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Proxmox Config Backup

· 2 min read
Milioto Pietro
Milioto Pietro
Sys Admin

Automating Proxmox Config Backup with Systemd and Synology Active Backup​

After reading this insightful thread on the Proxmox forum: Backup Cluster Config (pmxcfs /etc/pve), I was inspired to create an automated backup solution for my Proxmox configuration.

I decided to implement a systemd script that automates the backup of the Proxmox sqlite database that contains the cluster configuration.
Here is the script I came up with:

[Unit]
Description=Backup sqlite database of Proxmox

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c "/usr/bin/sqlite3 /var/lib/pve-cluster/config.db .dump > /backup/config.dump.$(date --utc +%Y%m%d%H%M%S).sql"

# ExecStartPost runs after ExecStart, and this will remove older backups, keeping only the 35 most recent ones.
ExecStartPost=/bin/bash -c "ls -tp /backup/config.dump.*.sql | grep -v '/$' | tail -n +36 | xargs -I {} rm -- {}"

The script creates an automated dump of the Proxmox cluster config, ensuring I have regular backups and a retention policy that only keeps the latest 35 backups. You can find more details on this script and its implementation on my Wiki page.

Integrating Synology Active Backup​

To further enhance my backup strategy, I configured a Synology Active Backup task to automatically back up the /backup directory to my NAS. This task runs every week, ensuring that I always have an offsite copy of my cluster configuration in case of emergencies. This extra layer of protection gives me peace of mind knowing that I can easily restore my configuration whenever necessary.

By combining systemd automation and Synology Active Backup, I have a reliable backup system in place to safeguard my Proxmox configurations.