OS edition hot standby server

[fviero]

Hi list

I know there had been much debate about the backup/restore issue and also about clustering zimbra´s OS edition but i could not find a consistent solution. Well, actually there shouldn´t have one. Basically, i have zimbra installed on one server and would like to have a second as hot-standby. Simply copying the entire /opt/zimbra folder, as mentioned somewhere on the forum, didn´t yeld any results. Well, let me try to focus: Is there a way to have a good setup for a hot-stanby using zimbra opensource? If yes, could anyone point me in the right direction. I´m sort of new to Zimbra, so any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance to all of you.

[fviero]

Sorry, here´s some further info on the environment. DRDB is not a choice and i´m not using LVM

[Klug]

Hello & welcome

If DRDB is not a choice (nor GFS) then you're stuck.
There's currently no way to do hot-sync or replicate a "master" server to a "slave" one.

With the Network Edition, you can use RedHat Cluster Suite.

[fviero]

Hi Klug

Thanks for the warm welcome.

I knew i could receive a message saying: you´re stuck
Well, DRDB should be a choice, but we did not set /opt to a partition for itself. I think i cannot use drdb at folder level, is that correct? The system have a very simple partition scheme. a /, a /boot and a /var. /opt obviously ended up on / and i cannot drdb the root partition. This system is already in production.

I don´t know about GFS, checking now...

Thanks.

[Klug]

You'll have the same problem with GFS...

[fviero]

That´s sad, but i was prepared for that.

Well, let´s switch the point of view somewhat. What about a backup server? What´s the the solution of choice for most people?

[phoenix]

Sorry, here´s some further info on the environment. DRDB is not a choice and i´m not using LVM

Why don't you backup your current Zimbra install then set-up your system again with LVM then do DRBD? You can reinstall your system from the backup.

As for a backup server, I have my DNS hosted by easyDNS and they provide a backup for when my system is not available, when I'm bac up it's forwarded to me as normal.

[fviero]

That has been discussed here with my team. It´s on the list of possible solutions and since this is a small install (only 3.3GB in /opt/zimbra) this option is higly regarded. There are only at around 50 accounts with 100MB quotas.

Right now i´m considering giving the following options to my customer:

1. pheonix solution on the previous reply
2. backup server instead of hot-stby

Still wanting to know about the backup solutions.

Thanks aonce more.

[fviero]

Ok, we´ve decided to go the drbd way. We´ll repartition the disk and let /opt be in its own partition. Anything i should keep in mind running a setup like that?

Thanks for your replies

[Klug]

Anything i should keep in mind running a setup like that?

It's not supported

The most difficult is to setup heartbeat.