what did i just screw up on my zimbra server.

[Meowmixjinx]

ok i was trying to follow the guide,

http://www.zimbra.com/blog/archives/...er_server.html

here and make a backup of my zimbra open source server, basically after moving a copy to a new server i tried to set the zmhostname on the backup box to make them diffrent. what i didnt realize that this would totally jack up my working installation instantly.

ive turned off the backup box, but i cant restart my current zimbra server without getting ldap errors

Host mail.testdomain.info (dns name found in hostfile)
Unable to determine enabled services from ldap.
Enabled services read from cache. Service list may be inaccurate.
Starting logger...Done.
Starting mailbox...Done.
Starting antispam...Done.
Starting antivirus...Done.
Starting snmp...Done.
Starting spell...Done.
Starting mta...Done.
Starting stats...Done.

the domain i tried to zmsethostname on the backup box was mail.diffrentdomain.com

when i try to use

host `hostname`

i get mail.diffrentdomain.com has address 10.10.2.34


so how do i fix my good server?

[jholder]

Hi,
Sorry you're having trouble. I'm a little confused as to what happened. When you say the backup box, is that our good server, or the new server?

Also, what commands did you run on the good server to get it to where it's at now?

[Meowmixjinx]

k sorry let me rephrase this.

server1 is setup as mail.testdomain.info

server2 is going to be a backup that i can run upgrades on ect to test.

i copied all files off server1 to server2 using the guide i saw above.

i then thought i should run the zmsethostname command on server2 to change the files on server2 so they weren't the same on server1

/opt/zimbra/libexec/zmsetservername mail.diffrentdomain.com

it then modified some files on server1. so that the ldap was broken. and ldap doesnt start on server1.

does that make sense?

[Meowmixjinx]

nevermind i fixed this.

running /opt/zimbra/libexec/zmmtainit

on server1 seemed to fix the ldap startup issue.

im still more confused than i was before. but at least its working again.

[bhwong]

I did the same thing but ldap still give me problem.

/opt/zimbra/libexec/zmsetservername is so unreliable. It shouldn't even be made available in the first place.

Why can't zimbra be as user-friendly and as stable as MS exchange?

Freak out.
Boon Hong.

[Klug]

Originally Posted by bhwong

/opt/zimbra/libexec/zmsetservername is so unreliable. It shouldn't even be made available in the first place.

Are you sure you used it correctly?

Did you change all the DNS and host files informations before using it?
Did you use it on a "not connected to anything" server?

It's quite obvious than trying to change the name of a server, while another server with the same name exists on the same network, will bring you trouble...

[bhwong]

Hi Klug,

I mentioned very clearly that this is a cloned Zimbra on the same network and I even mentioned that I have concern about not affecting the original Zimbra that is running fine while having to change the hostname for this clone.

Till, when you recommended me to run zmsetservername at: How to re-configure Cloned Zimbra?, I trusted that you are the expert and have put that into consideration. Now you appears to slap me on my face as if I'm at fault when I merely followed your instruction.

Boon Hong.

[Klug]

Wrong.

Your post says you have a VM that runs well and a cloned VM you want to rename.
No mention of the two VM running at the same time, on the same network, using the same DNS.

Originally Posted by in another thread

I have installed Zimbra in a VM and I want to clone this VM so that I can do some testing. But in order not to affect the original Zimbra that is running fine, I will have to change the IP, Hostname etc. How do I get to the setup page again which appear during installation of Zimbra?

I'm not slapping anyone's face, I'm just saying that playing with VM can bring to issues if you do not follow some obvious (to me) rules, such as isolating a cloned VM from the original one...

This was so obvious (to me, once again), I did not wrote it in my post.

Just like it's obvious (to me) that a root password has to be "strong", that one should not be able to direct login into root from SSH or that a production server must run with RAID and dual PSU (at least) and backups.
And the list is long.

[Bill Brock]

Originally Posted by Meowmixjinx

k sorry let me rephrase this.

server1 is setup as mail.testdomain.info

server2 is going to be a backup that i can run upgrades on ect to test.

i copied all files off server1 to server2 using the guide i saw above.

i then thought i should run the zmsethostname command on server2 to change the files on server2 so they weren't the same on server1

/opt/zimbra/libexec/zmsetservername mail.diffrentdomain.com

it then modified some files on server1. so that the ldap was broken. and ldap doesnt start on server1.

does that make sense?

Why would running command on server2 change files on server1? This is the second or third thread I have read where this has happened.

[bhwong]

Hi Klug,

I'm sorry. I'm not blaming you for causing my problem, cause I know that you are trying to be helpful too. So I have to apologize if you had misunderstood my expression of frustration for it. For I was expecting some advice and solution from you rather than an insult as if I'm an idiot who deserved from something so obvious.

Cause from my perspective, it was obvious that if anyone want to clone a network application such as zimbra, he won't be running it in isolation from the network or having to shut down a current working zimbra, isn't it?

Also, I realize that there are huge numbers of users having similar problems after running zmsetservername when I search google for solutions. Thus, I am not making any accusation against this dangerous utility out of thin air here.

FYI, I'm very experienced with Mac and Windows, but very inexperience with Linux. So please have some patience with me and try to understand where I am coming from. So would you be willing to help me out?

I have changed all the required settings such as MX record on the DNS server and routing at the Gateway. I have also update the hostname, IP address on Ubuntu. So what was left was the settings on Zimbra which I don't know where to set from. What isn't obvious to me are these:

1. When I expect zmsetservername to change the local hostname on the same server it's running on, how could it end up changing all hostnames of all zimbra servers running on the same network?

2. And how could a secured OS such as Ubuntu be allowing an utility to come in remotely and reset it's hostname without permission?

Please help.

Thanks,
Boon Hong.