The administration guide.
+.. todo:: either add a bit more explanation or remove the previous sentence
Terminology
-----------
When doing deduplication, there are different strategies to get
optimal results in terms of performance and/or deduplication rates.
-Depending on the type of data, one can split data into fixed or variable
+Depending on the type of data, one can split data into *fixed* or *variable*
sized chunks.
Fixed sized chunking needs almost no CPU performance, and is used to
Variable sized chunking needs more CPU power, but is essential to get
good deduplication rates for file archives.
-Therefore, the backup server supports both strategies.
+The backup server supports both strategies.
File Archives: ``<name>.pxar``
.. see https://moinakg.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/high-performance-content-defined-chunking/
-A file archive stores a whole directory tree. Content is stored using
+A file archive stores a full directory tree. Content is stored using
the :ref:`pxar-format`, split into variable sized chunks. The format
-is specially optimized to achieve good deduplication rates.
+is optimized to achieve good deduplication rates.
Image Archives: ``<name>.img``
Binary Data (BLOBs)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-This type is used to store smaller (< 16MB) binaries like
-configuration data. Larger files should be stored as image archive.
+This type is used to store smaller (< 16MB) binary data such as
+configuration files. Larger files should be stored as image archive.
.. caution:: Please do not store all files as BLOBs. Instead, use the
file archive to store whole directory trees.
Catalog File: ``catalog.pcat1``
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-The catalog file is basically an index for file archive. It contains
-the list of files, and is used to speedup search operations.
+The catalog file is an index for file archives. It contains
+the list of files and is used to speed-up search operations.
The Manifest: ``index.json``
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-The manifest contains the list of all backup files, including
-file sizes and checksums. It is used to verify the consistency of a
+The manifest contains the list of all backup files, their
+sizes and checksums. It is used to verify the consistency of a
backup.
``vm``
This type is used for :term:`virtual machine`\ s. Typically
- contains the virtual machine configuration and an image archive
+ contains the virtual machine's configuration and an image archive
for each disk.
``ct``
- This type is used for :term:`container`\ s. Contains the container
+ This type is used for :term:`container`\ s. Contains the container's
configuration and a single file archive for the container content.
``host``
- This type is used for physical host, or if you want to run backups
- manually from inside virtual machines or containers. Such backups
- may contain file and image archives (no restrictions here).
+ This type is used for backups created from within the backed up machine.
+ Typically this would be a physical host but could also be a virtual machine
+ or container. Such backups may contain file and image archives, there are no restrictions in this regard.
Backup ID
Backup Group
~~~~~~~~~~~~
-We call the tuple ``<type>/<ID>`` a backup group. Such group
-may contains one or more backup snapshots.
+The tuple ``<type>/<ID>`` is called a backup group. Such a group
+may contain one or more backup snapshots.
Backup Snapshot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-We call the triplet ``<type>/<ID>/<time>`` a backup snapshot. It
+The triplet ``<type>/<ID>/<time>`` is called a backup snapshot. It
uniquely identifies a specific backup within a datastore.
.. code-block:: console
vm/104/2019-10-09T08:01:06Z
host/elsa/2019-11-08T09:48:14Z
-As you can see, the time is formatted as RFC3399_ using Coordinated
+As you can see, the time format is RFC3399_ with Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC_, identified by the trailing *Z*).
:term:`DataStore`
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-A datastore is a place to store backups. The current implementation
+A datastore is a place where backups are stored. The current implementation
uses a directory inside a standard unix file system (``ext4``, ``xfs``
-or ``zfs``) to store backup data.
+or ``zfs``) to store the backup data.
-Datastores are identified by a simple *ID*. You can configure that
+Datastores are identified by a simple *ID*. You can configure it
when setting up the backup server.
Backup Server Management
------------------------
-The command line tool to configure and manage the server is called
+The command line tool to configure and manage the backup server is called
:command:`proxmox-backup-manager`.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A :term:`datastore` is a place to store backups. You can configure
-several datastores, but you need at least one of them. The datastore is identified by a simple `name` and point to a directory.
+multiple datastores. At least one datastore needs to be configured. The datastore is identified by a simple `name` and points to a directory.
