Proxmox Autosnap

A simple script written on python to control zfs proxmox snapshots via pct or qm.

Installing

git clone https://github.com/apprell/proxmox-autosnap.git
ln -s /root/proxmox-autosnap/proxmox-autosnap.py /usr/local/sbin/proxmox-autosnap.py
ln -s /root/proxmox-autosnap/autosnap /etc/cron.d/autosnap
chmod +x /root/proxmox-autosnap/proxmox-autosnap.py

Help

| Arguments | Required | Type | Default | Description | |---------------------|----------|------|---------|-----------------------------------------------------------------| | vmid | no | list | empty | Space separated list of CT/VM IDs or all. | | snap | no | bool | false | Create a snapshot but do not delete anything. | | autosnap | no | bool | false | Create a snapshot and delete the old one. | | keep | no | int | 30 | The number of snapshots which should will keep. | | label | no | str | daily | One of minute, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly. | | clean | no | bool | false | Delete all or selected autosnapshots. | | exclude | no | list | empty | Space separated list of CT/VM IDs to exclude from processing. | | mute | no | bool | false | Output only errors. | | running | no | bool | false | Run only on running vm, skip on stopped. | | includevmstate | no | bool | false | Include the VM state in snapshots. | | dryrun | no | bool | false | Do not create or delete snapshots, just print the commands. | | date-iso-format | no | bool | false | Store snapshots in ISO 8601 format. | | date-human-format | no | bool | false | Store snapshots in human readable format. | | date-truenas-format | no | bool | false | Store snapshots in TrueNAS format. | | sudo | no | bool | false | Launch commands through sudo. | | zfs-send-to | no | str | empty | Send a copy of zfs subvolumes to another host via syncoid | | tags | no | list | empty | Space separated list of tags | | exclude-tags | no | list | empty | Space separated list of tags to exclude | | force | no | bool | false | Force removal from the config, even if snapshot deletion fails. | | check-free-space | no | bool | false | Verify sufficient storage space before snapshot creation. |

proxmox-autosnap.py --help

Examples

# Create a daily snapshot for all VM
proxmox-autosnap.py --snap --vmid all
Create snapshot only on running vm
proxmox-autosnap.py --snap --vmid all --running
Create a daily snapshot for selected VM
proxmox-autosnap.py --snap --vmid 100 101 102
Create a daily snapshot for all VM with the exception of 100 101 102
proxmox-autosnap.py --snap --vmid all --exclude 100 101 102
Delete all daily autosnapshots for selected VM
proxmox-autosnap.py --clean --vmid 100 101 102 --keep 0
Create a hourly snapshot for all VM
proxmox-autosnap.py --snap --vmid all --label hourly
Delete all hourly autosnapshots for all VM
proxmox-autosnap.py --clean --vmid all --label hourly --keep 0
Create a snapshot name in ISO 8601 format
Example autodaily20230322T0126_23
It is not necessary to specify the --date-iso-format argument to delete snapshots 
proxmox-autosnap.py --snap --vmid 100 --date-iso-format
Create a snapshot name in human readable format
Example autodaily250303_134506
It is not necessary to specify the --date-human-format argument to delete snapshots 
proxmox-autosnap.py --snap --vmid 100 --date-human-format
Create a snapshot name in TrueNAS format
Example autodaily20240212194857
It is not necessary to specify the --date-truenas-format argument to delete snapshots 
proxmox-autosnap.py --snap --vmid 100 --date-truenas-format
Create a snapshot filtered by tags and exclude tags
Tags are supported only in Proxmox version 7.3 and above
proxmox-autosnap.py --sudo --snap --tags snap --label hourly
proxmox-autosnap.py --sudo --snap --vmid all --label hourly --exclude-tags nosnap

SUDO

In order to run with sudo argument, you must first create a user and specify minimum accesses for him, for example:

cat /etc/sudoers.d/proxmox-backup

Cmnd_Alias VMLIST = /usr/bin/cat /etc/pve/.vmlist
Cmnd_Alias PCT = /usr/sbin/pct snapshot , /usr/sbin/pct listsnapshot , /usr/sbin/pct delsnapshot *
Cmnd_Alias QM = /usr/sbin/qm snapshot , /usr/sbin/qm listsnapshot , /usr/sbin/qm delsnapshot *
Cmnd_Alias PVESH = /usr/bin/pvesh get /cluster/resources --type vm --output-format json, /usr/bin/pvesh get /nodes//storage --content rootdir --enabled 1 --output-format json, /usr/bin/pvesh get /nodes//storage/*/content --output-format json
proxmox-backup ALL=NOPASSWD: VMLIST,PCT,QM,PVESH

After that you can run the script with the argument

proxmox-autosnap.py --snap --vmid 100 --date-iso-format --sudo

zfs-send-to

To use option zfs-send-to, you need to install syncoid, and enable zfs permissions on both local and target hosts. See documentation on configuring zfs allow for syncoid for more information.

Option should be set to [user@]host:zfsdir. All subvolumes of specified VMs will be copied to this path, including rootfs and mpX mount points with backup option enabled on Proxmox.

CRON

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
Task for snapshot every hour from 1 through 23.
5 1-23   * root /usr/local/sbin/proxmox-autosnap.py --autosnap --vmid all --label hourly --keep 23 --mute
Task for snapshot every day-of-month from 2 through 31.
5 0 2-31   root /usr/local/sbin/proxmox-autosnap.py --autosnap --vmid all --label daily --keep 30 --mute
Task for snapshot at 00:05 on day-of-month 1.
5 0 1   root /usr/local/sbin/proxmox-autosnap.py --autosnap --vmid all --label monthly --keep 3 --mute

# Task for snapshot every hour from 1 through 23.
5 1-23   * root /usr/bin/python3 /etc/pve/bin/autosnap/proxmox-autosnap.py --autosnap --vmid all --label hourly --keep 15 --mute
Task for snapshot every day-of-month from 2 through 31.
5 0 2-31   root /usr/bin/python3 /etc/pve/bin/autosnap/proxmox-autosnap.py --autosnap --vmid all --label daily  --keep  7 --mute

[!WARNING]

If the script is stored in /etc/pve/, it must be executed with python or python3, as this directory does not

support the executable attribute.

LVM

When using this script with LVM-based storage, it's important to be aware that every time an LVM snapshot is created, LVM stores a backup of the volume group configuration in the /etc/lvm/archive directory. If the snapshot script is executed frequently (e.g., hourly), this directory can accumulate a large number of files over time, potentially consuming significant disk space.

To mitigate this, consider setting up a cron job or other cleanup mechanism to periodically remove older files from /etc/lvm/archive. For example:

# Remove LVM archive files older than 7 days
find /etc/lvm/archive -type f -mtime +7 -delete

At the moment, skipping LVM snapshots entirely is not feasible, especially in environments where virtual machines or containers might use a mix of LVM and ZFS storage backends. Be sure to monitor this directory and adjust your cleanup policy accordingly.