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How to install Proxmox Backup Client

This guide explains how to install and use Proxmox Backup Client on a Debian VM. This would allow non proxmox machine to be backed up using PBS.

Proxmox Backup Client Documentation

Proxmox Installaton for Proxmox Backup Client Documentation

Installing Proxmox Backup Client

  1. Add the repository
  2. In order to configure this repository you need to first setup the Proxmox release key

Please note that this installation is for Debian 12 (Bookworm). If you are on a newer version, use this guide a reference with the updated command on: https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/installation.html#package-repositories-client-only-apt

sudo wget https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pbs-client.list
  1. add the line
deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs-client bookworm main
  1. Install Proxmox Backup Client
sudo apt update
sudo apt install proxmox-backup-client
proxmox-backup-client version

Configure Proxmox Backup Client

First backup
sudo proxmox-backup-client backup "backupname".pxar:"directory" --repository "backupuser"@pbs@"PBS-IP":"DataStoreName" -ns "YourNameSpace"

Example:

sudo proxmox-backup-client backup mkdocsbackup.pxar:/home/user/docker --repository ardougneBackupUser@pbs@100.102.226.112:HDD-storage-5Tb -ns azure_mkdocs

List all backups
proxmox-backup-client list --repository "backupuser"@pbs@"PBS-IP":"DataStoreName" -ns "YourNameSpace"

example:

proxmox-backup-client list --repository ardougneBackupUser@pbs@100.102.236.112:HDD-storage-5Tb -ns azure_mkdocs

Backup encryption
proxmox-backup-client key create /home/user/encryption.key

Fill in your desired key

Storing credentials

This is so that you do not need to enter credentials for each backups.

  • Environment variables: is an option, but credentials are stored in plain text.

  • Systemd credentials: are stored as encrypted files that only systemd decrypts when launching a service. We will be using systmd credentials for this guide.

To store the password of the backup user:

sudo systemd-ask-password -n | systemd-creds encrypt --name=proxmox-backup-client.password - /your/password/directory/password.cred

To store the encryption key we created:

systemd-ask-password -n | sudo systemd-creds encrypt --name=proxmox-backup-client.encryption-password - /home/user/encryption-password.cred

Let's create a systemd service:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/backup.service

Paste in the following (fill in your own details and remove the quotes):

[Unit]
Description=Proxmox Backup Client service
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=proxmox-backup-client backup "backupname".pxar:/home/user/docker \
  --repository "backupuser"@pbs@"PBS-IP":"DataStoreName" \
  -ns "YourNameSpace" \
  --keyfile /home/user/encryption.key
LoadCredentialEncrypted=proxmox-backup-client.password:/home/user/password.cred
LoadCredentialEncrypted=proxmox-backup-client.encryption-password:/home/user/encryption-password.cred

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reload systemd so it picks up the service

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Test it:

sudo systemctl start backup.service

Schedule a backup

To start a backup at a certain time

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/backup.timer

[Unit]
Description=Run backup daily at 2am

[Timer]
OnCalendar=*-*-* 02:00:00
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

sudo systemctl enable --now mkdocs-backup.timer

Restore a backup

First list all your backups:

sudo proxmox-backup-client snapshot list "backupname".pxar:"directory" --repository "backupuser"@pbs@"PBS-IP":"DataStoreName" -ns "YourNameSpace"

To restore a backup:

proxmox-backup-client restore host/"YourHostname"/2025-08-09T15:51:02Z "backupname".pxar /where/to/restore --repository "backupuser"@pbs@"PBS-IP":"DataStoreName" -ns "YourNameSpace"
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