# PBS Backup — mordor

Client-side encrypted backups of this host to a Proxmox Backup Server (PBS)
that is **outside our control**.

- Server:   `backup02.par1.layer7.net:8007`
- Datastore: `l7-order9014`
- Namespace: `mordor`
- API token: `l7-order9014@pbs!mordor`
- Backup group: `host/mordor`

Everything lives in `/opt/backup/`.

## Files

| File | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `backup.env` | Shared config: server, datastore, namespace, token, key (sourced by both scripts) |
| `backup.env.sample` | Template — copy to `backup.env` and fill in real values |
| `backup.sh` | Full backup of `/` with client-side encryption |
| `restore.sh` | FUSE-mount the encrypted backup to browse/restore files |
| `/etc/proxmox-backup/encryption-key.pem` | Client-side encryption key (store a copy off-host!) |
| `/etc/proxmox-backup/defaults.exclude` | Paths excluded from the backup |

## How `backup.sh` works

1. Sources `backup.env`, which exports the connection/auth settings (server,
   datastore, port, API token) as separate `PBS_*` component variables. This
   matters: `PBS_AUTH_ID` is only honoured when `PBS_REPOSITORY` is *not* set.
2. Builds `--exclude` flags from `/etc/proxmox-backup/defaults.exclude`
   (`/proc`, `/sys`, `/dev`, `/run`, `/tmp`, …).
3. Runs:

   ```
   proxmox-backup-client backup mordor-root.pxar:/ \
       --keyfile /etc/proxmox-backup/encryption-key.pem \
       --ns mordor \
       --exclude /proc/* ...
   ```

4. The client encrypts everything locally before uploading. The PBS only ever
   stores ciphertext and cannot read the data.

Encryption is client-side. The key file has no password (`kdf: none`), so
**possession of the key file alone is enough to decrypt** — protect it.

## What to store elsewhere (critical)

The **encryption key is the only thing that makes the backups readable**. If
this host and the key are both lost, the backup is unrecoverable — no one at
the PBS provider can help.

- File: `/etc/proxmox-backup/encryption-key.pem`
- Fingerprint:
  `12:06:50:ac:a6:ac:80:87:57:a4:37:db:82:59:95:89:4a:c3:25:de:73:fd:99:0f:6f:55:aa:bc:e7:91:7f:4a`

Keep a copy somewhere safe that is **not this machine**:
- offline USB stick / printed paperkey
- password manager
- another trusted host

Also record (or be able to re-issue) the API token secret, so you can reach the
datastore at all. Losing the token costs you access; losing the key costs you
the data.

## How to restore files

`restore.sh` has three modes. Pick based on how much you need back.

Unless you pass a snapshot explicitly, each mode first lists the available
snapshots and prompts you to pick one (default: the most recent). You can skip
the prompt with `--snapshot <ref>` (or the positional snapshot on `mount`).

For a few files, the FUSE mount is the fastest option (random access, only
reads the path you touch). `restore --pattern` is the slowest (streams the
whole archive); `shell` + `restore-selected` sits in between.

### FUSE mount — browse, or restore a few files

```
./restore.sh                                  # mount latest snapshot at /mnt/pbs-restore
./restore.sh /mnt/restore host/mordor/2026-09-19T10:36:14Z   # specific snapshot
```

Then browse `/mnt/pbs-restore` and copy out what you need. Unmount with:

```
umount /mnt/pbs-restore
```

The mount does random access, so it only downloads the chunks for the files
you actually read. That's cheap for a handful of files, but slow to walk a
large tree (each file is a round-trip).

### Bulk restore — a whole directory or many files

```
./restore.sh restore /restore/var/vmail "var/vmail/example.com/*"
```

Streams the archive sequentially and extracts the matching paths — the fast
way to get a large directory or many files back. Patterns are globs against
paths inside the archive and may be repeated; with none, the whole archive is
extracted:

```
./restore.sh restore /mnt/full-restore
```

Note: pattern restore always reads the whole archive (it streams and filters),
so it's wasteful for one or two files — use the mount for those.

### Interactive shell — browse and selectively restore

```
./restore.sh shell
```

Drops into an interactive shell that navigates the backup via the catalog
metadata, so browsing is fast (it doesn't read the archive). Useful commands:

```
ls [path]            list the current directory
cd [path]            change directory
pwd                  print current directory
find <pattern>       search entries
select <path>        mark an entry for restore
deselect <path>      unmark an entry
list-selected        show what is marked
restore-selected <target>   restore everything marked
exit                 quit
```

Note: `restore-selected` is catalog-driven — it reads only matched files'
data, not the whole 40 GiB — but it still walks the entire catalog and fetches
per-directory pxar metadata from the archive, so it's ~a minute on a large
tree, not instant. For one or two files, `mount` + `cp` is much faster.

### Manual `restore` (advanced)

First source the shared config (`source /opt/backup/backup.env`), then:

```
proxmox-backup-client restore host/mordor/<time> mordor-root.pxar /restore/dir \
    --ns mordor \
    --keyfile /etc/proxmox-backup/encryption-key.pem \
    --pattern "etc/postfix/main.cf"
```

## Snapshots

The snapshot reference has the form `<type>/<id>/<UTC-time>`, e.g.
`host/mordor/2026-09-19T10:36:14Z`. List available snapshots with:

```
proxmox-backup-client snapshot list host/mordor --ns mordor
```