Backup Question

[ruben.rodrigues]

Is it possible to backup the mail server without shuting down the zimbra services and therefore lose mail capability?

[phoenix]

Is it possible to backup the mail server without shuting down the zimbra services and therefore lose mail capability?

That depends on which version you're using, if it's NE you don't need to shutdown Zimbra and if it's the OSS version then you do need to shutdown Zimbra. This has been asked before in the forums and there are backup scripts in the wiki & forums.

Please update your forum profile with the output of the following (do not post it in this forum):

zmcontrol -v

[ruben.rodrigues]

That depends on which version you're using, if it's NE you don't need to shutdown Zimbra and if it's the OSS version then you do need to shutdown Zimbra. This has been asked before in the forums and there are backup scripts in the wiki & forums.

Please update your forum profile with the output of the following (do not post it in this forum):

zmcontrol -v

I already have the backup script running and I got it here -> Open Source Edition Backup Procedure - Zimbra :: Wiki

But all of those require zimbra shutdown. I am using Zimbra Collaboration Suite 6.0 and when I run the backup script bye bye server....can't get/send mails

[phoenix]

But all of those require zimbra shutdown. I am using Zimbra Collaboration Suite 6.0 and when I run the backup script bye bye server....can't get/send mails

That's a fact of life with the Open Source version of Zimbra, if you want to keep Zimbra up and running then you could always purchase the Network Edition.

Please update your forum profile with the information I've asked you for.

[ArcaneMagus]

Are you saying that your backup script that you are using shuts down Zimbra... and then doesn't start it up again? That would be an issue you should fix in the script if so...

However if it is only shutting down Zimbra during the backup then that is the way you have to do it on the FOSS version. The best way to minimize downtime is to use the LVM method, but that still has the same downtime as "zmcontrol stop; zmcontrol start"...

[ruben.rodrigues]

Are you saying that your backup script that you are using shuts down Zimbra... and then doesn't start it up again? That would be an issue you should fix in the script if so...

However if it is only shutting down Zimbra during the backup then that is the way you have to do it on the FOSS version. The best way to minimize downtime is to use the LVM method, but that still has the same downtime as "zmcontrol stop; zmcontrol start"...

No, I didn't say that it doesn't start....but during the backup I have no email server...and we need it 24 hours per day..

[ruben.rodrigues]

Another question..What happens if I backup my server without stopping it with some simple software like tar? Does it make any difference when I restore?

[phoenix]

Another question..What happens if I backup my server without stopping it with some simple software like tar? Does it make any difference when I restore?

To ensure any backup of an Open Source Zimbra server is in a consistent state you must stop the server at some point whatever method you use for backing up, if you don't do that you will encounter problems at some time during a restore.

[ArcaneMagus]

If you need 24/7 availability then you need to go to the Network Edition.

As I said the fastest backup you can get with the open source edition is if you installed Zimbra on an LVM partition in which case you can get your backups down to the same time it takes to run this:

zmcontrol stop; zmcontrol start

But that is the smallest downtime you can get for the open source edition.

One option you might look into is setting up Zimbra on a DRDB or similar setup, but this is quite complex to setup. There are a few threads in the forum about it.