First login to the Proxmox Backup Server — what you see in the GUI

After ordering your Proxmox Backup Server plan, you get a mail from us with:

• Server URL (something like pbs01.xaweho.de:8007)
• Username (typically <your-customer-number>@pbs)
• Password (initially assigned — please change it right after your first login)
• Datastore name (typically <your-customer-number>)
• Server fingerprint (a 65-character hex string — you’ll need it when setting up your Proxmox VE)

Don’t delete this mail — you’ll need the datastore and fingerprint again if you ever connect another Proxmox VE host to the datastore.

First login

Open the server URL in your browser. You’ll probably get a certificate warning first — that’s because PBS ships with a self-signed certificate by default. You can ignore it (you verify the identity during PVE setup via the fingerprint, not via the certificate), or we’ll install a Let’s Encrypt certificate on request — open a ticket and we’ll do it for you.

Log in with your credentials. You land on the dashboard.

What you see on the dashboard

The dashboard shows you:

• Datastore usage: one bar per datastore with used and free storage
• Subscription status: with us it says “No subscription” — that’s normal, we run PBS on our own infrastructure, you don’t need your own subscription
• Active Tasks: running operations (backups, verifications, garbage collection, sync jobs)
• Long-term tasks: tasks that take more than a few minutes — typically very large backup verifications

The left navigation

On the left you’ll find six areas:

Datastore

This is where most things happen. Click your datastore (e.g. <your-customer-number>) and you’ll see:

• Summary: usage, number of backup snapshots, latest verifications
• Content: list of all backup snapshots — grouped by VM ID. This is where you see what’s backed up for you.
• Prune & GC: configuration for prune jobs (clearing out old snapshots) and garbage collection (actually freeing up storage). More on that in the follow-up articles.
• Sync Jobs: if you want to mirror to another PBS — configured here.
• Verify Jobs: regular integrity checks of your backups.
• Options: notification settings, verification schedule, etc.
• Permissions: which users have access to the datastore (in your case: only you).

Sync, Tape, Backup Jobs (top left under Configuration)

• Backup Jobs: here you see PBS’s own backup tasks (such as PBS backing itself up). Empty in your case — backup jobs are configured in your Proxmox VE, not in the PBS.
• Sync Jobs: mirrors your datastore to another PBS — such as a second one with us, or to your home.
• Tape Backup: tape drives. Not available with us (we don’t run an LTO setup) — stays empty.

Configuration

• Access Control: user management, permissions, API tokens.
• Remotes: PBS-to-PBS connections (for sync jobs).
• Certificates: the PBS’s SSL certificate — you can look at it, normally you don’t touch it.
• Subscription: disabled with us.

Administration

• Server Status: CPU, RAM, disks — with us you see the server state but can’t perform any actions.
• Tasks: all tasks (running, completed, failed) — the most important place for troubleshooting.
• Notifications: mail notification recipients.

What you should do next

1. Change your password: top right on your profile → Change Password. Replace the initial password with one you chose yourself.
2. Set up mail notifications: so you get a mail when a backup fails — see Setting up email notifications.
3. Add the datastore to your Proxmox VE — see Setting up the datastore as a backup target in Proxmox VE.

Frequently asked questions

What if I’ve forgotten my password? Open a ticket and we’ll reset it. You get a new initial password and change it again after logging in.

Can I create additional users? Yes, under Access Control → Users. Useful when you have several colleagues who should access the datastore — each with their own login. You set the permissions in the respective datastore.

Where do I see when the last backup ran? In the datastore under Content — the snapshot list with date/time. Or on the dashboard under Active Tasks / Long-term tasks, the latest tasks.

Why is “Subscription” set to “No subscription”? Because we run PBS on our own infrastructure and the subscription status is only relevant for end customers running their own server. With us, PBS works in full — you can ignore the warning.

What’s next

• Setting up the datastore as a backup target in Proxmox VE
• Running your first backup
• Setting up mail notifications