Guide

Install · Docker · First backup · Start a backup on your PC · License · Help

Install from Package Center

The easiest way: add pvebackup.app as a package source once. Package Center then installs pvebackup and offers every update, like any other app.

1. In DSM open Package Center → Settings → General → Trust level and choose Any publisher (needed for packages from outside Synology's catalogue).
2. Package Center → Settings → Package Sources → Add: name pvebackup, location https://pvebackup.app, OK.
3. Open Community in Package Center, pick pvebackup, Install.
4. DSM warns that the package "is provided by third-party developers and not verified by Synology". That is shown for every app from outside Synology's catalogue: click Agree, then confirm the installation. DSM creates the shared folder pvebackup for the backups.
5. Open pvebackup from the main menu and create your account.

Or install the file

1. Download the package (.spk) for your NAS (Intel/AMD or ARM) and set the trust level as above.
2. Package Center → Manual Install, choose the file, Next (use Chrome or Firefox; Safari's upload to DSM often fails).
3. Answer DSM's third-party warning with Agree, as above, and confirm. Updates: install the newer file the same way.

Other NAS and Linux: Docker

On a NAS of another brand (UGREEN, QNAP, TrueNAS, Unraid, …) or any Linux machine with Docker, pvebackup runs as the image pvebackup/pvebackup from Docker Hub (Intel/AMD and 64-bit ARM). It is the same app with the same license.

1. Create a folder for pvebackup on the NAS, e.g. /volume1/pvebackup. Settings, backups and exports go there.
2. In the NAS's Docker app create a project (Compose) with this content, or a container with the same settings:

   services:
     pvebackup:
       image: pvebackup/pvebackup:latest
       container_name: pvebackup
       network_mode: host
       environment:
         TZ: Europe/Berlin
       volumes:
         - /volume1/pvebackup:/pvebackup
       restart: unless-stopped

3. Set TZ to your time zone (schedules run in it) and the folder to the one from step 1.
4. Start it and open http://<NAS>:5080/pvebackup/, then create your account.

Good to know: network host lets Scan LAN find your Proxmox hosts; without it, publish port 5080 and add the hosts by IP. Another port: set PVEB_LISTEN=0.0.0.0:<port>. Updates: pull the new image and recreate the container; everything stays in the folder.

First backup

1. Hosts → Scan LAN (or Add by IP) and sign in with the Proxmox login, e.g. root@pam. The same login is used over SSH; nothing is installed on the host.
2. Tick guests under the host → Create backup task from selection, choose how often and how many versions to keep.
3. Tasks → Run now, follow it under Activity.
4. Restore it once to a new VMID (Backups → open the VM → Actions → Restore…) before you rely on it.

Get single files back

You don't have to restore a whole VM to get one file back. The app opens the backup on the NAS and shows its folders and files; no Proxmox host is needed for it.

1. Backups → open the VM or container → Actions → Files… next to the version you want.
2. For a VM with several partitions, choose the partition. Then click through the folders.
3. Click a file to download it. Tick several files and folders and use Download selected items to get them as one ZIP file, or Download this folder as ZIP for the folder with everything in it.

Good to know:

• What can be read: container backups, and VM disks with ext4, ext3 or ext2 (most Linux systems), NTFS (Windows) and FAT (e.g. the EFI system partition), on GPT or MBR partitions, also inside LVM (the default of the Ubuntu Server installer, for example): plain and striped logical volumes, also across several disks of a VM.
• Not yet: XFS, Btrfs, exFAT, encrypted partitions (BitLocker, LUKS), and LVM thin volumes, mirrors, RAID and snapshots. Such a partition is listed with the reason. To get its files, restore the VM to a new VMID.
• Containers: the first time you open a container backup, the app reads through it once to find its files. For a large container that takes a moment; after that it opens at once.
• Files in use: a VM is backed up while it runs. A file the VM was writing in that moment can show an older state here; the app says so when a partition was in use. A full restore is not affected.
• Windows: files that Windows itself stores compressed with "Compact OS", deduplicated files on Windows Server and files encrypted with EFS are listed, but cannot be downloaded.
• A ZIP file holds files and folders, not their owners and permissions. Nothing is written to the VM: copy the files back yourself.

Start a backup on your PC

A VM backup can be exported as an OVA file for VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion (Intel Macs) or VirtualBox: to test an update, look into an old version, or keep working while the Proxmox host is down.

1. Backups → open the VM → Actions → Export… next to the version you want. Choose VMware or VirtualBox and start it.
2. When it is done (see Activity), download it under Backups → Exported files, or copy it from the shared folder pvebackup, folder exports.
3. VMware Workstation: File → Open and choose the .ova. VirtualBox: File → Import Appliance.

Good to know before you start the copy:

• It is a copy. It gets its own network card on NAT, so it cannot clash with the original on your network.
• Windows uses VirtIO drivers on Proxmox. If it stops at start with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE, export again with the IDE disk controller. Better: run sc config storahci start= boot once as administrator in the original VM, then the next backups start from SATA too. Windows may also ask to be activated again, and BitLocker asks for its recovery key.
• UEFI VMs: in VirtualBox, if the screen stays black, turn on Settings → System → Enable EFI. Secure Boot and a TPM are not carried over.
• Linux gives the network card a new name (e.g. ens18 becomes ens33), so a fixed network setup may need adjusting.
• Install VMware Tools or the VirtualBox Guest Additions for a better display and mouse.
• Your PC needs an Intel or AMD CPU: Macs with Apple Silicon cannot run it. Containers (LXC) cannot be exported.

License

In the app: Settings → License → Buy license. After paying, click Activate in pvebackup - done. You also get the license by e-mail. On another NAS: Settings → License → Upload license file and choose the file from that e-mail. Lost it? Have it sent again.

Help

Questions or a problem? Write to us.

How pvebackup works under the hood: How it works.