Backing up your Proxmox virtual machines
Unlimited snapshots and backups — and the difference between the two, which is not a detail.
Starting at from €13.99/mo
Introduction
A snapshot and a backup do not protect against the same thing, and confusing them is paid for one day. A snapshot freezes a VM's state on the same disk: perfect before an update, useless if the storage fails. A backup produces an independent archive that can be restored elsewhere.
On our VDS, neither the count nor the frequency is billed. That is deliberate: a backup you hesitate to trigger because it costs is a backup you do not take. Take one before every notable change, keep several generations, none of it changes your invoice.
Proxmox ships vzdump for scheduled archives and talks to Proxmox Backup Server for deduplication and incrementals. Both are set up from the interface, on the server itself or towards a remote destination — and a backup that never leaves the machine is only half a backup.
What the server brings, across the whole range
Proxmox VE already installed
The server arrives with <strong>Proxmox VE</strong> in place and its web interface reachable. You create your virtual machines and LXC containers from the browser, without a support ticket or a wait. <strong>Reinstalls are unlimited</strong>: an experiment that goes wrong is redone in minutes.
RAM, because that is what runs out first
On a hypervisor it is almost never the processor that caps out first: it is <strong>memory</strong>, because every virtual machine reserves its own. The range starts at <strong>16 GB</strong> and goes up to <strong>96 GB</strong>, which leaves room to stack several VMs without starving them.
Unlimited snapshots and backups
A snapshot before an update, another before a configuration change: that is what separates a test from a gamble. Neither the count nor the frequency is billed, so nothing discourages taking one more.
Up to 16 additional IPv4 addresses
Each VM can hold its own public address, which avoids routing everything through port forwards on the host. Useful as soon as a virtual firewall, a web server and a third-party service have to coexist cleanly.
When you are glad you took one
Before a system update
A kernel that will not boot, a package that breaks a dependency. The snapshot taken two minutes earlier puts the VM back on its feet without hunting the cause under pressure.
Before a schema migration
A database script that stops halfway leaves an intermediate state that is painful to unwind. You restore and start again rather than patching by hand.
After human error
A deleted file, an overwritten configuration, a command run on the wrong machine. That is the most frequent cause of loss, far ahead of hardware failure.
Facing ransomware
An offline or remote backup is the only answer that really works. A snapshot on the same storage can be encrypted along with everything else.
To move a VM
A backup archive restores onto another server. It is the simplest way to change plan or relocate a machine without reinstalling.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, we bill nothing on count or frequency. The only limit is your plan's disk space: each snapshot holds the blocks changed since it was taken.
No, and that is the most expensive confusion. It lives on the same storage as the VM: if that storage disappears, so does the snapshot. Take archives too, ideally towards a separate destination.
PBS is free software you can install, either in a VM on the server or on a separate machine. We do not provide a hosted instance: the server is yours, the backup architecture is yours.
A prudent rule: at least as much as the disks being backed up, more if you keep several generations. PBS deduplication cuts that need sharply when VMs resemble each other.