Zimbra Full Backup and Restore???

[jgao]

I did followings on one FC4 box where zimbra running perfectly:

1. copy whole /opt/zimbra
2. copy /var/spool/cron/zimbra
3. copy zimbra scripts and links from init.d directories

Restored 1, 2, 3 to another new built FC4 box, exactly the same. When I reboot the machine, and check zimbra by "zmcontrol status", it said:

ERROR: service.FAILURE (system failure: getDirectContext) (cause: javax.naming.CommunicationException jian.cirrata.net:389)

I cleaned every process related to zimbra, and tried to start the zimbra again. I got promp asking password for LDAP.

Host jian.cirrata.net
Starting ldap...Password:

Why???

[hikenboots]

Throwing my $.02 in here...did you install zimbra on the new box first or just restore the files/directories? Not sure from your post.

[SeanG]

In addition to installing the packages, ZCS's install.sh script does a lot of stuff to set up the system for operation (cron jobs, zimbra user creation, etc). The LDAP startup script is calling sudo to start slapd with the correct user and permissions. If the zimbra user isn't in the /etc/sudoers file, it might prompt you for the zimbra user's password when it tries to do the sudo.

The short answer is to move the copied /opt/zimbra directory out of the way, run install.sh to set everything up, then put your /opt/zimbra over it. That isn't guaranteed to work either, as there are host-specific configuration items all over the config keys and directory.

What exactly are you hoping to accomplish by copying the existing installation over from another working box? Are you testing restoration of messages after a rebuild of a failed server, or are you trying to clone out your ZCS install to other machines?

Hope this helps
Sean

[jgao]

After I added /etc/sudoers and /var/log/zimbra to the backup and restore scripts, it works.

This way I can quickly and EASILY restore the crashed mail server box.