Introduction
============
-What is Proxmox Backup Server
------------------------------
-
-Proxmox Backup Server is an enterprise-class client-server backup software that
-backups :term:`virtual machine`\ s, :term:`container`\ s, and physical hosts.
-It is specially optimized for the `Proxmox Virtual Environment`_ platform and
-allows you to backup your data securely, even between remote sites, providing
-easy management with a web-based user interface.
-
-Proxmox Backup Server supports deduplication, compression, and authenticated
-encryption (AE_). Using :term:`Rust` as implementation language guarantees high
-performance, low resource usage, and a safe, high quality code base.
-
-It features strong encryption done on the client side. Thus, it's possible to
-backup data to not fully trusted targets.
-
+What is Proxmox Backup Server?
+------------------------------
+
+`Proxmox Backup`_ Server is an enterprise-class, client-server backup solution
+that is capable of backing up :term:`virtual machine<Virtual machine>`\ s,
+:term:`container<Container>`\ s, and physical hosts. It is specially optimized
+for the `Proxmox Virtual Environment`_ platform and allows you to back up your
+data securely, even between remote sites, providing easy management through a
+web-based user interface.
+
+It supports deduplication, compression, and authenticated
+encryption (AE_). Using :term:`Rust` as the implementation language guarantees
+high performance, low resource usage, and a safe, high-quality codebase.
+
+Proxmox Backup uses state of the art cryptography for both client-server
+communication and backup content :ref:`encryption <client_encryption>`. All
+client-server communication uses `TLS
+<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security>`_, and backup data can
+be encrypted on the client-side before sending, making it safer to back up data
+to targets that are not fully trusted.
Architecture
------------
Proxmox Backup Server uses a `client-server model`_. The server stores the
-backup data and provides an API to create backups and restore data. With the
-API it's also possible to manage disks and other server side resources.
+backup data and provides an API to create and manage datastores. With the
+API, it's also possible to manage disks and other server-side resources.
-The backup client uses this API to access the backed up data. With the command
-line tool ``proxmox-backup-client`` you can create backups and restore data.
-For QEMU_ with `Proxmox Virtual Environment`_ we deliver an integrated client.
+The backup client uses this API to access the backed up data. You can use the
+``proxmox-backup-client`` command-line tool to create and restore file backups.
+For QEMU_ and LXC_ within `Proxmox Virtual Environment`_, we deliver an
+integrated client.
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 itself is stored as an extra file.
-This way, it is easy to access and restore only important parts of the backup
-without the need to scan the whole backup.
+backup a :term:`virtual machine<Virtual machine>`, each disk is stored as a
+separate archive inside that backup. The VM configuration itself is stored as
+an extra file. This way, it's easy to access and restore only the important
+parts of the backup, without the need to scan the whole backup.
Main Features
-------------
-:Support for Proxmox VE: The `Proxmox Virtual Environment`_ is fully
- supported and you can easily backup :term:`virtual machine`\ s and
- :term:`container`\ s.
+:Support for Proxmox VE: The `Proxmox Virtual Environment`_ is fully supported,
+ and you can easily backup :term:`virtual machine<Virtual machine>`\ s and
+ :term:`container<Container>`\ s.
:Performance: The whole software stack is written in :term:`Rust`,
- to provide high speed and memory efficiency.
+ in order to provide high speed and memory efficiency.
:Deduplication: Periodic backups produce large amounts of duplicate
- data. The deduplication layer avoids redundancy and minimizes the used
- storage space.
+ data. The deduplication layer avoids redundancy and minimizes the storage
+ space used.
:Incremental backups: Changes between backups are typically low. Reading and
- sending only the delta reduces storage and network impact of backups.
+ sending only the delta reduces the storage and network impact of backups.
-:Data Integrity: The built-in `SHA-256`_ checksum algorithm assures the
- accuracy and consistency of your backups.
+:Data integrity: The built-in `SHA-256`_ checksum algorithm ensures accuracy
+ and consistency in your backups.
-:Remote Sync: It is possible to efficiently synchronize data to remote
+:Remote sync: It is possible to efficiently synchronize data to remote
sites. Only deltas containing new data are transferred.
-:Compression: The ultra fast Zstandard_ compression is able to compress
+:Compression: The ultra-fast Zstandard_ compression is able to compress
several gigabytes of data per second.
-:Encryption: Backups can be encrypted on the client-side using AES-256 in
- Galois/Counter Mode (GCM_) mode. This authenticated encryption (AE_) mde
- provides very high performance on modern hardware.
+:Encryption: Backups can be encrypted on the client-side, using AES-256 GCM_.
+ This authenticated encryption (AE_) mode provides very high performance on
+ modern hardware. In addition to client-side encryption, all data is
+ transferred via a secure TLS connection.
+
+:Tape backup: For long-term archiving of data, Proxmox Backup Server also
+ provides extensive support for backing up to tape and managing tape
+ libraries.
-:Web interface: Manage the Proxmox Backup Server with the integrated web-based
+:Ransomware protection: :ref:`Protect your critical data from ransomware attacks
+ <ransomware_protection>` with Proxmox Backup Server's fine-grained access
+ control, data integrity verification, and off-site backup through remote sync
+ and tape backup.
