Complete Guide: Setting up Proxmox Backup Server with Remote-Backups.com

Running Proxmox VE at home or in production without offsite backups is asking for trouble. Whether it's a failed RAID, a ransomware attack, or just accidentally deleting the wrong VM, you need a backup that's not sitting on the same hardware (or in the same building) as your production environment.

This guide walks you through connecting your Proxmox VE to Remote-Backups.com so you can start protecting your VMs and containers with cloud-based PBS storage. The whole process takes about 10 minutes from signup to your first backup.

Why Use Remote PBS Storage?

Before we start, let's talk about why you'd want remote PBS storage instead of running your own local backup server.

You don't want to manage another server. PBS is great, but it's another system to maintain, patch, and keep running. With remote storage, someone else handles that.

Offsite protection matters. A local PBS server protects against disk failures but not against fire, flood, theft, or ransomware that spreads through your network.

Cost efficiency. Running a dedicated PBS server means buying hardware, paying for electricity, and maintaining it. Remote storage starts at €5/TB with zero hardware costs.

It just works. Set it up once and forget about it. Backups happen automatically and you can sleep better.

What You'll Need

Before we start, make sure you have:

• A running Proxmox VE instance (any recent version works)
• Network access from your PVE host to the internet
• About 10 minutes of time
• A Remote-Backups.com account (we'll create this first)

That's it. No special hardware, no complex networking, no VPNs to configure.

Step 1: Create Your Remote-Backups Account

Head over to remote-backups.com and sign up for an account. The free 100GB tier is perfect for testing and small setups.

Once you're signed up and logged in, you'll see your dashboard. This is where you'll create your first datastore.

Step 2: Create a Datastore

In the Remote-Backups dashboard:

1. Click "Create Datastore" or navigate to the Datastores section
2. Give it a name (something like "proxmox-main" or "production-backups")
3. Choose your size (start with 100GB free tier or select a paid tier)
4. Click Create

The system provisions your datastore in a few seconds. You'll get:

• A server address (looks like xxx.pbs-host.de)
• A datastore name
• Connection credentials

Step 3: Get Your Fingerprint

PBS uses TLS certificate fingerprints to verify connections. You need to grab yours from the dashboard.

In your Remote-Backups dashboard:

1. Go to your datastore settings
2. Look for "Connection Details" or "Show Fingerprint"
3. Copy the fingerprint (it's a long string like AA:BB:CC:DD:...)

This fingerprint ensures your Proxmox server is talking to the right backup server and not some imposter.

Step 4: Add Remote-Backups to Proxmox VE

Now the fun part. Open your Proxmox VE web interface.

Navigate to Datacenter > Storage > Add > Proxmox Backup Server

You'll see a form asking for connection details. Here's what to fill in:

ID

This is what Proxmox calls this storage. Use something descriptive like remote-backups or pbs-offsite. You'll see this name when selecting backup targets.

Server

Enter the server address from your Remote-Backups dashboard. It looks like xxx.pbs-host.de (no https:// prefix, just the hostname).

Username

Use the username from your Remote-Backups account, typically in the format your-email@pbs or similar. Check your dashboard for the exact format.

Password

Your Remote-Backups account password or API token (recommended for production use).

Datastore

The name of the datastore you created in Step 2. This needs to match exactly.

Fingerprint

Paste the fingerprint you copied in Step 3.

ID: remote-backups
Server: pbs-42.remote-backups.com
Username: user@example.com@pbs
Password: ••••••••••••
Datastore: proxmox-main
Fingerprint: AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF:00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD

Click Add and Proxmox will verify the connection. If everything is correct, you'll see your new storage appear in the list.

Step 5: Test with a Manual Backup

Let's make sure everything works by running a test backup.

1. Pick a small VM or container (something under 10GB for a quick test)
2. Click on it in the left sidebar
3. Go to Backup in the top menu
4. Click Backup now

In the backup dialog:

• Storage: Select remote-backups (or whatever you named it)
• Mode: Choose Snapshot (recommended for most cases)
• Compression: ZSTD is a good default (fast and efficient)

Click Backup and watch it run in the task log.

Your first backup will take longer because it's uploading all the data. Subsequent backups are incremental and much faster since PBS only transfers changed blocks.

Step 6: Set Up Automatic Backups

Manual backups are great for testing, but you want this automated. Here's how to create a backup job that runs on a schedule.

Navigate to Datacenter > Backup and click Add.

General Settings

Node: Select which Proxmox node to back up (or All for clusters)

Storage: Choose remote-backups

Schedule: When to run (I like 02:00 for overnight backups)

Selection mode: How to choose VMs

• Include selected VMs - pick specific ones
• All - backup everything (easiest)
• Pool - backup all VMs in a resource pool

Send email: Toggle this on and add your email for notifications

Compression: ZSTD (unless you have a reason to change it)

Mode: Snapshot (recommended)

Retention Settings

This is important. You don't want to keep backups forever (expensive) but you need enough history to recover from issues you don't notice right away.

