Losing local client emails after restoring backup

[Kartweel]

Hi,

Every now and then my zimbra server crashes and it is just an absolute mess to try and get it running again (usually coz the server crashed and results in a corrupted file system).

So I restore it from a nightly backup, but local clients running IMAP lose any locally synchronised emails. Clients are using thunderbird and iPhone.

I was just wondering if anyone knows of a way around it? (without changing to pop3). It would be great if the local email could sync back onto the server rather than just vanishing off the client without a trace. Or is this just by design when using IMAP?.

Perhaps I need to disconnect the account on the client and register a new account, then copy any missing emails into the new one? That doesn't sound fun :/

What have other people done when restoring from a backup?


Thanks! Ryan

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by Kartweel

Every now and then my zimbra server crashes and it is just an absolute mess to try and get it running again (usually coz the server crashed and results in a corrupted file system).

I'd suggest you investigate why your server is crashing and corrupting the file system. You might want to consider changing to a suitable raid configuration.

Originally Posted by Kartweel

I was just wondering if anyone knows of a way around it? (without changing to pop3). It would be great if the local email could sync back onto the server rather than just vanishing off the client without a trace. Or is this just by design when using IMAP?.

That's what happens when you connect a client that gets synchronised with the server - they mirror the state on server & client.

Originally Posted by Kartweel

Perhaps I need to disconnect the account on the client and register a new account, then copy any missing emails into the new one?

That would be one method. You might want to consider using Zimbra Desktop, it has the ability to backup the mail locally. You could also consider an 'archive' server to which you send a copy all mail.

[Kartweel]

Thanks. It is running on a raid. The server really needs rebuilding. It shouldn't be crashing like it is.

An archive server sounds like a good idea then. Would that be set up just as another zimbra box and forward a copy for all messages to a single account on this box?. I'm sure I'll find something on the wiki.... It would be good for legal purposes to log all email anyway.

I guess then restoring the email would be a manual job after then?, Or a script of some sort could be run forwarding all the email back (after the time of the last backup) to the mail server?

Thanks, Ryan

[phoenix]

You have several choices for a 'backup' server, you can use the always_bcc option in Postfix, some form of archiving solution such as MailArchiva (there's a free version IIRC, you'l also find details of several other similar systems in some of the forum threads) or maybe the Legal Intercept feature of Zimbra (search the forums & wiki for that term).

Restoring mail into a rebuilt server is always going to be a manual process and losing a production server will almost always result in the loss of some email up-to your last backup. Take a look at some of the backup scripts in the forums (some of them also do individual mailboxes) and see if they can provide a better or more up to date backup than your current procedure.

I'd also suggest you throw some of the responsibility for mail backup onto the user, I haven't used Thunderbird in a long time but see if there's any archiving/backup feature that might be useful for the users. You should also take a look at what Zimbra Desktop has in terms of local mail storage and backup features that might help the users make a decision about their own backup strategy.