Help: Migrate ZCS 4.5.1/Debian Etch to ZCS 7.1.4/Ubuntu 12.04

[Rezzus]

Hey Guys, i'm newbie on zimbra but i was given to migrate our old mail system to the latest release over an Ubuntu server.
I'm a little bit confused about how about to proceed with this. Reading old posts suggest to install the same current zimbra version on a new OS an then go upgrading to the last release...
I was trying to do it with Ubuntu 12.04 but didn't work...
Please, can you give me a hand?
Thanks a lot, and sorry about my English :P

[Crayz9000]

Ouch. That's a hell of a jump to be making.

Your best bet is to upgrade the Debian Etch server to the latest release of Zimbra that was supported on that platform. In the case of Etch, that is version 6.0.15 GA, available from the archive: Open Source Edition Downloads: Enterprise Messaging and Collaboration Software by Zimbra However, if I'm not mistaken, you should first upgrade from version 4 to the last release of version 5 (5.0.25 GA) before attempting to upgrade to version 6.

You can then take 6.0.15 and install it on Ubuntu and perform the migration. Keep in mind that some data like the RRDs will have to be deleted and re-generated, since you're switching from 32-bit to 64-bit architecture. Once version 6 is migrated and working, then you can upgrade to the latest release. I would suggest going to 7.2.0 rather than 7.1.4 since it fixes a few bugs in 7.1.4.

I put together notes from my own platform/architecture (OSX 10.4 32-bit to Debian6 64-bit) migration here: Crayz9000-Notes - Zimbra :: Wiki

You should also read the other articles before beginning the process:
Network Edition: Moving from 32-bit to 64-bit Server - Zimbra :: Wiki
Platform and OS Independent ZCS to ZCS Migration Using Rsync - Zimbra :: Wiki
Ajcody-Notes-Server-Move - Zimbra :: Wiki