, it's up to you. And then over here for network, we're just going to leave this the same. And then we're just going to confirm.
So, now we're just going to give this a minute for it to initialize, and then we're going to be able to boot into the console and start working. But in the meantime, if we look at hardware, you can see over here we have our two hard drives. So, we do have the boot OS drive, and we're going to have the data store drive, like I was talking about before. So, it's all initialized. We're going to right-click and open up the console. And Firefox blocked it all, which is fine. And now we're going to click start, and we're going to start the initial setup.
So, here we are at the setup, and the setup is very similar to Proxmox VE. We have a graphical and a console version. Both of them work just as well. But say we're going to do the graphical, so I'm just going to click enter. As you see, it's going to start doing the install processes, and then we're going to start getting some menus. So, once we get the menu, we'll be right back.
So, here's our first menu. I'm just going to center this a little bit better, and it's just the EULA. So, you could scroll through and click "I agree." Now, over here, we're going to select the drive that the OS actually lives on. So, you can see over here it defaulted to SDA, and that's my 32 gig drive. But be sure to select the right drive that you want the OS to live on. You see I have both my hard drives, and I'm still going to use SDA, my 32 gig drive. I'm going to click next. Over here, we're just going to put in our time zone information. So, I'm just going to come over and put in my time zone, and then everything else looks good. We click next.
Now, you're going to set a root password. So, this will be the password that you're going to use to access the root account, whether it's via the command line, as well as logging in on the web portal. So, now I'm just going to put in my email address, and then we're going to click next again. Make sure to remember this password because it is really important, and I don't know of any simple way to change it. So, be sure to know this because you won't be able to get into the system without it.
Now, over here is going to be the network configuration. So, if you have multiple network adapters, be sure to choose the proper one. For the hostname, you just need something that doesn't resolve properly. So, you can do like PBS.home or whatever you hold at home. Home, unless you run a domain in your house. Other than that, we just have the IP info, and then the DNS info. So, I'm just going to use that as my gateway because that's how I have my DNS servers hit. Then we're going to click next. If everything looks good, you could just hit install and let it run through, and it's going to take a couple minutes to do the install. So, we'll be back when it's all done.
Okay, so over here, you just see that my install is running. If you happen to get an error saying that it can't create the partition or something else fails, unfortunately, I don't have any other way to resolve that other than redoing the install. So, you either might be able to reboot the VM and re-get back into the installer, or you might just need to wipe the VM and try again. If you boot to the VM, you probably could hit the BIOS and then from there be able to hit the boot media to reload into the installer. So, that might be your best bet if you do get an error at this point. Other than that, if you want, you can just rebuild it. The process is pretty quick, and it's not like you really did anything yet to it.
I'm going to let this finish installing, and then we'll be right back. Back. Okay, so you can see that my system is at 99% installed, and it should pop up with a message saying about how to access the portal in a minute. So, you can see over here it's going to tell me the IP. Don't worry, it's going to say this again, and the machine's going to reboot right now. So, after it goes through and reboots, it's going to tell us over here in the console how to access the web portal again. You see, right now, this is fine. It's just going to boot into Proxmox Backup Server. So, it's just going to be HTTPS colon, the IP of the machine, colon port 8007. It does show it right here in the command line, so it is helpful if you do need to log in via command line. The login is going to be root, and the password is going to be whatever you set the root password to in the installer.
So, at this point, we're just going to go over to the web portal and access our Proxmox Backup Server. So, over here, you're going to see you're going to get a security warning. That's fine, just because there's no certificate for the website or for the server at the moment. So, we're just going to click advance and accept. Now, we're going to type in root, and that root password that you set during the installer. You're going to get the subscription box. We're going to try to take care of that with the Proxmox helper scripts. But other than that, here we are in our web portal for the Proxmox Backup Server.
So, now we're just going to go over to Proxmox helper scripts, and we're going to start working with these. So, the first thing we're going to do is come over here and get the Proxmox helper scripts. So, they do have a backup server post-install. So, going to copy that out. We're going to come over to PBS, and then you can see over here we'll be able to get a shell. So, I don't think we can run it popped out, which is fine. So, I'm just going to come over here. I'm going to paste in the script, hit enter, and what this is going to do is help us clear up some of the initial install stuff. It's going to help change the repos, pretty much the same stuff we do on the VE environment. So, you can see over here it just tells you what you want to do. I'm just going to click yes because I do want to do it. We're going to disable the enterprise repo. We're going to enable the no-subscription one. I don't want to do the test environment, so that's fine. We're going to try to disable this nag box. And as you're saying to support the development team, we could do an update as well. So, we're just going to come over through there, and then we'll be back when this is all done.