Here's a solid default retention policy:

This gives you good coverage without eating storage. Adjust based on your needs and budget.

Click Create and you're done. The backup job will run on schedule automatically.

Understanding Backup Modes

PBS offers three backup modes. Here's when to use each:

Snapshot Mode (Recommended)

How it works: Creates a live snapshot of your VM while it's running, then backs up from the snapshot.

Pros: Zero downtime, VM keeps running

Cons: Requires QEMU guest agent for app-consistent snapshots (optional but recommended)

Use for: Production VMs, anything that needs to stay online

Suspend Mode

How it works: Pauses the VM, backs it up, then resumes.

Pros: Clean state, no snapshot overhead

Cons: VM is frozen during backup (could be minutes)

Use for: VMs that can handle brief interruptions

Stop Mode

How it works: Shuts down the VM, backs it up, then starts it again.

Pros: 100% consistent backup, no snapshot complexity

Cons: VM is offline for the entire backup duration

Use for: VMs that aren't time-critical, or where you need guaranteed consistency

For most people, Snapshot mode is the right choice. It's what Proxmox defaults to for good reason.

Monitoring Your Backups

After your first scheduled backup runs, check that it worked:

1. Go to Datacenter > Backup in Proxmox
2. Click on your backup job
3. Look at the Recent Tasks section

You'll see a list of backup runs with status (OK, Error, Warning). Click any task to see details and logs.

You can also log into your Remote-Backups dashboard to see storage usage and verify backups are landing correctly.

How to Restore a VM

Eventually, you'll need to restore something. Here's how:

1. Navigate to your remote-backups storage in Proxmox
2. Click Show Backups or browse the datastore
3. Find the backup you want
4. Click Restore

You can:

• Restore to the original VM ID (replaces existing VM)
• Restore to a new VM ID (creates a copy)
• Restore individual files (via file browser)

The restore process is fast because PBS only downloads the chunks you need, not the entire backup.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

"Connection refused" or "No route to host"

Problem: Proxmox can't reach the Remote-Backups server.

Fix: Check your firewall. Proxmox needs outbound HTTPS (port 8007) access. If you're behind a corporate firewall, you might need to whitelist the PBS server.

"Invalid fingerprint"

Problem: The TLS fingerprint doesn't match.

Fix: Copy the fingerprint again from your Remote-Backups dashboard. Make sure there are no extra spaces or characters.

"Authentication failed"

Problem: Username or password is wrong.

Fix: Double-check credentials in your Remote-Backups dashboard. Remember the username format includes a domain like @pbs.

Backup is slow

Problem: Backups are taking forever.

Likely causes:

1. Upload bandwidth: Check your internet connection. PBS backups are bottlenecked by upload speed.
2. Source disk speed: If you're backing up from slow spinning rust, that's your bottleneck.
3. CPU: Compression and deduplication are CPU-intensive. Old or overloaded systems will be slower.

Fix: Reduce compression level, check your network with iperf3, or consider upgrading hardware.

"Datastore full"

Problem: You've run out of space.

Fix: Resize your datastore in the Remote-Backups dashboard, or prune old backups to free space.

Advanced Tips

Using API Tokens Instead of Passwords

For production, use API tokens instead of your account password:

1. Create an API token in your Remote-Backups dashboard
2. Use the token as the password in Proxmox
3. The username becomes your-user@pbs!token-name

This is more secure and easier to rotate if needed.

Bandwidth Limiting

If backups are saturating your internet connection, you can limit PBS bandwidth:

Add --bwlimit RATE to your backup job settings, where RATE is in KB/s.

Example: --bwlimit 10000 limits to ~10MB/s

Encryption

Remote-Backups.com encrypts data at rest, but you can add client-side encryption for extra security:

In your datastore settings on Proxmox, enable encryption and set a passphrase. This encrypts data before it leaves your network.

Multiple Datastores

You can create multiple datastores for different purposes:

• production-daily - frequent backups, short retention
• production-monthly - long-term archival, minimal retention cost
• testing - ephemeral VMs, aggressive pruning

Each datastore can have different retention policies and encryption settings.

Next Steps

You now have working offsite backups for your Proxmox environment. Here's what to do next:

1. Test your restores - Don't just assume backups work. Actually restore a VM to verify.
2. Monitor consistently - Set up regular checks (weekly?) to confirm backups are running.
3. Document your setup - Write down your datastores, retention policies, and any custom settings.
4. Plan for growth - Monitor storage usage and plan when you'll need to resize.

Conclusion

Setting up offsite PBS storage takes about 10 minutes but gives you enterprise-grade backup protection. You don't need to run another server, maintain hardware, or worry about local failures taking out your backups.

Remote-Backups.com handles the infrastructure so you can focus on actually using your Proxmox environment instead of babysitting backup servers.

Questions? Issues? Check the Remote-Backups documentation or reach out to support.