The following command creates a new datastore called ``store1`` on :file:`/backup/disk1/store1`
# proxmox-backup-manager datastore create store1 /backup/disk1/store1
-To list existing datastores use:
+To list existing datastores run:
.. code-block:: console
# proxmox-backup-manager datastore list
store1 /backup/disk1/store1
-Finally, it is also possible to remove the datastore configuration:
+Finally, it is possible to remove the datastore configuration:
.. code-block:: console
# proxmox-backup-manager datastore remove store1
-.. note:: Above command removes the datastore configuration. It does
+.. note:: The above command removes only the datastore configuration. It does
not delete any data from the underlying directory.
Respository Locations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-The client uses a special repository notation to specify a datastore
+The client uses the following notation to specify a datastore repository
on the backup server.
[[username@]server:]datastore
-If you do not specify a ``username`` the default is ``root@pam``. The
-default for server is to use the local host (``localhost``).
+The default value for ``username`` ist ``root``. If no server is specified, the
+default is the local host (``localhost``).
-You can pass the repository by setting the ``--repository`` command
-line options, or by setting the ``PBS_REPOSITORY`` environment
+You can pass the repository with the ``--repository`` command
+line option, or by setting the ``PBS_REPOSITORY`` environment
variable.
Output Format
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Most commands support the ``--output-format`` parameter, which can be
-set to the following values:
+Most commands support the ``--output-format`` parameter. It accepts
+the following values:
:``text``: Text format (default). Structured data is rendered as a table.
``PROXMOX_OUTPUT_NO_HEADER``
If set (to any value), do not render table headers.
-.. note:: The ``text`` format is designed to be human readable, but
+.. note:: The ``text`` format is designed to be human readable, and
not meant to be parsed by automation tools. Please use the ``json``
- format for such purpose because it is machine readable.
+ format if you need to process the output.
.. _creating-backups:
Creating Backups
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-This section explains how to create backup on physical host, or from
-inside virtual machines or containers. Such backups may contain file
-and image archives (no restrictions here).
+This section explains how to create a backup from within the machine. This can
+be a physical host, a virtual machine, or a container. Such backups may contain file
+and image archives. There are no restrictions in this case.
-.. note:: If you want to backup virtual machines or containers see :ref:`pve-integration`.
+.. note:: If you want to backup virtual machines or containers on Proxmov VE, see :ref:`pve-integration`.
-The prerequisite is that you have already set up (or can access) a
-backup server. It is assumed that you know the repository name and
-credentials. In the following examples we simply use ``backup-server:store1``.
+For the following example you need to have a backup server set up, working
+credentials and need to know the repository name.
+In the following examples we use ``backup-server:store1``.
.. code-block:: console
This will prompt you for a password and then uploads a file archive named
``root.pxar`` containing all the files in the ``/`` directory.
-.. Caution:: Please note that proxmox-backup-client does not
+.. Caution:: Please note that the proxmox-backup-client does not
automatically include mount points. Instead, you will see a short
- ``skip mount point`` notice for each of them. The idea is that you
- create a separate file archive for each mounted disk. You can also
+ ``skip mount point`` notice for each of them. The idea is to
+ create a separate file archive for each mounted disk. You can
explicitly include them using the ``--include-dev`` option
(i.e. ``--include-dev /boot/efi``). You can use this option
- multiple times, once for each mount point you want to include.
+ multiple times for each mount point that should be included.
-The ``--repository`` option is sometimes quite long and is used by all
+The ``--repository`` option can get quite long and is used by all
commands. You can avoid having to enter this value by setting the
environment variable ``PBS_REPOSITORY``.
# export PBS_REPOSTORY=backup-server:store1
-You can then execute all commands without specifying the ``--repository``
+After this you can execute all commands without specifying the ``--repository``
option.
-One single backup is allowed to contain more than one archive. For example, assume you want to backup two disks mounted at ``/mmt/disk1`` and ``/mnt/disk2``:
+One single backup is allowed to contain more than one archive. For example, if
+you want to backup two disks mounted at ``/mmt/disk1`` and ``/mnt/disk2``:
.. code-block:: console
# proxmox-backup-client backup disk1.pxar:/mnt/disk1 disk2.pxar:/mnt/disk2
-This create a backup of both disks.
