Upgrade from Centos 4 to Centos 5

[mogmismo]

I've got a centos 4.4 box with zimbra - 4.5.2_GA_699.RHEL4 (Open Source)

I want to migrate this to another piece of hardware with centos 5.0 and Zimbra zcs-4.5.7_GA_1319.RHEL5 (Open Source)

I'd like to do the transfer between hardware with rsync, what would the best way to go be to move all my configuration and mail stores between both versions and OS's?

Upgrade the Centos4 version to the latest, then transfer? The open source backup/restore settings indicate how to recover on the same server. Hints? Tips?

Thanks for your time.

[mmorse]

The very important question-no server hostname changes correct? (IP's are easy to change...but hostnames are another fun because there's tons of references that get updated)

A bit of warning to others who come later:
IP's might change in dns/mx/hostfile/resolve-but your server name should stay the same till your comfortable running the change name script. Do so after a good backup, test for a few days/week to be sure nothing got seriously harmed, & be sure you have plenty of room for possible downtime. (ie: It might not be a 'just 5 minutes of downtime change' & you might find a problem 2 days later when you attempt to run a command.)
(to do so see: ZmSetServerName - ZimbraWiki)
Assuming that your new server will have the same IP & FQDN as the old server:
1) backup the /opt/zimbra directory on your current server -for simplicity sake name it will the version 452 and the date (search for the OS backup procedures if you need command syntax help tar/zip/cp)
2) before you go through an OS change, I would recommend that you get 4.5.7 working fine on the centos4.4 box first. (download it/upgade/etc)
3) working smoothly? continue on:
3) check the gid & uid of zimbra and make a note of it
4) zmcontrol stop
5) make another /opt/zimbra/ backup -label it 457 so you know what it is
5) copy the up files from your old server to the new one but don't put them in /opt/zimbra just yet
essentially just rsync/tar/scp them to /tmpbackup/opt/zimbra on the new box, trying to keep permissions intact, you can fix them later but easier if their ok to begin with.
something like: rsync -avHK /opt/zimbra/ /tmpbackup/opt/zimbra OR compress & then move: tar -zcvf /tmpbackup/mail.backup.opt.zimbra.date.gz /opt/zimbra (-p is preserve permissions I think)
5) then disconnect/shutdown the centos4.4 box
6) change any dns/mx records
7) install the same release on the new centos5 Zimbra server as you had on the old centos4.4 server
8) make sure it's all working (send/receive etc just want to make sure you have no DNS/mx trouble)
9) zmcontrol stop
10) move the files from /tmpbackup/opt/zimbra > /opt/zimbra
11) make sure the uid & gid is changed to the ones you had on the old server
12) if you need too, as root:
cd /opt/zimbra/libexec/
./zmfixperms
13) do an upgrade install (./install.sh -s)
14) test the server (send/receive etc)
(of course if you plan to power up the old box be careful you don't have ip/name conflicts)
tip from phoenix: you could also make sure the LDAP password is set properly -check the wiki or forum for details

[mogmismo]

Thanks,

We will be doing this move this weekend, let you know how it goes. I appreciate the help.

M.

[mmorse]

as they say: backup once-then make a copy of the backup