redirecting all incomming mail to a new server?

[sysinternals]

we're moving from a hosted zimbra to our own servers.

We have everything set up, with a new MX pointing to our new mail gateway, a new zimbra server and the restore procedure well tested.

The problem is: When we do the switch, the timing will be critical so no new mail gets into the old server. Typically, I'll add some mailertable-like rule so if mail gets into the old server, it'll be redirected to the new one (and I can use the old server as a backup MX just in case). The problem is: we don't have root access to the box, and the ISP is refusing to give it to us, or provide some sysadmin from their staff to do that tasks while we're migrating.

That leaves us thinking about some alternate ways to do that without their help.

Is there a way to do that redirection from within zimbra? (we only have the web access, not CLI access). Can I configure the domain in such a way a sender will try the new MX instead of the older one?

Thanks in advance

[uxbod]

Why not reduce the TTL on your domain to something like 1 sec while you switch ? That way it will queue until your new server is up. Do you have a secondany MX in place to handle your queued email ?

[dfriestedt]

I just went through this. Here is what I did:

setup backup MX, zmcontrol stop the primary server, rsync /opt/zimbra over to new server, install zimbra NE on new server, shutdown the old server, done. It was pretty painless.

In terms of the migration, I followed the migration procedure discussed in a recent zimbra blog post - Moving ZCS to Another Server » Zimbra :: Blog

[sysinternals]

Why not reduce the TTL on your domain to something like 1 sec while you switch ? That way it will queue until your new server is up. Do you have a secondany MX in place to handle your queued email ?

We have a secondary MX in place. The problem isn't getting the mail into the new one, but making sure no mail is delivered into the old one.

If we had root access to the old box, I could just shut down zimbra, and when the rest of the world failed to connect to it, it'd try the secondary (new server).

The problem is we only have zimbra console access on the old server, we canot shutdown zimbra, nor can we tweak the MTA config. I need to know if there is a way to prevent mail from being delivered to the old box.

BTW, the people who administer the DNS is the same "helpful" people who wouldn't provide us with access to the old box, or a sysadmin from their staff to help us

[sysinternals]

I just went through this. Here is what I did:

setup backup MX, zmcontrol stop the primary server, rsync /opt/zimbra over to new server, install zimbra NE on new server, shutdown the old server, done. It was pretty painless.

In terms of the migration, I followed the migration procedure discussed in a recent zimbra blog post - Moving ZCS to Another Server » Zimbra :: Blog

That'd be great, but again: we don't have root or CLI access of any kind to the old server, we need a way to do it from the web interface.

That lack of control over the old server is one of the main reasons for the move to a server of our own

[dfriestedt]

why not cancel service w/ the old zimbra host and have them shut down the server, let email spool up on the secondary mx, start up new server, when DNS is updated for new MX email will start getting delivered to new primary.

[sysinternals]

why not cancel service w/ the old zimbra host and have them shut down the server, let email spool up on the secondary mx, start up new server, when DNS is updated for new MX email will start getting delivered to new primary.

that's almost what we want to do, but we need to take a backup and move it to the new zimbra host just before the shutdown so every single mail gets moved to the new server. we cannot let them choose when they want to shut it down, we have to shutdown the old one, restore the backup and start the new one all in a row.

It seems we cannot do it without some root access to the old box, either from their staff or from ours :/

[dfriestedt]

OK, remove the DNS entry for MX1. email will try MX1, then roll to MX2 (backup), when that is working, log into zimbra w/ https://IPofMX1, take backup, move backup, restore on new server, change MX1 entry to new server, MX2 will start sending shortly.

will that get you there?