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Ubuntu 24.04 Proxmox VM recovery with LUKS

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I’ve got an Ubuntu 24.04 VM running in Proxmox VE which is backed up using Backup & Recovery Community edition.  The VM failed recently and I restored the VM back to Proxmox VE, but it just boots to Grub recovery. 

From what I understand, the problem is the VM is encrypted with LUKS which is transparent to Veeam.  I’ve read a few posts and guides on getting this to work, but I’m not having any luck.  I’m able to decrypt and mount the volume in a live environment, but I cannot get it to permanently mount in order to boot. 

Is there anything special that needs to be done for encrypted Ubuntu VMs in Proxmox or any guide for restoring LUKS VMs? 

Best answer by bayates826

Alright, so I guess I found my problem. My backups must have gotten corrupt at some point. I have rotating drives for Veeam so I pulled one of the previous disks out of storage and restored an older backup. It booted right up -.-. There will be some lost data, but I guess that's better than nothing at all.

I was totally lost since I could mount the filesystem, see all the files, and generally work with them, but not get the system to boot. I guess that also explains why I could transfer the database off this recovered VM, but using it said that tables that were clearly present didn't exist. It was "broken" just enough to look good, but be completely useless.

I’m still curious as to why exactly the backup became corrupt, if it was the drive or something else (I tried a few different increments off the same media and they all did the same thing).  I’ve added a couple other drives to the rotation and increased the amount of backups.  They will definitely be tested later to make sure the corruption doesn’t follow. 

Thanks for the responses and being there as I fell down this rabbit hole. I've spent way too much time trying to fix the unfixable. Time to crack open a cold one and identify what is missing… and close my support ticket that I’m now aware I can create.  Thanks!

11 comments

coolsport00
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  • coolsport00
  • Veeam Legend
  • 4903 comments
  • May 5, 2025

Not seen anything posted on this here yet ​@bayates826

I'm thinking your best bet is to contact Veeam Support. They do support Community Ed, but as a "best effort". 

Shane Williford - Veeam VMCA/VMCE | Veeam Legend | VUG Leader | VCP-DCV | Twitter: @coolsport00
coolsport00
Forum|alt.badge.img+21
  • coolsport00
  • Veeam Legend
  • 4903 comments
  • May 5, 2025

Unless someone chimes in, you may also can try Proxmox forums 

https://forum.proxmox.com

Shane Williford - Veeam VMCA/VMCE | Veeam Legend | VUG Leader | VCP-DCV | Twitter: @coolsport00
Chris.Childerhose
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  • Chris.Childerhose
  • Veeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard
  • 9587 comments
  • May 5, 2025

I would also try a search at the Veeam Forums - https://forums.veeam.com otherwise check the Proxmox forums and with Support as Shane mentioned.

Chris Childerhose - VMCA2024 | VMCE2023 | VMCE-SP2024 | Veeam Vanguard 8* | Veeam Legend 5* | VUG Canada Leader | vExpert 6* | Toronto VMUG Leader | VCAP-DCV/VCP-DCV | Object First Ace | Cisco Champion | Twitter: @cchilderhose | Blog Site – https://just-virtualization.tech
B
  • bayates826
  • Author
  • Not a newbie anymore
  • 2 comments
  • May 5, 2025

Thanks for the quick response!  I’ve opened a case with support for the issue as well.  I wasn’t aware community edition was supported at all.  

I’m looking through the Proxmox forums now. 

Chris.Childerhose
Forum|alt.badge.img+21
  • Chris.Childerhose
  • Veeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard
  • 9587 comments
  • May 5, 2025

Thanks for the quick response!  I’ve opened a case with support for the issue as well.  I wasn’t aware community edition was supported at all.  

I’m looking through the Proxmox forums now. 

Best of luck finding an answer.  Let us know if you solve it as it will help others with similar issue.

 
 
 
Chris Childerhose - VMCA2024 | VMCE2023 | VMCE-SP2024 | Veeam Vanguard 8* | Veeam Legend 5* | VUG Canada Leader | vExpert 6* | Toronto VMUG Leader | VCAP-DCV/VCP-DCV | Object First Ace | Cisco Champion | Twitter: @cchilderhose | Blog Site – https://just-virtualization.tech
coolsport00
Forum|alt.badge.img+21
  • coolsport00
  • Veeam Legend
  • 4903 comments
  • May 5, 2025

Ok...keep us posted!