+This creates a backup of both disks.
The backup command takes a list of backup specifications, which
-include archive name on the server, the type of the archive, and the
-archive source at the client. The format is quite simple to understand:
+include the archive name on the server, the type of the archive, and the
+archive source at the client. The format is:
<archive-name>.<type>:<source-path>
Common types are ``.pxar`` for file archives, and ``.img`` for block
-device images. Thus it is quite easy to create a backup for a block
-device:
+device images. To create a backup of a block device run the following command:
.. code-block:: console
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sometimes it is desired to exclude certain files or folders from a backup archive.
-Using the proxmox backup client this is possible via simple text based
-``.pxarexclude`` files placed in the filesystem hierarchy.
-
-Whenever such a file is encountered in a directory, the backup client reads its
-content and lines are interpreted as glob match patterns for files/directories
-to exclude from the archive.
-The file must contain a single glob pattern on each line. Empty lines are ignored.
-The same is true for lines starting with ``#``, indicating a line containing comments.
-Lines starting with ``!`` correspond to glob match patterns for explicit inclusion
-of files previously excluded by a match. This allows for example to exclude
-all entries in a directory except for a few single files.
-Lines ending in ``/`` match directory entries only.
-The folder containing the ``.pxarexclude`` file is considered to be the root of
-the given patterns. It is only possible to match files in this or below this folder.
-
-``\`` is used to escape glob characters. ``?`` matches any single character,
-``*`` matches any character including the empty string.
-``**`` is used to match also subdirectories and can be used to exclude for example
-all files ending in ``.tmp`` within the directory or a subdirectory by the
+To tell the Proxmox backup client when and how to ignore files and directories,
+place a text file called ``.pxarexclude`` in the filesystem hierarchy.
+Whenever the backup client encounters such a file in a directory, it interprets
+each line as glob match patterns for files and directories that are to be excluded
+from the backup.
+
+The file must contain a single glob pattern per line. Empty lines are ignored.
+The same is true for lines starting with ``#``, which indicates a comment.
+A ``!`` at the beginning of a line reverses the glob match pattern from an exclusion
+to an explicit inclusion. This makes it possible to exclude all entries in a
+directory except for a few single files/subdirectories.
+Lines ending in ``/`` match only on directories.
+The directory containing the ``.pxarexclude`` file is considered to be the root of
+the given patterns. It is only possible to match files in this directory and its subdirectories.
+
+``\`` is used to escape special glob characters.
+``?`` matches any single character.
+``*`` matches any character, including an empty string.
+``**`` is used to match subdirectories. It can be used to, for example, exclude
+all files ending in ``.tmp`` within the directory or subdirectories with the
following pattern ``**/*.tmp``.
``[...]`` matches a single character from any of the provided characters within
the brackets. ``[!...]`` does the complementary and matches any singe character
-not contained within the brackets. It is also possible to specify ranges by two
-characters separated by ``-``. For example ``[a-z]`` matches any lowercase
-alphabetic character, ``[0-9]`` matches any one single digit.
+not contained within the brackets. It is also possible to specify ranges with two
+characters separated by ``-``. For example, ``[a-z]`` matches any lowercase
+alphabetic character and ``[0-9]`` matches any one single digit.
-The order of the glob match patterns defines if the file is finally included or
+The order of the glob match patterns defines if a file is included or
excluded, later entries win over previous ones.
This is also true for match patterns encountered deeper down the directory tree,
-which may then override a previous exclusion.
-Note however that folders marked for exclusion are not read by the client,
-so ``.pxarexclude`` files contained within have no effect.
-``.pxarexclude`` files are treated as regular files and are also included in the
+which can override a previous exclusion.
+Be aware that excluded directories will **not** be read by the backup client.
+A ``.pxarexclude`` file in a subdirectory will have no effect.
+``.pxarexclude`` files are treated as regular files and will be included in the
backup archive.
