Upgrading 6.04NE to Latest 6 or 7

[gparach]

I am running on 6.0.4NE and would like to upgrade to the latest version 6 or 7. What is the recommended course of action and the least risky of upgrade modifications and problems?

[sjangra]

1.take backup of your data.
2.stop zimbra services
3.start zimbra upgrade using updated packages
4.start zimbra services
5.restore from your backup

[phoenix]

1.take backup of your data.
2.stop zimbra services
3.start zimbra upgrade using updated packages
4.start zimbra services
5.restore from your backup

It's not necessary to stop/start zimbra as it's done automatically (when required)) during the upgrade. A full backup before the upgrade is always recommended and checked for by the upgrade script and it's not, however, necessary to restore from the backup. One of the most important things to do is read the product Release Notes in full and in detail to make sure there's no 'gotchas' that may affect your upgrade/installation.