Backup jobs can be scheduled so that they are executed automatically
on specific days and times, for selectable nodes and guest systems.
Configuration of scheduled backups is done at the Datacenter level in
-the GUI, which will generate a cron entry in /etc/cron.d/vzdump.
+the GUI, which will generate a job entry in /etc/pve/jobs.cfg, which
+will in turn be parsed and executed by the `pvescheduler` daemon.
+These jobs use the xref:chapter_calendar_events[calendar events] for
+defining the schedule.
+
+Since scheduled backups miss their execution when the host was offline or the
+pvescheduler was disabled during the scheduled time, it is possible to configure
+the behaviour for catching up. By enabling the `Repeat missed` option
+(`repeat-missed` in the config), you can tell the scheduler that it should run
+missed jobs as soon as possible.
Backup modes
------------
If the backup file name doesn't end with one of the above file extensions, then
it was not compressed by vzdump.
+Backup Encryption
+-----------------
+
+For Proxmox Backup Server storages, you can optionally set up client-side
+encryption of backups, see xref:storage_pbs_encryption[the corresponding section.]
[[vzdump_retention]]
Backup Retention
`keep-last` or, in case `maxfiles` was `0` for unlimited retention, by
`keep-all`.
+
+Prune Simulator
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+You can use the https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/prune-simulator[prune simulator
+of the Proxmox Backup Server documentation] to explore the effect of different
+retention options with various backup schedules.
+
Retention Settings Example
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by your environment; you can always reduce it if you find it is unnecessarily
high, but you cannot recreate backups once they have been removed.
+[[vzdump_protection]]
+Backup Protection
+-----------------
+
+You can mark a backup as `protected` to prevent its removal. Attempting to
+remove a protected backup via {pve}'s UI, CLI or API will fail. However, this
+is enforced by {pve} and not the file-system, that means that a manual removal
+of a backup file itself is still possible for anyone with write access to the
+underlying backup storage.
+
+NOTE: Protected backups are ignored by pruning and do not count towards the
+retention settings.
+
+For filesystem-based storages, the protection is implemented via a sentinel file
+`<backup-name>.protected`. For Proxmox Backup Server, it is handled on the
+server side (available since Proxmox Backup Server version 2.1).
+
+Use the storage option `max-protected-backups` to control how many protected
+backups per guest are allowed on the storage. Use `-1` for unlimited. The
+default is unlimited for users with `Datastore.Allocate` privilege and `5` for
+other users.
+
+[[vzdump_notes]]
+Backup Notes
+------------
+
+You can add notes to backups using the 'Edit Notes' button in the UI or via the
+storage content API.
+
+It is also possible to specify a template for generating notes dynamically for
+a backup job and for manual backup. The template string can contain variables,
+surrounded by two curly braces, which will be replaced by the corresponding
+value when the backup is executed.
+
+Currently supported are:
+
+* `{{cluster}}` the cluster name, if any
+* `{{guestname}}` the virtual guest's assigned name
+* `{{node}}` the host name of the node the backup is being created
+* `{{vmid}}` the numerical VMID of the guest
+
+When specified via API or CLI, it needs to be a single line, where newline and
+backslash need to be escaped as literal `\n` and `\\` respectively.
+
[[vzdump_restore]]
Restore
-------
# pvesm set STORAGEID --bwlimit restore=KIBs
----
+Live-Restore
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Restoring a large backup can take a long time, in which a guest is still
+unavailable. For VM backups stored on a Proxmox Backup Server, this wait
+time can be mitigated using the live-restore option.
+
+Enabling live-restore via either the checkbox in the GUI or the `--live-restore`
+argument of `qmrestore` causes the VM to start as soon as the restore
+begins. Data is copied in the background, prioritizing chunks that the VM is
+actively accessing.
+
+Note that this comes with two caveats:
+
+* During live-restore, the VM will operate with limited disk read speeds, as
+ data has to be loaded from the backup server (once loaded, it is immediately
+ available on the destination storage however, so accessing data twice only
+ incurs the penalty the first time). Write speeds are largely unaffected.
+* If the live-restore fails for any reason, the VM will be left in an
+ undefined state - that is, not all data might have been copied from the
+ backup, and it is _most likely_ not possible to keep any data that was written
+ during the failed restore operation.
+
+This mode of operation is especially useful for large VMs, where only a small
+amount of data is required for initial operation, e.g. web servers - once the OS
+and necessary services have been started, the VM is operational, while the
+background task continues copying seldom used data.
+
+Single File Restore
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The 'File Restore' button in the 'Backups' tab of the storage GUI can be used to
+open a file browser directly on the data contained in a backup. This feature
+is only available for backups on a Proxmox Backup Server.
+
+For containers, the first layer of the file tree shows all included 'pxar'
+archives, which can be opened and browsed freely. For VMs, the first layer shows
+contained drive images, which can be opened to reveal a list of supported
+storage technologies found on the drive. In the most basic case, this will be an
+entry called 'part', representing a partition table, which contains entries for
+each partition found on the drive. Note that for VMs, not all data might be
+accessible (unsupported guest file systems, storage technologies, etc...).
+
+Files and directories can be downloaded using the 'Download' button, the latter
+being compressed into a zip archive on the fly.
+
+To enable secure access to VM images, which might contain untrusted data, a
+temporary VM (not visible as a guest) is started. This does not mean that data
+downloaded from such an archive is inherently safe, but it avoids exposing the
+hypervisor system to danger. The VM will stop itself after a timeout. This
+entire process happens transparently from a user's point of view.
+
[[vzdump_configuration]]
Configuration
-------------
# vzdump 777 --exclude-path /tmp/ --exclude-path '/var/foo*'
-(only excludes tmp directories)
+excludes the directory `/tmp/` and any file or directory named `/var/foo`,
+`/var/foobar`, and so on.
+
+Paths that do not start with a `/` are not anchored to the container's root,
+but will match relative to any subdirectory. For example:
+
+ # vzdump 777 --exclude-path bar
+
+excludes any file or directory named `/bar`, `/var/bar`, `/var/foo/bar`, and
+so on, but not `/bar2`.
Configuration files are also stored inside the backup archive
(in `./etc/vzdump/`) and will be correctly restored.
projects / pve-docs.git / blobdiff