Long-Time stable solution?

[misterwong]

Does the upgrade mechanism also work in the OSS version? - and has it been a pain in the a** to upgrade in the past or was it smooth/automatic?
I would like to use zimbra as a long term solution to save all my emails there instead of using one pst-file per year. Is this feasible in your eyes?

Thanks a lot,

Tom

[soxfan]

I've been running the OSS version for over a year now, and have been using it in production since the beginning of this year. I've done just about every update / upgrade that has been released, which includes a major version jump (3.x to 4.0) and a semi-major jump (4.0 to 4.5). I have never run into so much as a minor glitch; everything has been "smooth/automatic" to use your terms. Just run install.sh, follow the prompts, and in a very reasonable amount of time your system will be updated and up and running the latest version.

A couple of notes: 1) I run Zimbra under CentOS (RHEL), which I highly recommend. I have never used or tried it under any of the other supported OS'es, so I can't vouch for any of them. 2) I run Zimbra on a single server with all the standard ports, so I can't speak to upgrades on more complex or non-standard installations. 3) You absolutely, positively must do a backup prior to doing an upgrade, unless you are in a total test environment and don't care if the things works or not. Even if I were 100 for 100 in upgrading I would still do a backup prior to my 101st upgrade just to be safe.

[phoenix]

I would agree with soxfan, backup before an install (nothing is foolproof), install Zimbra in std configuration on Centos4 (or CentOS5 when it's out) and you should have no problem. I've had every single version (running on CentOS4, of course) since the first and had no problems upgrading and I've done every point release install - with never an install problem.

[Krishopper]

I've been running Zimbra OSS on Mac OS X server (ppc) since the end of December.. not too long, but I upgraded from 4.0 to 4.5 without any issues, and have hit every patch level from 4.5 to 4.5.4 since.

Unfortunately I do not have the need or the money to switch to the Network edition, since I am using this at home to host email for myself, my family, and a few domains for some friends - and don't require the features of the Network Edition (the only thing that would be nice are the domain-level admins and the Apple iCal and Mobile sync), but I am happily sticking with the OSS version and have no intentions to switch to anything else - especially with Zimbra 5.0 coming up around the corner.

I've been trying to convince some other people to switch from basic Postfix/Horde/Sqwebmail/CourierIMAP setups to this - they are just stubborn

[misterwong]

Actually this is the setup I am considering to do: Mac Mini, OS X and Zimbra OSS to have a small machine running at home. Sounds like this could be the right solution.
Thanks gentlemen!