WZ-IT supports this through the relevant service: PBS setup and operations.
A backup solution for Proxmox must fit the recovery goal: which guests, how fast, how far back and against which attacks? This overview assesses four documented approaches: the integrated vzdump route, Proxmox Backup Server, Veeam and NAKIVO. It names feature scope, limits and selection criteria without benchmarks or an overall winner. The PBS and Veeam detailed comparison remains the deep dive for those two products. As of October 2026.
Contents
- Four backup approaches
- Feature comparison at a glance
- Select by recovery requirements
- Typical situations
- Assess operations and protection boundaries
- Turn selection into an operational design
Four backup approaches
vzdump (integrated). Proxmox VE backs up VMs and containers with vzdump as archives. The modes stop, suspend and snapshot differ in downtime and consistency: stop offers the highest consistency with short downtime, snapshot the least downtime with a consistency risk. Compression options are zstd, lzo and gzip, and prune-backups controls retention (keep-last, keep-daily, keep-weekly and more). Targets are local directories, NFS or a Proxmox Backup Server. With directory and NFS targets, backups are always full backups (vzdump documentation).
Proxmox Backup Server (PBS). A dedicated server as backup target with incremental backups, deduplication across the whole datastore and Zstandard compression. Backups can be encrypted client-side with AES-256 in GCM mode, and SHA-256 checksums protect integrity. Added to that are verification, sync to remote servers, tape support, restoring single files and live restore. PBS backs up VMs, containers and physical hosts and is licensed under AGPLv3 (PBS introduction).
Veeam Backup & Replication. The platform backs up Proxmox VMs through a plug-in with worker VMs and writes to Veeam repositories. The plug-in does not support LXC containers (Veeam: Considerations and Limitations). Strengths are immutability through a hardened repository or Object Lock, application-aware backup and joint management with other platforms (Veeam: Proxmox integration).
NAKIVO Backup & Replication. For Proxmox VE, NAKIVO lists incremental, image-based and application-aware VM backups with native change tracking, instant recovery, restoring single files and application objects, replication and several targets such as S3-compatible storage, NAS and tape (NAKIVO: Proxmox backup). Which guest types and versions are supported is stated in the support matrix.
Feature comparison at a glance
| Criterion | vzdump | PBS | Veeam | NAKIVO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guest types | VMs and containers | VMs, containers, physical hosts | Proxmox VMs, no LXC | VMs; check the support matrix for containers |
| Incremental | No (full), yes with PBS target | Yes | Yes | Yes, with native change tracking |
| Deduplication | Only with PBS target | Yes, across the whole datastore | Within a job | Depends on target, per vendor |
| Encryption | Depends on target | Client-side, AES-256-GCM | Yes, per vendor | Yes, per vendor |
| Immutability | No | No WORM mode; protection through permissions and offsite | Hardened repository, Object Lock | Available per vendor, check the scope |
| Recovery | qmrestore, pct restore |
Guest, file, live restore | Guest, file, application objects | Guest, file, instant recovery |
| Operations | Part of Proxmox VE | Separate server | Backup server, workers, repositories | Director, transporters |
| Licence | Part of Proxmox VE (AGPLv3) | AGPLv3 | Commercial | Commercial |
The Veeam and NAKIVO rows reflect vendor statements. Check encryption types, version releases and licence models with the vendor before selecting.
Select by recovery requirements
Define which VMs, containers and applications must be backed up before comparing products. A documented VM integration is no proof that every LXC container or database is covered. Check the respective support matrix, guest consistency, excluded disks and recovery paths.
Use the same acceptance criteria for every candidate: restore a complete guest, retrieve required files, start the application in isolation, verify key access and document the result. WZ-IT's restore test follows this pattern.
Typical situations
| Starting point | Obvious choice | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Pure Proxmox environment with VMs and LXC | PBS | Native, incremental, deduplicated, backs up containers |
| Small environment without an extra server | vzdump to NFS or a storage box | No additional server; full backups need more storage |
| Existing Veeam landscape with Proxmox VMs | Veeam with plug-in | Existing operations integration; LXC needs a second path |
| Requirement for immutable copies (WORM) | Veeam with hardened repository or Object Lock | PBS has no WORM mode; with PBS only the permission model and a separate offsite copy remain |
| Mixed platforms with central management | Veeam or NAKIVO | One console for several hypervisors |
Assess operations and protection boundaries
Record software procurement, infrastructure, monitoring, offsite copy and restore acceptance separately per solution. Without a data volume and a measured change rate, a general saving rate is not reliable. Prices and version releases are therefore not adopted as lasting comparison values.
A backup product alone does not prove protection against every ransomware situation. With PBS, sync permissions and encryption are separate mechanisms. What matters is which compromised identity could delete which copy. A successful verify job also does not check the complete business application.
Turn selection into an operational design
For a Proxmox-centred environment PBS is a candidate to evaluate. In an existing Veeam or NAKIVO landscape the existing operations integration belongs in the decision. WZ-IT offers PBS setup and operations and a separate restore test. This implies no sales or partner status for the other vendors mentioned.
Afterwards read setting up PBS and the PBS/Veeam detailed comparison.
Further reading
- Proxmox Backup Server vs. Veeam: which backup solution for Proxmox VE?
- Set up Proxmox Backup Server: installation and operations
To the matching service: PBS setup and operations.
