Create your first backup

Before you begin

Check these first — each one is something the backup plan depends on.

• You need permission to create backup plans, assign VMs to them, and run restores. If you are not sure, ask your administrator.
• At least one VM exists to protect — if not, follow Create your first VM (click here) first.
• A storage pool is available to hold the backups — choose one backed by a Proxmox Backup Server.
• If a menu below is missing, your role probably does not include it — see the Permissions reference (click here).

Create the backup plan

The create page defines the plan and, optionally, its VM assignment in one flow.

1. Open Data Protection → Backups, then select Create.
2. Under Plan Information, enter a Plan Name, an optional Description, and select the Storage Pool that will hold the backups.
3. Under Schedule, set the frequency (daily, weekly or monthly), the run time, the days, and the times per day.
4. Under Restore Points, set the retention sliders (Days, Weeks, Months and Years are shown according to the chosen frequency); the retention timeline graph previews how long each restore point is kept.
5. Optionally assign a resource group and add manual tags under Tags.
6. Under VM Assignment, choose the VMs to protect using tag rules (with an AND/OR match mode) and/or by selecting individual VMs; the summary shows the manually selected and tag-matched counts.
7. Select Save to create the plan.
8. Open the new plan's Jobs tab to review the Backup Job History, or watch runs complete in the Task Manager (top bar).

Expected result: the backup plan is created and its scheduled runs are queued for the assigned VMs.

Choose a restore point

When you need to recover, restore from a completed backup job. A restore always creates a new VM and never overwrites the source.

1. Open Compute → Virtual Machines, open a VM, then select its Backup tab (or open Data Protection → Backups, open the plan, and select the Jobs tab).
2. Review the Backup Job History timeline, where each point is a backup job coloured by status (success, failed, partial, or running).
3. In the Backup Jobs table, identify the completed job you want to recover from.

Expected result: you have identified the restore point (backup job) to recover from.

Run the restore

1. From the chosen backup job, select Restore to open the restore page pre-filled with that job's context.
2. Enter a Restore VM Name and an optional VM Description.
3. Select the Compute Pool and the Storage Pool for the restored VM.
4. Set the Initial State to Stopped or Running (leave it Stopped to inspect the VM before powering it on).
5. Select Restore to confirm.
6. Open the Task Manager (top bar) and track the restore task until it completes.

Expected result: the restored VM appears as a new entry in Virtual Machines, leaving the source VM untouched.

Next steps

• Restore & recovery — the full set of restore options (click here)
• Backups — retention, job history, and assignment options (click here)