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Lab · foundation · ~60 min

Install PBS, configure a datastore, and run a first backup

A · Physical hardwareB · Nested virtualisation

Objectives

  • Install PBS on a dedicated host
  • Create a ZFS datastore with dedup-friendly settings
  • Connect PVE to PBS and run a backup job
  • Restore a single file from the backup to verify

Prerequisites

  • A PBS host (physical, VM, or container — for nested mode)
  • PVE cluster with at least one VM to back up
  • Network connectivity between PVE and PBS on port 8007

Install PBS and run a first backup

This lab proves the full backup path: PVE → PBS → restore. The most common production failure is not backup failure but restore failure — do this lab and you will have actually recovered a file.

Steps

1. Install PBS

Follow the Proxmox installer. Use a separate ZFS mirror for the datastore — never store PBS data on the same disks as your PVE VMs.

2. Create the datastore

In the GUI: Administration → Storage / Disks → Datastore → Add. Use a ZFS dataset:

zfs create tank/pbs-data

Set the chunk size to 4 MB (default) and enable prune and gc schedules:

  • Prune: daily, keep last 7 daily, 4 weekly, 12 monthly
  • GC: weekly on Sunday at 04:00

3. Connect PVE to PBS

On the PVE side: Datacenter → Storage → Add → Proxmox Backup Server. Provide:

  • ID: pbs-main
  • Server: pbs.example.com
  • Datastore: main
  • Username: backup@pbs
  • Password: (the password you set up)

Tick Enable and set the schedule (e.g., daily at 02:00).

4. Trigger an ad-hoc backup

vzdump 100 --storage pbs-main --mode snapshot --remove 0

Watch progress in the PVE task log.

5. Restore a file

Mount the backup as a block device:

# Find the snapshot ID
proxmox-backup-manager list <vmid> --repo pbs-main

# Restore a single file
proxmox-backup-client restore <vmid>/<snapshot> /etc/passwd - \
  --repository pbs-main

Or use the GUI: Backup → File Restore → pick the snapshot → browse the filesystem → download individual files.

Verification

  • The VM appears in PBS under pbs-main
  • A file-level restore produces a valid copy (diff against the original)
  • PBS Status → Usage shows non-zero chunk count and bytes stored
  • The next scheduled backup completes without manual intervention

Cleanup

# Remove the storage from PVE
pvesm remove pbs-main

# Remove the datastore from PBS (irreversible)
proxmox-backup-manager datastore remove main

Deliverables

  • · PBS datastore mounted and accepting connections
  • · A backup job that completes and appears in the PBS GUI
  • · A successful file-level restore

Verification status

Executed end to end
not yet run on hardware

The commands and configuration here have been reviewed against the verified software versions, but nobody has run this lab start to finish on a system meeting its prerequisites. Treat the Expected Outcome as the intended result rather than an observed one, and keep the Cleanup section to hand.