-For example, consider the following folder structure:
+For example, consider the following directory structure:
.. code-block:: console
folder/subfolder1:
. .. file0 file1 file2 file3
-The ``.pxarexclude`` files containing the following:
+The different ``.pxarexclude`` files contain the following:
.. code-block:: console
This would exclude ``file1`` and ``file3`` in ``subfolder0`` and all of
``subfolder1`` except ``file2``.
-Restoring this archive form backup results in:
+Restoring this backup will result in:
.. code-block:: console
Encryption
^^^^^^^^^^
-Proxmox backup support client side encryption using AES-256 in GCM_
-mode. You first need to create an encryption key in order to use that:
+Proxmox backup supports client side encryption with AES-256 in GCM_
+mode. First you need to create an encryption key:
.. code-block:: console
.. code-block:: console
- # proxmox-backup-client key create /path/to/my-backup.key --kdf none
+ # proxmox-backup-client key create /path/to/my-backup.key --kdf none
.. code-block:: console
...
-You can avoid having to enter the passwords by setting the environment
+You can avoid entering the passwords by setting the environment
variables ``PBS_PASSWORD`` and ``PBS_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD``.
.. todo:: Explain master-key
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The regular creation of backups is a necessary step to avoid data
-loss. More important, however, is the restoration. Be sure to perform
-periodic recovery tests to ensure that you can access your data in
+loss. More important, however, is the restoration. It is good practice to perform
+periodic recovery tests to ensure that you can access the data in
case of problems.
-First, you need to find the snapshot you want to restore. The snapshot
-command gives you a list of all snapshots on the server:
+First, you need to find the snapshot which you want to restore. The snapshot
+command gives a list of all snapshots on the server:
.. code-block:: console
host/elsa/2019-12-03T09:35:01Z | 51790622048 | root.pxar catalog.pcat1 index.json
...
-You can also inspect the catalog to find specific files.
+You can inspect the catalog to find specific files.
.. code-block:: console
# proxmox-backup-client restore host/elsa/2019-12-03T09:35:01Z root.pxar /target/path/
-You can instead simply download the contents of any archive using '-'
-instead of ``/target/path``. This dumps the content to standard
-output:
+To get the contents of any archive you can restore the ``ìndex.json`` file in the
+repository and restore it to '-'. This will dump the content to the standard output.
.. code-block:: console
...
The interactive recovery shell is a minimalistic command line interface that
-utilizes the metadata stored in the catalog for you to quickly list, navigate and
-search files contained within a file archive.
-You can select individual files as well as select files matched by a glob pattern
-for restore.
-
-The use of the catalog for navigation reduces the overhead otherwise caused by
-network traffic and decryption, as instead of downloading and decrypting
-individual encrypted chunks from the chunk-store to access the metadata, we only
-need to download and decrypt the catalog.
+utilizes the metadata stored in the catalog to quickly list, navigate and
+search files in a file archive.
+To restore files, you can select them individually or match them with a glob
+pattern.
+
+Using the catalog for navigation reduces the overhead considerably because only
+the catalog needs to be downloaded and, optionally, decrypted.
The actual chunks are only accessed if the metadata in the catalog is not enough
or for the actual restore.
Similar to common UNIX shells ``cd`` and ``ls`` are the commands used to change
-working directory and list directory contents of the archive.
+working directory and list directory contents in the archive.
``pwd`` shows the full path of the current working directory with respect to the
archive root.
load on your host, depending on the operations you perform on the mounted
filesystem.
-To unmount the filesystem simply use the ``umount`` command on the mountpoint:
+To unmount the filesystem use the ``umount`` command on the mountpoint:
.. code-block:: console
The client tool prompts you to enter the logon password as soon as you
want to access the backup server. The server checks your credentials
and responds with a ticket that is valid for two hours. The client
-tool automatically stores that ticket and use it for further requests
+tool automatically stores that ticket and uses it for further requests
to this server.
You can also manually trigger this login/logout using the login and
# proxmox-backup-client login
Password: **********
-To remove the ticket, simply issue a logout:
+To remove the ticket, issue a logout:
.. code-block:: console
# proxmox-backup-client forget <snapshot>
-.. caution:: This command removes all the archives in this backup
- snapshot so that they are inaccessible and unrecoverable.
+.. caution:: This command removes all archives in this backup
+ snapshot. They will be inaccessible and unrecoverable.
