Goback

PBS (Proxmox Backup Server) backup automation that powers on the PBS server, runs backups, and shuts it down to save energy.

What It Does

Goback automates the complete backup workflow for a homelab setup:

1. Power on PBS - Wakes the PBS server via IPMI
2. Wait for PBS - Waits until PBS services are available
3. Backup VMs/LXCs - Triggers Proxmox VE to backup virtual machines and containers to PBS
4. Backup files - Runs file-based backups via SSH using proxmox-backup-client
5. Power off PBS - Shuts down the PBS server to save power

This is useful when you want backups to run on a schedule but don't want the PBS server running 24/7.

Installation

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/nomis52/goback.git
cd goback
make build

Binaries are built to the build/ directory:

• goback - CLI tool for one-time backup runs
• goback-server - HTTP server with web UI and optional scheduling
• goback-poweroff - Utility to manually power off PBS

Systemd service

A systemd service file is provided in systemd/ for running the server as a service.

Configuration

Create a config.yaml file:

pbs:
  host: "https://pbs.example.com:8007"
  ipmi:
    host: pbs-bmc.example.com
    username: ADMIN
    password: ADMIN
  boot_timeout: "5m"
  service_wait_time: "30s"
  shutdown_timeout: "2m"

proxmox:
  host: "https://pve.example.com:8006/"
  token: "backup@pve!goback=your-api-token"
  storage: pbs
  backup_timeout: "45m"

compute:
  max_backup_age: "24h"  # Skip VMs/LXCs backed up within this period

files:
  host: pve.example.com
  user: root
  private_key_path: /path/to/ssh/key
  token: proxmox-backup-client-token
  target: user@pbs!datastore@pbs-server:storage
  sources:
    - name.pxar:/path/to/backup

monitoring:
  victoriametrics_url: "https://metrics.example.com:443"
  metrics_prefix: "goback"

logging:
  level: "info"      # debug, info, warn, error
  format: "json"     # json, text
  output: "stdout"   # stdout, stderr, or file path

Configuration sections

Section	Description
pbs	PBS server address and IPMI credentials for power management
proxmox	Proxmox VE API connection for triggering VM/LXC backups
compute	Settings for VM/LXC backups (skip if recent backup exists)
files	SSH-based file backups using proxmox-backup-client
monitoring	Optional metrics push to VictoriaMetrics/Prometheus
logging	Log level, format, and output destination

Usage

CLI mode

Run a one-time backup:

./goback --config cfg/test.yaml

Validate configuration without running:

./goback --config cfg/test.yaml --validate

Server mode

The server uses a separate config file that references the workflow config.

See cfg/test.yaml for an example server config:

listener:
  addr: ":8080"
  # tls_cert: /path/to/cert.pem  # Optional TLS
  # tls_key: /path/to/key.pem

cron:
  - workflows:
      - backup
      - poweroff
    schedule: "5 4 * * *"  # Daily at 4:05am

state_dir: "./state"  # location to use for history
log_level: "info"
workflow_config: "./config.yaml"

Start the server:

./goback-server --config cfg/test.yaml

Web UI

Access the dashboard at http://localhost:8080/ (or your configured address).

The dashboard shows:

• PBS server power state
• Current backup status and progress
• Next scheduled run time
• History of completed runs

HTTP API

Endpoint	Method	Description
/	GET	Web UI dashboard
/health	GET	Health check
/api/status	GET	Current status (PBS state, run status, next run)
/api/history	GET	Completed run history
/config	GET	Current configuration
/reload	POST	Reload configuration from disk
/run	POST	Trigger a backup run

Manual power off

Power off PBS without running a backup:

./goback-poweroff --config cfg/test.yaml

Requirements

• Go 1.23+ (for building)
• ipmitool installed on the system running goback
• Proxmox VE with API token for backup operations
• PBS server with IPMI-capable BMC
• SSH access for file-based backups (optional)