+----
+# --- BEGIN PVE ---
+<data>
+# --- END PVE ---
+----
+
+Those markers will be inserted at a reasonable location in the file. If such a
+section already exists, it will be updated in place and will not be moved.
+
+Modification of a file can be prevented by adding a `.pve-ignore.` file for it.
+For instance, if the file `/etc/.pve-ignore.hosts` exists then the `/etc/hosts`
+file will not be touched. This can be a simple empty file created via:
+
+----
+# touch /etc/.pve-ignore.hosts
+----
+
+Most modifications are OS dependent, so they differ between different
+distributions and versions. You can completely disable modifications by
+manually setting the `ostype` to `unmanaged`.
+
+OS type detection is done by testing for certain files inside the
+container. {pve} first checks the `/etc/os-release` file
+footnote:[/etc/os-release replaces the multitude of per-distribution
+release files https://manpages.debian.org/stable/systemd/os-release.5.en.html].
+If that file is not present, or it does not contain a clearly recognizable
+distribution identifier the following distribution specific release files are
+checked.
+
+Ubuntu:: inspect /etc/lsb-release (`DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu`)
+
+Debian:: test /etc/debian_version
+
+Fedora:: test /etc/fedora-release
+
+RedHat or CentOS:: test /etc/redhat-release
+
+ArchLinux:: test /etc/arch-release
+
+Alpine:: test /etc/alpine-release
+
+Gentoo:: test /etc/gentoo-release
+
+NOTE: Container start fails if the configured `ostype` differs from the auto
+detected type.
+
+
+Backup and Restore
+------------------
+
+
+Container Backup
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+It is possible to use the `vzdump` tool for container backup. Please refer to
+the `vzdump` manual page for details.
+
+
+Restoring Container Backups
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Restoring container backups made with `vzdump` is possible using the `pct
+restore` command. By default, `pct restore` will attempt to restore as much of
+the backed up container configuration as possible. It is possible to override
+the backed up configuration by manually setting container options on the
+command line (see the `pct` manual page for details).
+
+NOTE: `pvesm extractconfig` can be used to view the backed up configuration
+contained in a vzdump archive.
+
+There are two basic restore modes, only differing by their handling of mount
+points:
+
+
+``Simple'' Restore Mode
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+If neither the `rootfs` parameter nor any of the optional `mpX` parameters are
+explicitly set, the mount point configuration from the backed up configuration
+file is restored using the following steps:
+
+. Extract mount points and their options from backup
+. Create volumes for storage backed mount points (on storage provided with the
+ `storage` parameter, or default local storage if unset)
+. Extract files from backup archive
+. Add bind and device mount points to restored configuration (limited to root
+ user)
+
+NOTE: Since bind and device mount points are never backed up, no files are
+restored in the last step, but only the configuration options. The assumption
+is that such mount points are either backed up with another mechanism (e.g.,
+NFS space that is bind mounted into many containers), or not intended to be
+backed up at all.
+
+This simple mode is also used by the container restore operations in the web
+interface.
+
+
+``Advanced'' Restore Mode
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+By setting the `rootfs` parameter (and optionally, any combination of `mpX`
+parameters), the `pct restore` command is automatically switched into an
+advanced mode. This advanced mode completely ignores the `rootfs` and `mpX`
+configuration options contained in the backup archive, and instead only uses
+the options explicitly provided as parameters.
+
+This mode allows flexible configuration of mount point settings at restore
+time, for example:
+
+* Set target storages, volume sizes and other options for each mount point
+ individually
+* Redistribute backed up files according to new mount point scheme
+* Restore to device and/or bind mount points (limited to root user)
+
+
+Managing Containers with `pct`