-Such manual removal is sometimes required, but normally the prune
+The manual removal is sometimes required, but normally the prune
command is used to systematically delete older backups. Prune lets
-you specify which backup snapshots you want to keep. There are the
-following retention options:
+you specify which backup snapshots you want to keep. The
+following retention options are available:
``--keep-last <N>``
Keep the last ``<N>`` backup snapshots.
``--keep-hourly <N>``
- Keep backups for the last ``<N>`` different hours. If there is more than one
- backup for a single hour, only the latest one is kept.
+ Keep backups for the last ``<N>`` hours. If there is more than one
+ backup for a single hour, only the latest is kept.
``--keep-daily <N>``
- Keep backups for the last ``<N>`` different days. If there is more than one
- backup for a single day, only the latest one is kept.
+ Keep backups for the last ``<N>`` days. If there is more than one
+ backup for a single day, only the latest is kept.
``--keep-weekly <N>``
- Keep backups for the last ``<N>`` different weeks. If there is more than one
- backup for a single week, only the latest one is kept.
+ Keep backups for the last ``<N>`` weeks. If there is more than one
+ backup for a single week, only the latest is kept.
- .. note:: The weeks start on Monday and end on Sunday. The software
- uses the `ISO week date`_ system and correctly handles weeks at
- the end of the year.
+ .. note:: Weeks start on Monday and end on Sunday. The software
+ uses the `ISO week date`_ system and handles weeks at
+ the end of the year correctly.
``--keep-monthly <N>``
- Keep backups for the last ``<N>`` different months. If there is more than one
- backup for a single month, only the latest one is kept.
+ Keep backups for the last ``<N>`` months. If there is more than one
+ backup for a single month, only the latest is kept.
``--keep-yearly <N>``
- Keep backups for the last ``<N>`` different years. If there is more than one
- backup for a single year, only the latest one is kept.
+ Keep backups for the last ``<N>`` years. If there is more than one
+ backup for a single year, only the latest is kept.
+
+The retention options are processed in the order given above. Each option
+only covers backups within its time period. The next option does not take care
+of already covered backups. It will only consider older backups.
+For example, the ``--keep-monthly`` option does not consider any backup that is
+younger than one month.
-Those retention options are processed in the order given above. Each
-option covers a specific period of time. We say that backups within
-this period are covered by this option. The next option does not take
-care of already covered backups and only considers older backups.
+.. todo:: check if the previous statement is correct
-The prune command also looks for unfinished and incomplete backups and
-removes them unless they are newer than the last successful backup. In
-this case, the last failed backup is retained.
+Unfinished and incomplete backups will be removed by the prune command unless
+they are newer than the last successful backup. In this case, the last failed
+backup is retained.
.. code-block:: console
# proxmox-backup-client prune <group> --keep-daily 7 --keep-weekly 4 --keep-monthly 3
-You can use the ``--dry-run`` option to test your settings. This just
-shows the list of existing snapshots and what action prune would take
-on that.
+You can use the ``--dry-run`` option to test your settings. This only
+shows the list of existing snapshots and which action prune would take.
.. code-block:: console
.. note:: Neither the ``prune`` command nor the ``forget`` command free space
- in the chunk-store. The chunk-store still contains the data blocks
- unless you are performing :ref:`garbage-collection`.
+ in the chunk-store. The chunk-store still contains the data blocks. To free
+ space you need to perform :ref:`garbage-collection`.
.. _garbage-collection:
The ``prune`` command removes only the backup index files, not the data
from the data store. This task is left to the garbage collection
-command. It is therefore recommended to carry out garbage collection
-regularly.
+command. It is recommended to carry out garbage collection on a regular basis.
The garbage collection works in two phases. In the first phase, all
data blocks that are still in use are marked. In the second phase,
Installation
============
-`Proxmox Backup`_ is split into a server part and a client part. The
-server part comes with it's own graphical installer, but we also
-ship Debian_ package repositories, so you can easily install those
-packages on any Debian_ based system.
+`Proxmox Backup`_ is split into a server and client part. The server part
+can either be installed with a graphical installer or on top of
+Debian_ from the provided package repository.
