Efficient Data Protection: A Guide to Encryption in Proxmox

Encryption is a technique that converts human-readable plaintext into unintelligible ciphertext, requiring the use of an encryption key, a mathematical set agreed upon by both the sender and receiver of the encrypted message.

a) How do I encrypt a proxmox backup ?

1. First, enter the proxmox-backup-client key create my-backup.key command to create an encryption key.

2. You can also enter the proxmox-backup-client key create/path/to/my-backup.key –kdf none command to create an encryption key without a password.

3. Then, enter the proxmox-backup-client backup etc. pxar: /etc –keyfile /path/to/my-backup.key command to create an encrypted backup.

Note: The backup key will be created in the default location ~/.config/proxmox-backup/encryption-key.json if no name is specified, and the proxmox-backup-client searches this location by default.

b) How do I use a master key to store and recover encryption keys ?

1. First, enter the proxmox-backup-client key create command to create an encryption key for the backup.

2. Then, enter the proxmox-backup-client key create-master-key command to create an RSA public/private key pair.

3. After that, enter the proxmox-backup-client key import-master-pubkey /path/to/master-public.pem command to import the newly created certificate and use it upon backup.

4. Next, enter the proxmox-backup-client backup etc.pxar : /etc command to run a backup job.

Note: The keyfile parameter can be skipped if the encryption key is in the default path, and if a different path is specified, the –keyfile argument must be passed.

5. Then, enter the proxmox-backup-client restore /path/to/backup/ rsa-encrypted.key /path/to/target command to test every process by restoring the key from the backup.

Note: Extract the file without the encryption key, but move crypto-key.json out of the default location to resolve the program prompt for password.

6. After that, enter the proxmox-backup-client key import-with-master-key /path/to/target –master-keyfile / command to decrypt the file.

7. Finally, enter the proxmox-backup-client key paperkey –output-format text > qrkey.txt command to keep a paper copy of your master key securely locked away.

Note: Keep keys organized and separate from backup files to prevent inaccessibility. Use a key to back up entire systems, as encryption keys may be lost during system corruption.