Deployment Overview of Proxmox Backup Server on Server¶

Prerequisites and Basic Requirements¶

The deployment of Proxmox Backup Server requires a Debian 12 (Bookworm) operating system. The installation process necessitates root privileges to modify system repositories, install packages, and manage system services. The following components are required:

Operating System: Debian 12 (Bookworm)
Privileges: Root access (sudo or root user)
Network: Access to the internet for downloading packages and repository keys
Architecture: AMD64 (x86_64)

File and Directory Structure¶

The application utilizes specific directories for configuration, data, and certificates. The primary locations include:

/etc/apt/sources.list.d/: Contains repository list files, including pbs-enterprise.list and the Proxmox Backup Server repository file.
/etc/apt/sources.list: The main APT source list, modified to include contrib and non-free-firmware components.
/root/nginx/: Directory created for Nginx and Certbot Docker Compose configuration.
/data/nginx/user_conf.d/: Directory containing Nginx user configuration files, specifically {{ prefix }}{{ server_id }}.hostkey.in.conf.
/etc/letsencrypt/: Volume mount point for SSL certificates managed by Certbot.

Application Installation Process¶

The Proxmox Backup Server is installed as a native package using the APT package manager. The installation involves adding the official Proxmox repository and installing the proxmox-backup-server meta-package.

Update and upgrade existing APT packages.
Install required utilities: curl, wget, ca-certificates, and gnupg.
Disable the Proxmox PBS enterprise repository by commenting out the line in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pbs-enterprise.list.
Enable the contrib and non-free-firmware components in /etc/apt/sources.list.
Add the Proxmox PBS repository key and configure the repository source file.
Update the APT cache.
Install the proxmox-backup-server package.
Install ZFS support packages: zfs-dkms and linux-headers-amd64.

Docker Containers and Their Deployment¶

A reverse proxy and SSL certificate management system is deployed using Docker Compose. This setup utilizes the jonasal/nginx-certbot image to handle HTTPS termination and certificate renewal.

The deployment involves the following steps:

Install Docker on the host system.
Create the directory /root/nginx with permissions 0755 owned by root.
Generate a compose.yml file in /root/nginx defining the Nginx service.
Configure the Nginx service with the following parameters:
Image: jonasal/nginx-certbot:latest
Restart policy: unless-stopped
Network mode: host
Environment variable: [email protected]
Environment file: /data/nginx/nginx-certbot.env
Volume mounts:
- nginx_secrets mapped to /etc/letsencrypt
- /data/nginx/user_conf.d mapped to /etc/nginx/user_conf.d
Execute docker compose up -d within the /root/nginx directory to start the containers.

Proxy Servers¶

The Nginx container acts as a reverse proxy for the Proxmox Backup Server. The configuration modifies the Nginx user configuration file located at /data/nginx/user_conf.d/{{ prefix }}{{ server_id }}.hostkey.in.conf.

The existing proxy_pass directive within the location / block is removed.
A new proxy_pass directive is added to forward traffic to http://127.0.0.1:8007.
SSL certificates are managed automatically by the Certbot component within the Docker container, storing secrets in the nginx_secrets volume.

Starting, Stopping, and Updating¶

The Proxmox Backup Server service is managed via systemd. The service name is proxmox-backup.

Start and Enable: The service is started and enabled to run on boot during the installation process.
Service Management: Use standard systemctl commands to manage the service state.
Start: systemctl start proxmox-backup
Stop: systemctl stop proxmox-backup
Restart: systemctl restart proxmox-backup
Status: systemctl status proxmox-backup

The Docker-based proxy stack is managed via Docker Compose commands executed in the /root/nginx directory:

Start: docker compose up -d
Stop: docker compose down
Update: Pull the latest image and restart the containers using docker compose pull followed by docker compose up -d.