+
+:Web interface: Manage the Proxmox Backup Server with the integrated, web-based
user interface.
-:Open Source: No secrets. Proxmox Backup Server is free and open-source
+:Open source: No secrets. Proxmox Backup Server is free and open-source
software. The source code is licensed under AGPL, v3.
-:Support: Enterprise support will be available from `Proxmox`_ once the beta
- phase is over.
+:No limits: Proxmox Backup Server has no artificial limits for backup storage or
+ backup-clients.
+
+:Enterprise support: Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH offers enterprise support in
+ the form of `Proxmox Backup Server Subscription Plans
+ <https://www.proxmox.com/en/proxmox-backup-server/pricing>`_. Users at every
+ subscription level get access to the Proxmox Backup :ref:`Enterprise
+ Repository <sysadmin_package_repos_enterprise>`. In addition, with a Basic,
+ Standard or Premium subscription, users have access to the :ref:`Proxmox
+ Customer Portal <get_help_enterprise_support>`.
Reasons for Data Backup?
------------------------
The main purpose of a backup is to protect against data loss. Data loss can be
-caused by faulty hardware but also by human error.
+caused by both faulty hardware and human error.
A common mistake is to accidentally delete a file or folder which is still
-required. Virtualization can even amplify this problem; it easily happens that
-a whole virtual machine is deleted by just pressing a single button.
+required. Virtualization can even amplify this problem, as deleting a whole
+virtual machine can be as easy as pressing a single button.
For administrators, backups can serve as a useful toolkit for temporarily
storing data. For example, it is common practice to perform full backups before
Software Stack
--------------
-.. todo:: Eplain why we use Rust (and Flutter)
-
+Proxmox Backup Server consists of multiple components:
+
+* A server-daemon providing, among other things, a RESTful API, super-fast
+ asynchronous tasks, lightweight usage statistic collection, scheduling
+ events, strict separation of privileged and unprivileged execution
+ environments
+* A JavaScript management web interface
+* A management CLI tool for the server (`proxmox-backup-manager`)
+* A client CLI tool (`proxmox-backup-client`) to access the server easily from
+ any `Linux amd64` environment
+
+Aside from the web interface, most parts of Proxmox Backup Server are written in
+the Rust programming language.
+
+ "The Rust programming language helps you write faster, more reliable software.
+ High-level ergonomics and low-level control are often at odds in programming
+ language design; Rust challenges that conflict. Through balancing powerful
+ technical capacity and a great developer experience, Rust gives you the option
+ to control low-level details (such as memory usage) without all the hassle
+ traditionally associated with such control."
+
+ -- `The Rust Programming Language <https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch00-00-introduction.html>`_
+
+.. _get_help:
Getting Help
------------
+.. _get_help_enterprise_support:
+
+Enterprise Support
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Users with a `Proxmox Backup Server Basic, Standard or Premium Subscription Plan
+<https://www.proxmox.com/en/proxmox-backup-server/pricing>`_ have access to the
+`Proxmox Customer Portal <https://my.proxmox.com>`_. The customer portal
+provides support with guaranteed response times from the Proxmox developers.
+For more information or for volume discounts, please contact sales@proxmox.com.
+
Community Support Forum
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Proxmox Backup Server is fully open-source and contributions are welcome! Here
is the primary communication channel for developers:
-:Mailing list for developers: `PBS Development List`_
+
+:Mailing list for developers: `Proxmox Backup Server Development List`_
Bug Tracker
~~~~~~~~~~~
Proxmox runs a public bug tracker at `<https://bugzilla.proxmox.com>`_. If an
-issue appears, file your report there. An issue can be a bug as well as a
+issue appears, file your report there. An issue can be a bug, as well as a
request for a new feature or enhancement. The bug tracker helps to keep track
of the issue and will send a notification once it has been solved.
License
-------
-Copyright (C) 2019-2020 Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH
+|pbs-copyright|
This software is written by Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH <support@proxmox.com>
History
-------
-.. todo:: Add development History of the product
-
+Backup is, and always has been, a central aspect of IT administration.
+The need to recover from data loss is fundamental and only increases with
+virtualization.
+
+For this reason, we've been shipping a backup tool with Proxmox VE, from the
+beginning. This tool is called ``vzdump`` and is able to make
+consistent snapshots of running LXC containers and KVM virtual
+machines.
+
+However, ``vzdump`` only allows for full backups. While this is fine
+for small backups, it becomes a burden for users with large VMs. Both
+backup duration and storage usage are too high for this case, especially
+for users who want to keep many backups of the same VMs. To solve these
+problems, we needed to offer deduplication and incremental backups.
+
+Back in October 2018, development started. We investigated
+several technologies and frameworks and finally decided to use
+:term:`Rust` as the implementation language, in order to provide high speed and
+memory efficiency. The 2018-edition of Rust seemed promising for our
+requirements.
+
+In July 2020, we released the first beta version of Proxmox Backup
+Server, followed by the first stable version in November 2020. With support for
+encryption and incremental, fully deduplicated backups, Proxmox Backup offers a
+secure environment, which significantly reduces network load and saves valuable
+storage space.