Availability of Proxmox Backup Server V.2.4 Starting at €495/Server

Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH has released version 2.4 of Backup Server bringing dark mode for the web interface, LDAP authentication realm, and support for WORM tapes.

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The open-source server backup solution allows backing up and restoring VMs, containers, and physical hosts. By supporting incremental, de-duped backups, it reduces network load, required storage space and, as a result, total infrastructure cost. With the integrated web interface, users can manage and monitor all backup tasks from a single pane of glass and recover single files, entire VMs, and archives in case of a disaster.

What’s new in Backup Server 2.4?
This version is based on Debian 11.6 ‘Bullseye’, but using a newer Linux kernel 5.15, and including ZFS 2.1.9. While the 5.15 kernel is the stable default, Linux kernel 6.2 can optionally be installed for better support of the latest hardware.

Dark mode: The ntegrated theme ‘Proxmox Dark’ is available for the web interface. By default, the prefers-color-scheme media query from the browser or OS will be used to decide the default color scheme. Users can override the theme via a newly added ‘Color Theme’ selector in the user menu.
Added LDAP authentication realm and user synchronization: This version allows user authentication against an external LDAP server. In order to be able to log in, users in LDAP realms must be added manually. Alternatively, users can be synced automatically from the LDAP server. In the web interface the dialog Add User has a realm field, making it possible to manually add users to an LDAP or OpenID Connect realm.
WORM tapes: Initial support for WORM tapes is available with version 2.4. With the special WORM cartridges, data can only be written to the memory once; subsequent changes are not possible. WORM compliant storage is often a requirement for organizations with legal regulations. In addition, it serves, for example, to protect against the accidental or intentional deletion of critical data. The company’s Backup Server makes no distinction between normal and WORM tapes, so different naming schemes and dedicated media pools are recommended.

Further enhancements:

Task logs can now be downloaded directly in the web interface as text files for further inspection.
Installation ISO: During installation, the UTC timezone can be selected, facilitating the synchronization of hosts or clusters that are distributed across multiple geographic locations.
The technical documentation has been improved with more detailed explanations of the Garbage Collection (GC). Also, dark mode support for the docs and the API viewer widget has been added.

The firm’s Backup Server integrates into ‘Proxmox Virtual Environment’ – users just need to add the storage for the Backup Server as a new storage backup target to Proxmox VE. The software is published under the GNU AGPL, v3 license.

Availability
Proxmox Backup Server is free and open-source software, published under the GNU AGPL, v3. The downloadable ISO image can be installed on bare-metal using the installation wizard. The centrally managed software stack Backup Server 2.4 is now available for download. Distribution upgrades from older versions of Backup Server are possible via APT. It is also possible to install Backup Server on top of Debian.

For enterprise users, the company offers a subscription-based support model, which provides access to the tested Enterprise Repository, with regular updates via the web interface, as well as technical support on a subscription basis. Prices start €495/server, including unlimited backup storage and backup-clients.