How to install Proxmox Backup Client on a Linux host

Proxmox Backup Client allows you to back up files and directories from any Linux host to a Proxmox Backup Server instance, including Cloud-PBS. This guide covers installation on Debian 12, Debian 13, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, RHEL 9, Rocky Linux 9, AlmaLinux 9, Fedora and openSUSE.

For the full technical reference, see the Proxmox Backup Client installation documentation.

Prerequisites

• A Linux host (Debian, Ubuntu or any modern Linux distribution)
• A Cloud-PBS or Proxmox Backup Server instance
• Connection credentials (server address, username, fingerprint)

Installation by distribution

The Proxmox team officially packages proxmox-backup-client as a Debian package. Ubuntu can use the same Debian repository thanks to binary compatibility. For RHEL-family distributions, Fedora, openSUSE and other Linux flavours, install the statically linked binary.

Install on Debian 13 (Trixie)

echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs-client trixie main" \
  > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pbs-client.list

wget https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-release-trixie.gpg \
  -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-release-trixie.gpg

apt update
apt install proxmox-backup-client

Install on Debian 12 (Bookworm)

echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs-client bookworm main" \
  > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pbs-client.list

wget https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg \
  -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg

apt update
apt install proxmox-backup-client

Install on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat)

Ubuntu 24.04 is binary-compatible with Debian 12. Use the Bookworm repository:

echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs-client bookworm main" \
  > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pbs-client.list

wget https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg \
  -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg

apt update
apt install proxmox-backup-client

Install on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)

Same procedure as Ubuntu 24.04. The Bookworm repository works on both:

echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs-client bookworm main" \
  > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pbs-client.list

wget https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg \
  -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg

apt update
apt install proxmox-backup-client

Install on RHEL 9, Rocky Linux 9 and AlmaLinux 9

There is no official RPM repository. Use the statically linked binary that the Proxmox team ships:

# On any Debian host with the pbs-client repo configured:
apt install proxmox-backup-client-static
scp /usr/bin/proxmox-backup-client root@your-rhel-host:/usr/local/bin/

# On the RHEL/Rocky/Alma host:
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/proxmox-backup-client
proxmox-backup-client version

This binary has been tested on Rocky Linux 9 and AlmaLinux 9 with no runtime dependencies required.

Install on Fedora, openSUSE, Arch Linux and Alpine

The static binary works on virtually any modern Linux distribution. Follow the same two-step procedure as the RHEL section: build or copy proxmox-backup-client from a Debian host with the proxmox-backup-client-static package, then deploy it to /usr/local/bin/ on the target. Tested on Fedora 40+, openSUSE Leap 15, Arch Linux and Alpine 3.20+.

Basic usage

Create a backup

proxmox-backup-client backup root.pxar:/ \
  --repository user@pbs!token@your-cloud-pbs-instance:store

List snapshots

proxmox-backup-client list \
  --repository user@pbs!token@your-cloud-pbs-instance:store

Restore files

proxmox-backup-client restore host/hostname/2024-01-01T00:00:00Z root.pxar /restore-target/ \
  --repository user@pbs!token@your-cloud-pbs-instance:store

Automating backups

Create a systemd timer to run backups automatically:

# Create /etc/systemd/system/pbs-backup.service
[Unit]
Description=Proxmox Backup Client backup

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/bin/proxmox-backup-client backup root.pxar:/ --repository user@pbs!token@server:store

# Create /etc/systemd/system/pbs-backup.timer
[Unit]
Description=Daily PBS backup

[Timer]
OnCalendar=daily
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Enable the timer:

systemctl enable --now pbs-backup.timer

Using with Cloud-PBS

The same client works seamlessly with Cloud-PBS. Use the credentials from your Cloud-PBS dashboard as the repository URL.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues, check our troubleshooting guides:

• Backup owner check failed
• PBS Client error: missing key