If you use Proxmox VE, you already know how amazing and lightweight Linux Containers (LXCs) are. So, when Veeam announced native support for Proxmox VE, I was incredibly excited. But my excitement turned to pure frustration when I realized a major catch: Veeam’s native Proxmox plug-in completely ignores LXC containers. It only supports QEMU/KVM virtual machines.

Veeam justifies this by saying enterprise workflows rely on VMs and that they require block-level Changed Block Tracking (CBT) to prevent massive network overhead. But for my lightweight setup, I just wanted a simple way to back up my containers without the corporate bloat.

Instead of walking away, I decided to test out a theory and found a bulletproof workaround using Proxmox’s native tools alongside Veeam. Here is how I set it up, step-by-step:

First, I use Proxmox’s built-in CLI or Web GUI to generate standard backups. By navigating to Datacenter > Backup in PVE, I schedule a job that takes a live snapshot of my LXC and compresses it into a single .tar.zst file. Because these files pile up quickly, I set the PVE retention policy to Keep Last: 1. This ensures Proxmox doesn’t do shit here automatically it just fails a backup job if one already exists, kind of dumb it should just create one and purge the old one. cause technically me being able to delete it goes against the rentention policy, where as creating a new one and purging the old one does not.

Since Proxmox stores these dumps locally on the host’s Debian filesystem (usually under /var/lib/vz/dump/), I need a way for Veeam to reach them. I went into the Veeam Backup & Replication console and added my Proxmox host as a Managed Linux Server.

A quick warning if you try this: The Veeam wizard tries to force-install a massive list of unnecessary corporate storage packages (like Dell Data Domain and NetApp drivers) onto your lean Proxmox host. I aggressively unchecked all optional components, keeping only the absolute essentials: the Installer Service and the Veeam Data Mover.

With Veeam now able to safely browse my Proxmox filesystem, I built a File Copy Job. I pointed the source to my Proxmox dump folder, used a wildcard filter (like *.tar.zst), and set my standard Veeam repository as the destination. Now, Veeam automatically pulls the full compressed backup file off my host every night. Even though Proxmox deletes its local copy the next day, Veeam keeps my historical recovery points safe in my long-term repository. From here we can complete the 3-2-1-0 Rule for backups.

The best part about this architecture is how incredibly simple the restore process is. Proxmox backup files are completely self-contained; they don’t rely on a central database.

If my primary Proxmox host dies, I can add a secondary Proxmox host to Veeam as a managed server. I then use Veeam to copy the .tar.zst backup files directly into the second host’s local dump folder. The exact second the file transfer completes, the backup instantly populates in the second Proxmox GUI under the storage menu. From there, I just hit “Restore,” assign a unique Container ID if needed, and my LXC is back online.

It might not be the “official” automated method Veeam envisioned, but it bypasses their limitations perfectly and works flawlessly for my environment.