Okay, and then after the script keeps running, it's going to get to a point where it's going to has to reboot the server. So, click yes to reboot it, and then we should be pretty much all set. So, you can see over here it's rebooting through. If I come back to my node, you can see that it is up. So, we're going to refresh this. It should come back up. It's probably just still in the process, which is fine. And now we can see that we're all set.
So, now if I come over to my dashboard, we can see that we have the backup server updates are checked off. The non-production ready is enabled. See, this is where Proxmox Backup Server is a little bit different. So, to come over here to the updates, it's under Administration. So, we can come to Repository, and you can see that no-subscription repository is not recommended, but that's what's enabled. And then there's no updates because we just did them all, which is fine. So, I'm just going to close that out.
So, now pretty much, we're all set to actually start working with our Proxmox Backup Server. However, the first thing I'm going to do is change it into dark mode, so that's a little bit better. So, now we can start working. So, the first thing we need to do is set up our storage. So, we can come over to disks, and you can see over here I have my the 200 gig drive that I added in. So, we're just going to wipe this really quick to make sure there's nothing on it. I mean, it's a fresh disk, so there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. So, we can just click done. I'm going to initialize it. So, this is just going to make it that we can work with it.
So, Proxmox Backup Server is a little different than Proxmox VE when it comes to making out the data store, which is where our backups are actually going to live. It's a little different than how we set up like an LVM or a ZFS or anything like that. So, you can set up a ZFS if you have the hardware for it. I didn't pass through enough hard drives to do something like that. So, we're going to make it into a directory. So, we already made our partition. I'm just going to initialize it one more time just to make sure I did, and yeah, we're all set.
So, I'm just going to come over to directory, we're going to click create directory. It's going to autofill it, and then we're going to call it backups. Oh, sorry. We need to put the file system, then we could put what we're going to call it, and then you have the option to make it into a data store already or no. I'm going to click yes, and just the options are ext4 or XFS. I just work with ext4, it makes it a little bit easier. We're going to click create. And now what this is going to do is it's going to make the directory for the state, the data, and it's also going to make the data store where our backups are going to live and how it's going to work. So, this takes about 30 seconds or so, and then we'll be right back, and then we can go over the rest of the steps.
So, it's going to pop up saying done, and then over here in directory, you can see it has the mount point, and then over here on the left, you can see it'll have your data store for whatever you you called it. So, this is the area that the backups will actually live in, and you can see it gives you some information on it. So, it tells you how many backups are running, the jobs, the verify jobs, the sync, gives you the usage, and it will also give you how long it will take until it's full. So, this is just empty because I have nothing going on currently.
But now we're pretty much all set to actually start using the Proxmox Backup Server. So, when it comes to linking it up, we can come back up to dashboard, and there's going to be the show fingerprint button. This is going to be how you're going to link it to your Proxmox VE server and how you can go across. So, I just copied it out, and I'm going to go back over to my lab, and we're going to go to Barine Tech because I don't have a backup server on this machine currently. So, we're just going to come into Data Center, we're going to click storage, we're going to click add, and in add, you can see it actually has Proxmox Backup Server.
So, we could just call the ID. However, one more thing we're going to do before we link the account is I'm going to make it a little bit easier, and we're going to make another user account for the backups to actually run off of. So, over here under configuration, there's access control, and in here you can see that there's the root account. What we're going to do is make a backups account. So, I'm just going to call it backup. And now it's going to have the realm, which is fine. We're going to set a password. We're going to set it to never expire, and we're going to go like that. So, I'm just going to click add.
So, now that we have our user account made, so what we're doing is we're going to make a backup account. So, the backup account is what's actually going to connect the VE to the backup server instead of using the root account. It might be a little confusing, but it just makes it a little bit easier when it comes to having the accounts to work properly when it comes to permissions. We're going to do user permissions, and we're going to select our user, and then we can come over here, and there is all the different, there's all the different ACLs we have. So, we can pretty much just select whichever one that we want. So, I might just do slash to give it everything. And then over here, you see they actually have the roles. So, in here, we can give it everything. So, I think I'm just going to give admin access, and we'll click add. Of course, you can cater this how you feel is best.
