I have a couple of additional observations to add to my last post on this topic.
I have done some further experimenting with the restoration script and have found a couple items of note to keep in mind when using the script.
I am unsure if anyone else is even trying to use the script, and if they are whether or not they are seeing the same things I am seeing, but I wanted to get my observations out there so a more automated, idiot proof, version of the restore script might be created. I find the crippling of community (unpaid) versions of open source software rather distasteful in any form, and while I fully understand the reasoning behind the practice I do not agree with it. For this reason I would really like to see a much more robust backup/restore solution on a per user basis for the community version of Zimbra. Anyway enough of my rant.
I have found that during the course of performing the restoration procedure something strange happens to the files that are located in the /Trash folder for the given mailbox being restored. By strange I mean the files become unaccessible to either the end user via the web interface or the administrator via the CLI, however the items (mail, contacts, tasks) are still in the file. This can be seen by hovering the mouse over the trash folder in the web interface where the little informational pop-up will tell you how many items are in the folder, or by accessing the user-in-question's mailbox via the CLI where pulling up the folder information indicates that the deleted items are still in the /Trash folder. I have tried various ways of removing these "hidden" items from the /Trash folder but none of them work. Emptying the trash from the web interface does not remove the files, emptying the folder from the CLI also does not work. The folder itself can not be deleted from the CLI because it is a system folder. The only way I was able to clear the folder was to wait for the purge to happen and it was able to clear the files. I'm sure there is a way to perform the purge from the CLI manually on only one mailbox, but I am still reading over the documentation to find out how. I will also add this step to the script once I figure out how to do it.
Once the folder has been purged the contacts restore perfectly using the restore script, however it does require the additional step of purging the trash folder. I have a feeling this may not be an issue in most cases as users will only need items restored that have already been purged from their trash folder, but I think inclusion of this step in the script will be a good thing.
I have also found that the calendar reacts in a very similar way to the Trash folder. The calendar items still exist in some other calendar "trash" folder and a restore of these items causes them to become "invisible". What I mean by this is that the item itself can not be seen on the calendar, however, hovering the mouse over the calendar in question brings up the info pop-up which tells you that items exist on the calendar. You also still get reminder pop-ups that the "invisible" calendar entry appointment is coming up, which is very strange. I have been unsuccessful in correcting this problem as of yet, but most of my efforts were in the recovery of contacts and not appointments.
Also re-indexing the mailbox in question had no effect on any of the problems listed above.
I am using version 5.0.18 on Ubuntu 8.
To both authors of the backup and restore scripts. Great work on these scripts, they are quite functional as is and took quite a bit of work to get to this point. Thanks for your contributions to the community.
Ono-Sendai  |