Moving mailboxes from one server to another?

[sparky]

Hi,

I'm doing a bit of reading on migrating my Zimbra setup which currently is running on a 32bit platform and I need to get it onto a 64bit one!

I checked out the How-To-Migrate post at the top of the page which lead me to these links:

ZCS-to-ZCS Migrations » Zimbra :: Blog

Network Edition: Moving from 32-bit to 64-bit Server - Zimbra :: Wiki

and the simpler way would probably be to move the mailboxes as I only have a few.

What I'd like to know is:

Do the versions of Zimbra need to match or can the 64bit version be up to date?

Does everything in the mailbox get backed up? as in calendar and contact information?

Does moving the mailboxes have any dependency on the hostname or IP address of the system as it might be better for me to do a fresh install, change the IP but keep the same FQDN and hostname??


Many thanks!

[phoenix]

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

zmcontrol -v

Originally Posted by sparky

I'm doing a bit of reading on migrating my Zimbra setup which currently is running on a 32bit platform and I need to get it onto a 64bit one!

I checked out the How-To-Migrate post at the top of the page which lead me to these links:

ZCS-to-ZCS Migrations » Zimbra :: Blog

Network Edition: Moving from 32-bit to 64-bit Server - Zimbra :: Wiki

and the simpler way would probably be to move the mailboxes as I only have a few.

What I'd like to know is:

Do the versions of Zimbra need to match or can the 64bit version be up to date?

Does everything in the mailbox get backed up? as in calendar and contact information?

Does moving the mailboxes have any dependency on the hostname or IP address of the system as it might be better for me to do a fresh install, change the IP but keep the same FQDN and hostname??

For a migration to new 64bit hardware you should use the NE 32bit to 64bit article and obviously omit the NE parts if you're using the OSS version.

If you're thinking of just exporting a users mailbox and reimporting into the new server then nothing needs to be the same as your old server with the exception of the domain name(s) you host and the A & MX records, you might need to export a list of aliases for each account and recreate them on the new server (I can't remember offhand if they get copied in an export or not). My suggestion would be to try exporting a mailbox or two and see if they import correctly on a test server then make your decision whether you'd rather do that of the 32bit-64bit migration.

[sparky]

Thanks for the response :-)

I will try the mailbox move procedure first!

Just as it's come to my mind;

if exporting mailboxes - can they still be used on the original server so if something goes belly up they can still be used??

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by sparky

Thanks for the response :-)

I will try the mailbox move procedure first!

Just to clarify my reply earlier, we are talking about exporting the mailbox and importing it on the new server. There is actually a feature (not applicable to your situation) with 'zmmailboxmove' - I don't want you to be confused if you see that in the forums.

Originally Posted by sparky

Just as it's come to my mind;

if exporting mailboxes - can they still be used on the original server so if something goes belly up they can still be used??

Yes, the original mail will still be on your original server and available for use.

[sparky]

Thanks a lot Bill!! :-)

I will try this out soon.....

According to you it will work so there seems to be no problem other then having corrupt mailboxes of which I don't.

I don't know if Zimbra's mailbox format is the same throughout the additions or if they change but I'm hoping that an upgrade can be performed on the other end in the newer version if that is the case!!

Regards

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by sparky

I don't know if Zimbra's mailbox format is the same throughout the additions or if they change but I'm hoping that an upgrade can be performed on the other end in the newer version if that is the case!!

No, there's no changes in the mail format - they are the same throughout versions.

[sparky]

Many thanks for ALL the advice :-)

It's much appreciated!!