With the recent price increase in VMware, many organizations are seeking enterprise-ready alternatives. Proxmox is gaining more and more attention. Proxmox Virtual Environment (Proxmox VE) is a powerful open-source platform for managing virtualized infrastructure. It combines KVM-based virtualization and LXC containers with software-defined storage and networking capabilities.
A common follow-up question is: If we migrate to Proxmox, can we continue backing up virtual machines with our existing solution? BDRSuite has kept up the momentum, quickly releasing support for Proxmox backups.
This blog article explores Proxmox and BDRSuite, focusing on how BDRSuite can help you efficiently back up your Proxmox workloads.
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Why Backup Proxmox with BDRSuite?
If you’re already using BDRSuite and have just moved to Proxmox, or if you’ve recently decided to adopt a virtualization platform, then BDRSuite is your go-to solution. If you’re already using Proxmox or planning to, and you’re looking for a backup solution, BDRSuite is also the perfect choice.
It’s a comprehensive product with advanced features, and the Vembu team stays ahead of market trends and customer needs. BDRSuite delivers a robust backup and disaster recovery system specifically designed to optimize data protection for Proxmox environments.
There are several reasons why BDRSuite is ideal for backing up your Proxmox environment, and here are a few of them.
- Agentless Backup – No need to install backup agents on virtual machines.
- Incremental Backups – Reduces backup size and improves efficiency.
- Automated Scheduling – Ensures data is backed up without manual intervention.
- Disaster Recovery – Enables quick restoration in case of data loss.
- Flexible Retention Policies – Retains multiple versions of backups for compliance and security.
Features of BDRSuite for Proxmox Backup
In one of my previous blog articles posted on my site, I discussed several reasons why you should use BDRSuite to back up your workloads, and those reasons are still relevant for Proxmox. You can read it here: 9 Key Features that Make BDRSuite the Ideal Backup Solution. They are:
- Centralized management
- Instant boot
- Instant boot live migration
- Application aware backups
- Advanced retention
- Granular recovery
- Automated verification
- Scale out storage
Agentless VM Backup
BDRSuite offers agentless, image-level backup for Proxmox virtual machines (VMs). This eliminates the need to install software on each VM, reducing overhead and simplifying deployment. When you scale that to hundreds of VMs, it becomes incredibly handy.
Application-Aware Backups
For businesses running databases, mail servers, and enterprise applications, application-aware processing ensures data consistency. This means services like MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and Exchange can be backed up without corruption.
Full and Incremental Backups
BDRSuite enables both full and incremental backups. Full backups capture the entire VM, while incremental backups store only changes made since the last backup. This drastically reduces storage requirements and speeds up the backup process.
Compression and Encryption
Data security is critical, especially for sensitive business information. BDRSuite provides:
- Compression – Reduces backup size to save storage space.
- AES-256 Encryption – Ensures that backup data is secure from unauthorized access.
Backup Scheduling and Retention Policies
Automated backup scheduling ensures continuous data protection without manual intervention. Retention policies allow businesses to keep multiple backup versions, making it easy to restore previous states if necessary.
Instant VM Boot
In the event of a failure, BDRSuite’s Instant VM Boot feature allows users to spin up a virtual machine directly from the backup repository, minimizing downtime and ensuring business continuity.
Multiple Storage Destinations
BDRSuite offers flexible storage options, including:
- Local Storage – Direct backup to a local repository.
- Network-Attached Storage (NAS) – Use a NAS device for backups.
- Cloud Storage – Integration with AWS S3, Azure, and other cloud platforms for offsite disaster recovery.
Granular File-Level Recovery
Instead of restoring an entire VM, BDRSuite allows file-level recovery, letting users restore individual files and folders quickly.
Ransomware Protection
BDRSuite provides immutability and encryption options to prevent unauthorized modifications to backup data, protecting against ransomware attacks.
How to Set Up BDRSuite for Proxmox Backup
There are several steps involved in integrating Proxmox with BDRSuite, but they are straightforward. Here’s a brief overview of how to do it.
Step 1: Install BDRSuite Backup Server
Download and install BDRSuite Backup Server on a dedicated backup server. You can install it on either Windows Server or Linux, and I’ve written guides for both:
Step 2: Add the Proxmox Host
Once BDRSuite is live, you need to log in and add your Proxmox server as a data source so that BDRSuite can access the virtual machines and back them up accordingly. During this process, you will be required to manually install the agent (Delegation Service) on the server. You need to install it on each Proxmox server you want to back up. It uses port 32004, so please ensure that this port is enabled.
Here is a video that explains the process in detail.
Step 3: Select a Backup Destination
Even after Proxmox is successfully integrated and you know which virtual machines you want to back up, you still need to define where to store your backup copies. BDRSuite supports various storage locations, such as local disks, NAS, SAN, S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud, Wasabi, and more.
Here is a useful blog article that explains how to back up to a Synology NAS, How to integrate Synology NAS with BDRSuite.
Step 4: Configure Backup Jobs
Once Proxmox is integrated into BDRSuite, you will need to select which virtual machines you want to back up and how often. Additionally, you will need to define a retention policy, which determines how long backup copies are retained (e.g., keep backup copies for one month and then delete them).
- Select the virtual machines to back up.
- Choose the backup schedule (daily, weekly, or customized intervals).
- Configure retention policies to maintain the desired number of backups.
Step 5: Run the backup job
Once everything is configured, backups will run as scheduled (daily, weekly, monthly, or customized). You can also trigger a manual backup to ensure everything is working smoothly.
Other settings
There are additional settings you can configure, including compression and encryption. BDRSuite Backup Server uses compression algorithms to reduce data size before saving it to the backup medium, such as a hard drive, NAS, SAN, DAS, etc. You can also encrypt all backup data for added protection. When encryption is enabled, all backup data blocks are encrypted using the AES-256-bit encryption algorithm, both during transfer and at rest. For encrypting backup data, you can use the system-generated encryption key or opt for a custom encryption key.
One of the best practices is reporting and monitoring backup jobs. Configuring backups isn’t just about setting them up and leaving them to run; you need to ensure continuous monitoring and be proactive in addressing any issues. Vembu supports monitoring and reporting within the UI.
How to restore Proxmox VMs from BDRSuite
What if there are issues with a certain VM? In that case, you can restore it from the backup to Proxmox. BDRSuite supports various options for restoring VMs.
Instant Boot VM: Restore your Proxmox VM in under 15 minutes. For example, if a host crashes, you can quickly boot the VM on a different host to avoid downtime.
Full VM Recovery: Restore the entire VM to its original or a new Proxmox host. For instance, move your VM to a backup server after a hardware failure.
Disk Mount: Mount the backup disk to recover specific files. If a file is lost, you can just grab it from the backup without restoring the whole VM.
Download VMs & Disks: Download backups in formats like VHD or VMDK. For example, migrate VMs between different platforms or restore them in a different format.
File-Level Recovery: Restore only the files you need. For instance, if a critical document is lost, you can recover it without restoring the entire VM.
Conclusion
As VMware prices rise, many organizations are turning to Proxmox as an alternative virtualization platform. BDRSuite is the ideal backup solution for Proxmox, offering features like agentless, image-level backups, easy deployment, and various restore options. Whether you’re recovering an entire VM, specific files, or migrating data, BDRSuite provides flexibility and speed to minimize downtime. With additional features like compression, deduplication, encryption, and customizable backup schedules, BDRSuite ensures that your Proxmox workloads are protected and easily recoverable.