.. include:: package-repositories.rst
-
Server installation
-------------------
-The backup server stores the actual backup data, but also provides a
-web based GUI for various management tasks, for example disk
-management.
+The backup server stores the actual backed up data and provides a web based GUI
+for various management tasks such as disk management.
.. note:: You always need a backup server. It is not possible to use
`Proxmox Backup`_ without the server part.
-The server is based on Debian, therefore the disk image (ISO file) provided
-by us includes a complete Debian system ("buster" for version 1.x) as
-well as all necessary backup packages.
+The disk image (ISO file) provided by Proxmox includes a complete Debian system
+("buster" for version 1.x) as well as all necessary packages for the `Proxmox Backup`_ server.
-Using the installer will guide you through the setup, allowing
+The installer will guide you through the setup process and allows
you to partition the local disk(s), apply basic system configurations
-(e.g. timezone, language, network) and install all required packages.
-Using the provided ISO will get you started in just a few minutes,
-that's why we recommend this method for new and existing users.
+(e.g. timezone, language, network), and installs all required packages.
+The provided ISO will get you started in just a few minutes, and is the
+recommended method for new and existing users.
Alternatively, `Proxmox Backup`_ server can be installed on top of an
existing Debian system.
-Using the `Proxmox Backup`_ Installer
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Install `Proxmox Backup`_ with the Installer
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-You can download the ISO from |DOWNLOADS|.
+Download the ISO from |DOWNLOADS|.
It includes the following:
-* Complete operating system (Debian Linux, 64-bit)
-
* The `Proxmox Backup`_ server installer, which partitions the local
- disk(s) with ext4, ext3, xfs or ZFS and installs the operating
+ disk(s) with ext4, ext3, xfs or ZFS, and installs the operating
system.
+* Complete operating system (Debian Linux, 64-bit)
+
* Our Linux kernel with ZFS support.
-* Complete toolset for administering backups and all necessary
- resources
+* Complete tool-set to administer backups and all necessary resources
-* Web based management interface for using the toolset
+* Web based GUI management interface
.. note:: During the installation process, the complete server
is used by default and all existing data is removed.
Install `Proxmox Backup`_ server on Debian
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Proxmox ships as a set of Debian packages, so you can install it on
-top of a standard Debian installation. After configuring the
+Proxmox ships as a set of Debian packages which can be installed on top of a
+standard Debian installation. After configuring the
:ref:`sysadmin_package_repositories`, you need to run:
.. code-block:: console
# apt-get update
# apt-get install proxmox-backup-server
-Above code keeps the current (Debian) kernel and installs a minimal
+The commands above keep the current (Debian) kernel and install a minimal
set of required packages.
If you want to install the same set of packages as the installer
# apt-get update
# apt-get install proxmox-backup
-This installs all required packages, the Proxmox kernel with ZFS_
-support, and a set of commonly useful packages.
+This will install all required packages, the Proxmox kernel with ZFS_
+support, and a set of common and useful packages.
+
+Installing `Proxmox Backup`_ on top of an existing Debian_ installation looks easy, but
+it presumes that the base system and local storage has been set up correctly.
-Installing on top of an existing Debian_ installation looks easy, but
-it presumes that you have correctly installed the base system, and you
-know how you want to configure and use the local storage. Network
-configuration is also completely up to you.
+In general this is not trivial, especially when LVM_ or ZFS_ is used.
-In general, this is not trivial, especially when you use LVM_ or
-ZFS_.
+The network configuration is completely up to you as well.
Install Proxmox Backup server on `Proxmox VE`_
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# apt-get install proxmox-backup-server
.. caution:: Installing the backup server directly on the hypervisor
- is not recommended. It is more secure to use a separate physical
- server to store backups. If the hypervisor server fails, you can
- still access your backups.
+ is not recommended. It is safer to use a separate physical
+ server to store backups. Should the hypervisor server fail, you can
+ still access the backups.
Client installation
-------------------
Install `Proxmox Backup`_ client on Debian
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Proxmox ships as a set of Debian packages, so you can install it on
-top of a standard Debian installation. After configuring the
+Proxmox ships as a set of Debian packages to be installed on
+top of a standard Debian installation. After configuring the
:ref:`sysadmin_package_repositories`, you need to run:
.. code-block:: console
Introduction
============
-This documentationm is written in :term:`reStructuredText` and formatted with :term:`Sphinx`.