So, now if we come over to our backup server, you can see I'm in my data center. Sorry, if we come over to the VE server, so this is the actual Proxmox cluster. We come over to Data Center, storage, and now we can click to add it, and there's a Proxmox Backup Server option. So, ID, we're just going to put PBS. We're going to put the IP in, so you can put in whatever your IP is. I'm going to put in backups at PBS. I think that's what I made the user account. Yeah, okay. So, I only made mine back. So, let me just fix that. And then we're going to put in the password for that account. And then we're going to put in the data store. Now, the only thing I need to do is come back over to the dashboard, grab the fingerprint, and then we're going to connect that. And now over here, you can see PBS is connected, and over here it's propagating as another storage device. And if I do it over here, you see I have it over here as well. So, I have it run as a VM on the Mini Lab, but I can also use it on both servers as a backup server. Because it's clustered, that's how it's going to work.
But if we come over here, we can click okay. Nothing's really going to change over here at the moment, but the only thing we had set is the backups to actually run. So, we have over here our prune and our sync jobs, our verify. So, this is just stuff to clear out old backups. Sync, I'm not really sure what this does. I don't use this at my lab currently. But the verify jobs, I do. And this is you're going to have it go through your backups. It's actually going to verify they're valid. Other than that, there's really not much else to do in the backup server.
So, the only thing left to do is come back into your data center, and you're going to click on the backup tab. And over here, you can see I have some backups over here. But now you can come back in and you could select some other backups to run. So, what I'm going to do is select the storage for PBS, and then you could schedule it however you want to run. So, if you want to run on the first day of the month, the first Saturday of each month, the first day of the year, if you want to run, you know, every 30 minutes, every day, however you want to do it, you can set it like that. I usually do Sunday at 1:00 AM. And then you could do include the selected VM. So, now you can come over here and you can select which VMs that you want to back up. It'll also back up your LXC containers as well. So, you can just come through here and you can select which ones you want to do. One thing to keep in mind that if you select certain machines, it's going to use that much disk space for the backup. So, if you have a machine that has 500 gigs, it's most likely going to use most of that backup space when it does it. So, just be aware of that. You could have it send alerts if you want. I've never got this to work properly, so I never set this up fully.
Mode is how you're going to set the backups to run. So, I'm just going to click help over here to explain this better. So, out of all the backup modes, stop is the best because what it's going to do is it's going to shut down the VM and then it's going to get a full image of it. This is going to give you the best backup image. However, it's going to cause downtime. Suspend, as it says, is provided for compatibility. It just suspends the VM and then it pretty much takes a snapshot of it. And snapshot's going to cause the lowest downtime and it's going to probably have the highest chance of a bad backup happening because all it's doing is just taking a snapshot of the VM while it's running. So, I use stop just because I do it in the middle of the night, so it's not a big deal to me. If you're going to run your backups during the day or you have a full, like, full-time operation going on, snapshot might be a better option for you. So, you can just come back over here, and then we can set snapshot if you just want to do it like that.
Now, we can do the retention over here. So, now you can set it to keep a certain amount of backups. So, if you do dailies, monthlies, hours, weeklies, however you want to do it, or you just do, let's say, one. So, you could tell it to keep the last two, but keep the last one daily and one monthly. And then we can just set create. And then it'll run that task. And you can see over here it says, you know, it's going to store it to PBS, and the backup period. If you ever need to change this, you could just come over here and click edit. You could adjust it as needed, or if you need to remove it, you could do that over here. You also can click run now, and it would run it till you have an initial set of backups, and then you can go from there.
But that's how we set up Proxmox Backup Server as a VM and get it configured to start running to do some backups. So, that's Proxmox Backup Server as a VM on your Proxmox VE environment. Like I said, it's not my preferred way to run it, but it is something able to do if you don't have the extra hardware to set up another box to do your Proxmox Backup Server on. It definitely works. And if you have something like a NAS or maybe some other devices that you can copy over the data to, it's a really good option. Or maybe if you just have it like a share that you could do it to, really good option as well.
I mentioned this a lot in the last video for the clustering, having backups of all your images and all your machines. So, Proxmox Backup Server, I find is the easiest way to do it. It just manages everything nicely in one box and just keeps it running nicely. So, I use Proxmox Backup Server. I've been using it for about a year now, and it comes in super handy when you're working on machines and you have backups of stuff you're doing. So, if you're making changes that you think might break the machine, you could take the backup before, and if the changes do break the machine, you could just reset it, go right back to the old version of it that worked. It's a super easy process, and it just pretty much just deploys it right back. Proxmox Backup Server has saved me numerous times when it came to getting schoolwork done because I kept breaking my Kali box and I needed it to work. So, I was able to just reset it back to the previous version that worked. I was able to get my schoolwork done.
But that's all. That's Proxmox Backup Server in a nutshell, and that's how to set it up in a VM on Proxmox. I hope you guys enjoy this video. As always, I'll have links below to all the gear I use in my home lab, link to the Discord server, and again, I want to thank you all for watching. I will see you in the next video.