https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/docs/main/howto/instances_backup/#instances-backup-export

A bit down from the snapshots section is the export section, what I do is I export to a place then back it up with Restic. I do not compress on export and instead do it myself with the —rsyncable flag added to zstd. (Flag applies to gzip too) With the rsyncable flag incremental backups work on the zip file so it’s space efficient despite being compressed. I don’t worry about collating individual zip files, instead I rely on Restic’s built-in versioning to get a specific version of the VM/container if I needed it.

Also a few of my containers I linked the real file system (big ole data drive) into the container and just snapshot the big ole data drive/send said snapshot using the BTRFS/ZFS methods cause that seemed easier, those containers are easy enough to stand up on a whim and then just need said data hooked up.

I also restic the sent snapshot since snapshots are write-static and restic can read from it at its leisure. Restic is the final backup orchestrator for all of my data. One restic call == one “restic snapshot” so I call it monolithically with one call covering several data sources.

Hope that helps!

https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/docs/main/howto/instances_backup/#instances-snapshots

This describes the jist, it’s all about snapshots! Incus loves BTRFS/ZFS.

There’s no true need for stop everything as far as I can tell.

Stop everything is applicable for databases for any backup system (snapshot avoids backing up a database mid write (guaranteed failure) but the snapshot could be during a live database multi-step operation and while intact is left in a cursed state). For databases I make sure to stop and backup (SQLite losers) or backup live (Gods’ chosen Postgres) specially so no very niche database failures occur even though it was done with instant/write-safe snapshots!!

Recovery plan is restore snapshot and if 0.1% chance of database bad bc was mid big multiple step operation then I have the .gz to restore from.

There is a larger community. I have proxmox and incus on two devices and for the basics (LXC container/VM) Incus is way more straight forward. Ditchin proxmox next reinstall on the other device (that proxmox install is the OS version). If you’re doing regular stuff it’s easy enough even with the reduced community! They’ve covered the basics well.

But again, proxmox community is larger. I started with it for that reason too.

Since you’re not using proxmox as an OS install, why not check out Incus? It accomplishes the same goals as proxmox but is easier to use (for me at least). Make sure you install incus’ web ui, makes it ez pz. Incus does the VMs and containers just like proxmox but isn’t focused on clustering 1st but rather machine 1st. It does do clustering, but the default UI is set for your machine to start so it makes more sense to me. The forums are very useful and questions get answered quickly, and there’s an Ubuntu-only fork called LXD which expands the available pool of answers. (For now, almost all commands are the same between Incus and LXD). I run the incus stable release from the Zabbly package repo, I think the long term release doesn’t have the web ui yet (I could be wrong). Never have had a problem. When Debian 13 hits I’ll switch to whatever is included there and should be set.

https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/docs/main/installing/#installing-from-package

I use incus for VMs and LXC containers. I also have Docker on the Debian system. Many types of containers for every purpose!

I installed incus on a Debian system that I encrypted with LUKS. It unlocks after reboots with a USB drive, basically I use it like a yubikey but you could leave it in so the system always reboots no problem. There’s also a network unlock too but I didn’t try to figure that out. Without USB drive or network, you’ll have to enter the encryption key on every reboot.

Now this is feral hacking hell yeah