+This documentation is written in :term:`reStructuredText` and formatted with :term:`Sphinx`.
What is Proxmox Backup
----------------------
Proxmox Backup is an enterprise class client-server backup software,
-specially optimized for `Proxmox Virtual Environment`_ to backup
+specially optimized for the `Proxmox Virtual Environment`_ to backup
:term:`virtual machine`\ s and :term:`container`\ s. It is also
possible to backup physical hosts.
------------
Proxmox Backup uses a `Client-server model`_. The server is
-responsible to store the backup data, and provides an API to create
-backups and restore data. It is also possible to manage disks and
+responsible to store the backup data and provides an API to create
+backups and restore data. It is possible to manage disks and
other server side resources using this API.
A backup client uses this API to access the backed up data,
i.e. ``proxmox-backup-client`` is a command line tool to create
-backups and restore data. We also deliver an integrated client for
+backups and restore data. We deliver an integrated client for
QEMU_ with `Proxmox Virtual Environment`_.
A single backup is allowed to contain several archives. For example,
when you backup a :term:`virtual machine`, each disk is stored as a
separate archive inside that backup. The VM configuration also gets an
extra file. This way, it is easy to access and restore important parts
-of the backup, without having to scan the whole backup.
+of the backup without having to scan the whole backup.
-Main features
+Main Features
-------------
:Proxmox VE: The `Proxmox Virtual Environment`_ is fully
:GUI: We provide a graphical, web based user interface.
-:Deduplication: Incremental backup produces large amounts of duplicate
+:Deduplication: Incremental backups produce large amounts of duplicate
data. The deduplication layer removes that redundancy and makes
- inkremental backup small and space efficient.
+ incremental backups small and space efficient.
:Data Integrity: The built in `SHA-256`_ checksum algorithm assures the
accuracy and consistency of your backups.
-:Remote Sync: It is possible to efficently synchronize data to remote
- sites. Only deltas containing new data are transfered.
+:Remote Sync: It is possible to efficiently synchronize data to remote
+ sites. Only deltas containing new data are transferred.
:Performance: The whole software stack is written in :term:`Rust`,
- which provides high speed and memory efficiency.
+ to provide high speed and memory efficiency.
:Compression: Ultra fast Zstandard_ compression is able to compress
several gigabytes of data per second.
-:Encryption: Backups can be encrypted at client side using AES-256 in
+:Encryption: Backups can be encrypted client-side using AES-256 in
GCM_ mode. This authenticated encryption mode (AE_) provides very
high performance on modern hardware.
-:Open Source: No secrets. You have access to the whole source tree.
+:Open Source: No secrets. You have access to all the source code.
-:Support: Commercial support options available from `Proxmox`_.
+:Support: Commercial support options are available from `Proxmox`_.
Why Backup?
-----------
-The primary purpose of backup is to protect against data loss. Data
-loss can happen because of faulty hardware, but also by human errors.
+The primary purpose of a backup is to protect against data loss. Data
+loss can be caused by faulty hardware, but also by human error.
A common mistake is to delete a file or folder which is still
-required. Virtualization can amplify this problem, because it is now
-easy to delete a whole virtual machine by a single button press.
+required. Virtualization can amplify this problem. It is now
+easy to delete a whole virtual machine by pressing a single button.
-Backups can also serve as a toolkit for administrators to temporarily
+Backups can serve as a toolkit for administrators to temporarily
store data. For example, it is common practice to perform full backups
before installing major software updates. If something goes wrong, you
-can just restore the previous state.
+can restore the previous state.
Another reason for backups are legal requirements. Some data must be
-kept in a safe place for several years so that you can access it if
-required by law.
+kept in a safe place for several years by law, so that it can be accessed if
+required.
Data loss can be very costly as it can severely restrict your
-business. Therefore, make sure that you regularly perform a backup
+business. Therefore, make sure that you perform a backup regularly
and run restore tests.
projects / proxmox-backup.git / commitdiff