HomeLabDocs/pbs_restore.md

🛠️ PBS Restore Guide (Proxmox Backup Server)

This guide walks through restoring Proxmox VMs/CTs from local PBS backups or from encrypted offsite backups stored in Backblaze B2.

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✅ Restore from Local PBS (proxmox04-backups)

🧭 Step-by-Step via Proxmox VE GUI

1. Log into Proxmox VE UI (https://192.168.1.37:8006)
2. Navigate to Datacenter → Storage → proxmox04-backups
3. Click Backups → Select a Snapshot
4. Click Restore
   • Set a new VM/CT ID (don’t overwrite unless testing)
   • Choose target storage (e.g., vm_data)
   • ✅ Tick “Unique MAC” if cloning
   • ✅ Enable start after restore (optional)
5. Wait for restore to complete

🖥️ Or via CLI (on Proxmox04)

# Restore a container (CT)
pct restore <NEW_ID> /mnt/pve/proxmox04-backups/dump/vzdump-lxc-XXX.tar.zst \
  -storage vm_data -unique

# Restore a VM
qmrestore /mnt/pve/proxmox04-backups/dump/vzdump-qemu-XXX.vma.zst <NEW_ID>

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🔐 Restore from Offsite (Backblaze B2 via rclone)

🔧 Requirements

• Access to rclone with b2-pbs-encrypted remote
• The rclone crypt password/salt (stored in Bitwarden)
• Destination path for recovered data (e.g., /mnt/tmp_restore)

🪜 Steps

1. Mount or sync the backup

# Mount B2 encrypted remote (temporary access)
rclone mount b2-pbs-encrypted: /mnt/b2-restore --vfs-cache-mode full

# OR copy needed backup group to local disk
rclone copy b2-pbs-encrypted:host/immich-nocompress/2025-07-21T01:00:00Z \
  /mnt/tmp_restore/immich --progress

2. Import into PBS (if needed)

# Place restored data under PBS datastore path
mv /mnt/tmp_restore/immich /mnt/backup_nvme/.chunks/...

# Use the PBS UI or CLI to re-index if necessary
proxmox-backup-manager datastore verify proxmox04-backups

3. Restore from PBS

Once data is in PBS, follow normal restore process as above.

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💡 Best Practices

• Always restore to a new ID first
• Snapshot the target before testing restore
• Confirm service boots and config is intact before re-linking DNS or tunnels
• Keep restore documentation printed or synced to mobile/Bitwarden vault

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🔁 Testing Restore Periodically

• Test at least quarterly
• Rotate restores across high-value services (Nextcloud, Immich, Home Assistant)
• Validate backups are working before you need them

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Created: 2025-07-22 Maintainer: chris.darrigo@gmail.com Stored in: Gitea (HomeLabDocs)