Backups...

[jdz]

Hi,

I just installed Zimbra FOSS edition and I am quite pleased with it so far.
Now, I need to setup the backups and I have a little question...
I looked at the different FOSS backup scripts and, as far as I could see, they all do a full 'zmcontrol stop' or '/etc/init.d/zimbra stop'...
Wouldn't there be a way to safely backup /opt/zimbra with all services stopped, except the mta, so no mails are refused while the backup is running...?
Anybody tried that yet?

Thx,
JD

[Krishopper]

Hello,

The MTA will require LDAP to verify which email addresses are valid.

You will also lose the outgoing queue, so if there are deferred messages sitting in the queue that don't get backed up and you lose your server and need to recover, those messages will be lost.

You could leave LDAP up and do a zmslapcat to get a LDIF backup of LDAP, but you will need to figure out a procedure to recover that in the event of a restore.

You could also set up a 2nd server that is a LDAP slave and an MTA, and have all of the email go there first - then your MTA will never be offline.

Lastly, you could play it very risky and do a LVM snapshot while Zimbra is running and back that snapshot up - and then count on the Redo logs to recover the most recent data. You may experience corrupt MySQL databases, but it would be pretty similar to yanking the power from your server and powering it back up.

[jdz]

The MTA will require LDAP to verify which email addresses are valid.

Indeed, forgot about that...

You will also lose the outgoing queue, so if there are deferred messages sitting in the queue that don't get backed up and you lose your server

Aren't the queues located in /opt/zimbra/data/postfix/spool and so backed up since I backup the whole /opt/zimbra? I would expect that at worse some outgoing/incoming mails would be sent/received twice; once during the backup and a second time in case of a restore. No?

You could leave LDAP up and do a zmslapcat to get a LDIF backup of LDAP

In which way would the LDAP database change while only the mta is up...?

But maybe I am making things too complicated for nothing... I guess others mta will just deffer the mails targeted at my server while it is down... right?

Thx,
JD

[Hivos]

Another option, especially if you only have a few accounts, is to make backups of individual accounts, and not of the entire server. See this thread for more details: Per User Backup Foss edition

[jdz]

Cool, thanks for the info.
Maybe I will do a full backup once a week and users backups everyday...
I did not find the import feature in users preferences, but I found the "Bulk Provision" button in the accounts screen... is that it (it only talks about one csv file...)?
EDIT: Nevermind, I found the postRestURL option, that is good for me...

Thx,
JD

[Krishopper]

Originally Posted by jdz

Cool, thanks for the info.
Maybe I will do a full backup once a week and users backups everyday...
I did not find the import feature in users preferences, but I found the "Bulk Provision" button in the accounts screen... is that it (it only talks about one csv file...)?
EDIT: Nevermind, I found the postRestURL option, that is good for me...

Thx,
JD

The problem with the users backup script is that it doesn't get LDAP, so you don't get the user preferences changed since the last full backup (including filter rules, signatures, shared folder links, etc.)

[jdz]

Not a big problem for now, we only use IMAP clients.
Edit: for info, the server activity is quite slow (8 clients max)...

Thx,
JD

[ewilen]

Originally Posted by jdz

I guess others mta will just deffer the mails targeted at my server while it is down... right?

Right. With only 8 clients, the time to do a full backup shouldn't be much. There are different strategies, but for example if you rsync the live server to backup volume, then down the server for a final rsync, downtime should be pretty small. Other MTAs that are trying to send to you will keep trying for at least a few hours.

[LaFong]

Originally Posted by Krishopper

The problem with the users backup script is that it doesn't get LDAP, so you don't get the user preferences changed since the last full backup (including filter rules, signatures, shared folder links, etc.)

My script here, [SOLVED] Yet Another Backup Script for Community Version, gets individual user db's and LDAP ldifs. It is designed to work with the rsync backup script in the same thread.

[jdz]

Thanks.

I have a script that runs mostly fine... except for some timeout issues (when the server is stressed)...

zclient.IO_ERROR (Unable to get ?fmt=tgz) (cause: java.net.SocketTimeoutException Read timed out)

I have to admit that right now the old server is a bit underpowered (only 2GB of RAM, soon 4GB) so it swaps a lot, and I tested while employes were active...
But, any one knows if there is a way to increase the timeout value...?

Thx,
JD