Proxmox Backup Server With Wasabi

How do I use the Proxmox Backup Server with Wasabi?

Proxmox provides open-source data center solutions for virtualization of computing resources. The Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) facilitates the backup and restoration of virtual machines (VMs) running on the Proxmox Virtual Environment.  Version 4.0 of PBS introduced support for storing backups in S3-compatible cloud storage providers such as Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage.  

This article details the process to configure PBS to store backups in Wasabi.

The data restoration process is handled by your specific backup software application. As there are many potential variables that will affect your unique environment, Wasabi strongly recommends that you seek the guidance of your backup software's technical support team in the event that you encounter difficulty or have application-specific inquiries.

Prerequisites

• Active Wasabi Storage account.

• Wasabi bucket created and the access and secret keys available.  Do not enable Versioning or Object Lock since PBS does not support them.

• Proxmox Backup Server version 4.0 or higher.  This solution was tested with version 4.0.11.

• Virtual machines to be backed up added to the Proxmox Virtual Environment (PVE).  PVE version 8.3.0 was used during this testing.

Configuring Proxmox Backup Server

In Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) version 4.0 and higher, PBS can backup virtual machines hosted on Proxmox Virtual Environment to Wasabi Hot Cloud object storage. You will need to have already created a Wasabi bucket without Versioning or Object Lock to be used for these backups. See Creating a Bucket for details.  You will also need the Access key and the Secret key to access the Wasabi bucket.  Details about Access and Secret keys can be found in Creating a New Access Key.

Follow the steps below to configure the PBS.

1. Login to your Proxmox Backup Server.  Expand the Configuration menu, click S3 Endpoints, and click Add.
   

2. Give your endpoint a name such as “Wasabi”, enter the Wasabi domain name for the region your bucket is in, your region, your Wasabi Access Key, and your Wasabi Secret Key.  Click Add.
   

   This configuration example discusses the use of Wasabi's us-east-1 storage region. Use the region your bucket is located in. For a list of domain names for each region, see Service URLs for Wasabi's Storage Regions.

   
   

3. You will now see Wasabi as an S3 Endpoint in PBS.
   

4. If a non-root user does not exist on your PBS server, add a PBS user by clicking Access Control, then User Management, then Add.
   

5. Enter a username for the new user, select the appropriate realm for your environment, and enter the user’s password twice.  Optionally enter a first and last name and email address.  Click Add.
   

6. Create a new datastore by clicking Datastore then Add Datastore.
   

7. Enter a name for the new Datastore.  Select S3 (tech preview) as the Datastore Type.  Enter a path for a local cache on your server (/mnt/wasabi-backups was used in this example), and PBS will create the cache for you.  Select the S3 Endpoint ID you created earlier for Wasabi, and then select your Wasabi bucket from the drop-down menu.  Click Add.
   

8. Assign a user to the new Datastore by selecting the Datastore, clicking Permissions, and clicking Add.  This user will be used on your Proxmox Virtual Environment to communicate with PBS.
   

9. Click User Permission.
   

10. Select the path for the Datastore, select the user (which in our example is the previously created “admin” user), and select a Role (we tested with an Admin role).  Click Add.
    

11. Click Dashboard, then click Show Fingerprint.
    

12. Click Copy to copy the fingerprint and save it for use in the next section on the Proxmox Virtual Environment.  Click Ok.
    

Configuring PBS in Proxmox Virtual Environment

The Proxmox Backup Server will be added to the Proxmox Virtual Environment.

1. Login to your Proxmox Virtual Environment. Under Datacenter, click Storage, then click Add, then click Proxmox Backup Server.  
   

2. Enter an ID for the PBS storage, the PBS server’s IP address or FQDN that is resolvable by the Proxmox Virtual Environment, the PBS server username (we used the admin@pbs user we created in the previous section), and the user’s password.  Enter the name of the previously created Wasabi Datastore (wasabi-backups in our example). Paste the fingerprint that was copied in the previous section and click Add.  
   

Create a Test Backup

Create a test backup of a VM going to Wasabi.

1. Select a VM in the Proxmox Virtual Environment to test backing up to Wasabi.  Click Hardware, select the Hard Disk to be included in the backup, and click Edit.  
   

2. Ensure the VM’s Hard Disk has “Backup” checked in the VM’s configuration so it will be backed up and click OK.  Repeat for other hard disks.
   
   

3. On the VM to be backed up, click Backup, then click Backup now.  
   

4. Select the storage created earlier (pbs-storage in our example) and the appropriate Mode (we used Snapshot).  Click Backup.
   

5. Wait until the backup job finishes successfully.
   

Verify Backup Data in Wasabi

1. Login to the Wasabi Console.  Click on Buckets, then click on the name of your bucket containing Proxmox backups.
   

2. Click on the folder with the name of your Datastore (wasabi-backups in our example), then click on .chunks.  You should now see folders that have chunks of data in them as shown below.
   

3. Please note that the Proxmox Backup Server has a local cache, and it may not immediately copy data to your Wasabi bucket.

Create a Backup Job

1. Login to the Proxmox Virtual Environment.  Click Datacenter, then Backup, then Add.
   

2. Select the Storage for backing up to Wasabi (pbs-storage in our example), set a Schedule, select the appropriate Selection Mode (“Include selected VMs” in our example), select the Mode (we used Snapshot), and select the VMs to include (or exclude depending on the Selection mode).  
   

3. Click Retention and enter the retention options appropriate for your organization.  Click Create.
   

4. You will now see the new backup job with a checkmark under Enabled.
   

5. After a backup has run from the schedule, verify you see it on the PBS server.  Click on the name of your Wasabi Datastore under Datastore.  Click on Content, then expand the tree for a VM being backed up.  Verify you see the backups.  Repeat for other VMs.
   

How to Restore a VM from a Backup if Required

1. Login to the Proxmox Virtual Environment.  Select a VM to restore.  Ensure the VM is shutdown, either by shutting it down within the VM itself or by clicking Shutdown and then Stop from the drop-down menu.
   
   
   

2. Click Backup, select the name of a backup to restore from, and click Restore.  
   

3. Click Restore.  
   

   Warning:  This will overwrite your VM and its data and should only be performed if required.

   

4. Read the warning and proceed only if you are sure it is required by clicking Yes.

5. The Task Viewer will show “TASK OK” when the VM has been successfully restored.  
   

6. Start the VM when needed by clicking Start.
   

7. Verify you can login to the VM via the Proxmox console (a Linux VM example is shown).