Managing and protecting virtual machines (VMs) is a priority in any modern IT environment. With the proliferation of virtualization platforms, one question arises: Can Proxmox Backup Server —the official backup solution for Proxmox VE— perform direct backups of VMs running on VMware ESXi?
Proxmox Backup Server: Overview
Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) is an open-source backup and restoration system optimized for Proxmox VE environments. It allows for incremental, deduplicated, and encrypted backups of VMs and containers (LXC) managed by Proxmox VE. Its main advantages include:
- Native integration with Proxmox VE (automation, centralized management, granular recovery).
- Support for hot backups (no VM downtime).
- Efficiency and data deduplication.
- Security and end-to-end encryption.
Is Proxmox Backup Server compatible with VMware ESXi?
Natively, Proxmox Backup Server CANNOT perform direct backups of virtual machines running on VMware ESXi.
PBS is designed to deeply integrate with Proxmox VE and its APIs, allowing for a seamless backup and restoration experience only for Proxmox environments.
Are there any alternatives to using PBS in VMware environments?
Although there is no direct compatibility, there are technical alternatives that allow you to leverage PBS’s capabilities in mixed infrastructures:
- Backup of exported VMDK/VMDK files
You can schedule tasks in ESXi/vCenter to export complete VMs (e.g., in OVF or VMDK format) to intermediate storage (NFS, SMB, etc.) and then configure a Proxmox Backup Server client to back up these image files as if they were regular files.
Limitation: Restoration will be manual and not as efficient or granular as in Proxmox VE. - Combined use with other solutions
Typically, it’s common to use backup solutions specific to VMware (Veeam, Nakivo, Commvault, etc.) that offer native support for consistent backups in ESXi. These backups can then be stored in a repository managed by PBS, but you will lose many of the advanced instant recovery and orchestration features. - Migrating VMs from VMware to Proxmox
If your goal is to unify the backup and management strategy, you can consider migrating VMs from VMware ESXi to Proxmox VE, where you will fully enjoy all the benefits of PBS. Proxmox VE includes tools to import VMs from ESXi (e.g., viaqm importdiskor OVF-based migrations).
Quick Comparison: Native Backup Compatibility
| Target Platform | Proxmox Backup Server | Direct Support |
|---|---|---|
| Proxmox VE | Yes | Full |
| LXC Containers | Yes | Full |
| VMware ESXi | No | Only via workaround/manual |
| KVM (external) | No | Only manual export |
Conclusion and Best Practices
- If you manage mixed VMware and Proxmox environments, it is generally recommended to use native backup solutions for each hypervisor and, if desired, store VMware backups in a common PBS-based repository, but only as file storage without integration or direct restoration.
- To get the maximum functionality out of Proxmox Backup Server, always use Proxmox VE as the hypervisor.
- Consider migrating workloads to Proxmox if you are looking for a 100% open-source and centralized solution for virtualization and backups.
In summary:
Proxmox Backup Server is an advanced backup solution optimized for Proxmox VE but does not allow native backups of VMs on VMware ESXi. In hybrid environments, a multi-backup architecture is recommended, using the appropriate tool for each hypervisor.