vzdump
Proxmox VE virtual machine backup tool
TLDR
SYNOPSIS
vzdump [OPTIONS] VMID...
DESCRIPTION
vzdump is a backup utility for Proxmox VE virtual machines (KVM) and containers (LXC). It creates consistent backups that can be restored later using qmrestore (VMs) or pct restore (containers).Three backup modes are available: snapshot (default, minimal downtime using LVM/ZFS/QEMU snapshots), stop (highest consistency, stops the guest during backup), and suspend (legacy compatibility mode). Backups are stored in /var/lib/vz/dump/ by default, or to a configured Proxmox storage.
PARAMETERS
--mode MODE
Backup mode: snapshot (default, minimal downtime), stop (highest consistency, VM stops), or suspend (compatibility).--dumpdir DIR
Store resulting backup files in DIR instead of the default location.--storage STORAGEID_
Store resulting backup files to the specified Proxmox storage.--mailto EMAIL
Send notification email to address. Deprecated in favor of notification system.--all
Backup all known guest systems on the host.--exclude VMIDS
Exclude specified VM IDs (assumes --all).--pool POOL
Backup all guest systems in the specified pool.--compress TYPE
Compression type: 0 (none, default), gzip, lzo, or zstd.--zstd N
Zstandard thread count (default: 1). 0 uses half of available cores.--pigz N
Use parallel gzip. N=1 uses half of available cores; N>1 uses N threads.--prune-backups RETENTION
Retention policy (e.g., keep-last=N,keep-daily=N,keep-weekly=N,keep-monthly=N,keep-yearly=N). Default: keep-all=1.--maxfiles N
Deprecated. Maximum number of backup files per VM. Use --prune-backups instead.--protected
Mark backup as protected to prevent automatic removal.--bwlimit KiB/s
Limit I/O bandwidth in KiB/s (default: 0, unlimited).--ionice N
Set IO priority (0-8) when using the BFQ scheduler (default: 7).--tmpdir DIR
Store temporary files in DIR.--lockwait MIN
Maximum minutes to wait for the global lock (default: 180).--stopwait MIN
Maximum minutes to wait until the guest system stops (default: 10).--script FILE
Execute hook script during backup.--notes-template TEMPLATE
Template for backup notes. Variables: {{vmid}}, {{guestname}}, {{node}}, {{cluster}}.--quiet
Suppress verbose output.--stdexcludes
Exclude temporary files and logs (default: enabled).
CAVEATS
Proxmox VE specific. Large VMs require significant backup storage. Snapshot mode requires LVM, ZFS, or QEMU snapshot support. The --maxfiles option is deprecated in favor of --prune-backups. Global configuration can be set in /etc/vzdump.conf.