Shane Williford - Veeam VMCA/VMCE | Veeam Legend | VUG Leader | VCP-DCV | Twitter: @coolsport00
AndrePulia
Forum|alt.badge.img+9
  • AndrePulia
  • Veeam Vanguard
  • 603 comments
  • May 5, 2025

Thanks for the quick response!  I’ve opened a case with support for the issue as well.  I wasn’t aware community edition was supported at all.  

I’m looking through the Proxmox forums now. 

Most of the CE users are not aware of  the possibility to open a support ticket. 

André Pulia - VMCA | VMCE | VMCT |Veeam Vanguard | VUG Leader Brazil | ObjectFirst ACE | HPECI | VCI | Nutanix Certified Instructor | Twitter: @andrepulia | Blog Site – https://pulia.com.br | https://www.credly.com/users/andre-pulia
B
  • bayates826
  • Author
  • Not a newbie anymore
  • 2 comments
  • Answer
  • May 6, 2025

Alright, so I guess I found my problem. My backups must have gotten corrupt at some point. I have rotating drives for Veeam so I pulled one of the previous disks out of storage and restored an older backup. It booted right up -.-. There will be some lost data, but I guess that's better than nothing at all.

I was totally lost since I could mount the filesystem, see all the files, and generally work with them, but not get the system to boot. I guess that also explains why I could transfer the database off this recovered VM, but using it said that tables that were clearly present didn't exist. It was "broken" just enough to look good, but be completely useless.

I’m still curious as to why exactly the backup became corrupt, if it was the drive or something else (I tried a few different increments off the same media and they all did the same thing).  I’ve added a couple other drives to the rotation and increased the amount of backups.  They will definitely be tested later to make sure the corruption doesn’t follow. 

Thanks for the responses and being there as I fell down this rabbit hole. I've spent way too much time trying to fix the unfixable. Time to crack open a cold one and identify what is missing… and close my support ticket that I’m now aware I can create.  Thanks!

Chris.Childerhose
Forum|alt.badge.img+21
  • Chris.Childerhose
  • Veeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard
  • 9587 comments
  • May 6, 2025

Glad to hear you were able to find the issue and fix.  Thanks for sharing.

Chris Childerhose - VMCA2024 | VMCE2023 | VMCE-SP2024 | Veeam Vanguard 8* | Veeam Legend 5* | VUG Canada Leader | vExpert 6* | Toronto VMUG Leader | VCAP-DCV/VCP-DCV | Object First Ace | Cisco Champion | Twitter: @cchilderhose | Blog Site – https://just-virtualization.tech
coolsport00
Forum|alt.badge.img+21
  • coolsport00
  • Veeam Legend
  • 4903 comments
  • May 6, 2025

​@bayates826 -

Glad you got your issue sorted. Veeam has a Maintenance tab you can configure your Backup Jobs to auto test your backups for corruption. In your Job settings, go to the Storage section > Advanced button, Maintenance tab and configure the settings there: 

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/backup_job_advanced_maintenance_vm.html?ver=120

Also, a even more sure-fire way to test your backups is to create SureBackup Jobs and test them out:

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/surebackup_hiw.html?ver=120

Best.

Shane Williford - Veeam VMCA/VMCE | Veeam Legend | VUG Leader | VCP-DCV | Twitter: @coolsport00
AndrePulia
Forum|alt.badge.img+9
  • AndrePulia
  • Veeam Vanguard
  • 603 comments
  • May 6, 2025

I was staring my lab, Shane was faster than me :-) here is the screenshot from the maintence tab, mentioned by Shane

 

 

André Pulia - VMCA | VMCE | VMCT |Veeam Vanguard | VUG Leader Brazil | ObjectFirst ACE | HPECI | VCI | Nutanix Certified Instructor | Twitter: @andrepulia | Blog Site – https://pulia.com.br | https://www.credly.com/users/andre-pulia


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