Proxmox Backup Client

Proven on:

	11 (bullseye)
	5

Time to see if we can use Proxmox Backup Server to backup Other machines on the network...

(Spoiler Alert... Yes, yes we can!)

Installation

As far as I've been able to determine so far, this can only reliably be done on Debian 11 or better based distros...

• wget https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-release-bullseye.gpg -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-release-bullseye.gpg
• vi /etc/apt/sources.list
• add in:

# Proxmox Backup Server pbs-no-subscription repository provided by proxmox.com,
# NOT recommended for production use
deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs bullseye pbs-no-subscription

• vi /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pbs-client.list
• add in:

deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs-client bullseye main

• apt update
• apt-get install proxmox-backup-client

Backup Client Usage

Source

How To Use Proxmox Backup Client To Backup Files In Linux

Excluding Files/Directories from a Backup

Backing up random machines with proxmox-backup-client installed

Complete Machine

• sudo proxmox-backup-client backup TOTAL.pxar:/ --repository SchizoPoop.TinkerNet.ca:Other

Configuration

• sudo proxmox-backup-client backup ETC.pxar:/etc --repository SchizoPoop.TinkerNet.ca:Other

All Users

• sudo proxmox-backup-client backup USERS.pxar:/home --repository SchizoPoop.TinkerNet.ca:Other

Individual User

• sudo proxmox-backup-client backup USERNAME.pxar:/home/username --repository SchizoPoop.TinkerNet.ca:Other

Oddities & such

During Install:

For some bizarre reason, the following errors happen during apt update on LMDE:

N: Skipping acquire of configured file 'pbs-no-subscription/binary-i386/Packages' as repository 'http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs bullseye InRelease' doesn't support architecture 'i386'
N: Skipping acquire of configured file 'main/binary-i386/Packages' as repository 'http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs-client bullseye InRelease' doesn't support architecture 'i386'

But, apparently, they don't mean anything...

During a run:

storing login ticket failed: $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR must be set

Apparently, it's a harmless bug...

Error downloading .didx from previous manifest: Unable to open dynamic index "/mnt/datastore/Other/host/NaToth/2023-04-20T17:53:42Z/TINKER.pxar.didx" - No such file or directory (os error 2)

Happens first time you backup a particular dataset... (another "harmless bug"...)

During a run that subsequently fails:

Ends with:

catalog upload error - channel closed
Error: detected chunk with wrong digest.

WTF? BBQ?

Happens multiple times, then goes away & backup works. No luck finding answers online so far.