Deploy Proxmox Backup Server On Debian 12
Introduction
This tutorial will guide you through setting up Proxmox Backup Server on a Debian 12 server. This is useful in cases where one cannot simply run the ISO, such as when setting up on a cloud provider such as AWS or DigitalOcean.
If you don't know what Proxmox Backup Server is, then below is a great video from Techno Tim to explain:
Related Posts
Steps
Preparation - Required Ports
If you need to open up a firewall, or perform port-forwarding, below are the ports you need to know about:
- 8007 (TCP) - Almost all communication happens over this HTTP TLS connection.
- 80 (TCP) - optionally required if wish to make use of Let's Encrypt HTTP-based challenges for certificate renewal.
Preparation - Root Password
PBS uses the root user for logging in. Your installation of Debian 12 may not have a password set for the root user, so I would recommend becoming the root user with:
sudo su
...and making user there is a password (and you know it), by running:
passwd
Install PBS
# Add Proxmox signing key to our trusted list.
sudo wget https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg \
-O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg
# Add proxmox backup server repository to our sources.
sudo echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs bookworm pbs-no-subscription" \
| sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/proxmox-backup-server.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install proxmox-backup -y
You will be prompted for telling Postfix how to send email. If you are unsure, I would recommend setting "No configuration" and reconfiguring it later.
After that has completed, you can go to your backup server by navigating to:
https://pbs.mydomain.com:8007
... in your browser. You will come across an SSL warning, but just add the exception to continue.
Configure SSL
Proxmox Backup Server will use a self-signed certificate by default, which is why it gives you that warning message when you go to the UI. You can resolve this by either generating and swapping out the certificate files at:
- /etc/proxmox-backup/proxy.pem (combined site/CA certificate)
- /etc/proxmox-backup/proxy.key (private key file)
... or you coud simply set up a reverse-proxy in front of it.
Once you have put the certificates in place, set the permissions and restart the PBS service for them to take effect:
chown root:backup /etc/proxmox-backup/proxy.pem /etc/proxmox-backup/proxy.key
chmod 640 /etc/proxmox-backup/proxy.pem /etc/proxmox-backup/proxy.key
systemctl reload proxmox-backup-proxy
References
- Vultr - How to Install Proxmox Backup Server on Debian 11
- Proxmox Forum - Removing ifupdown during Proxmox Backup Server Install Bricks AWS EC2 VM
- Reddit - Does anybody run PBS on AWS EC2? Did you have trouble installing it?
- Proxmox Forum - AGAIN, proxmox backup server doesn't accept connection after install & reboot
- Proxmox Forum - How to setup ssl for pbs?
- Proxmox - HTTPS Certificate Configuration
First published: 30th January 2025
