Migrating Zimbra from Release 5.0.8 CentOS5 FOSS to Release 7.0.0 CentOS5_64 FOSS

Hey fellas,

I recently was asked to migrate our Zimbra mail server because there is concern that the server hardware is going to fail. I believe I will be migrating it with the same domain name. Anyways, I've been a Zimbra user where I work, but I haven't done anything like this before. I've seen threads for moving from release 5 -> 6 and 6 -> 7, but where I work they've already installed 7 on a virtual machine and the current mail server is running version 5. I signed up on these forums hoping somebody could help me out a bit.

Does it make a difference migrating from a 32 bit version to a 64 bit version?
What do I need to do?

I figure if they just had the same release version I would just be able to shut down the mail server and mysql, back up the files and move them over (maybe edit some permissions). But I'd think moving up 2 releases would nix that idea. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. :o

If you're moving from 32bit to 64bit then follow these instructions: Network Edition: Moving from 32-bit to 64-bit Server - Zimbra :: Wiki - omit the NE steps for the Open Source version.

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Originally Posted by phoenix

If you're moving from 32bit to 64bit then follow these instructions: Network Edition: Moving from 32-bit to 64-bit Server - Zimbra :: Wiki - omit the NE steps for the Open Source version.

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Much appreciated, do you have any advice regarding potential problems I face moving from 5 to 7, or the general strategy/high level procedure I should follow?

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Originally Posted by mt951742

Much appreciated, do you have any advice regarding potential problems I face moving from 5 to 7, or the general strategy/high level procedure I should follow?

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You should, obviously, take adequate backups before and after (I'd suggest) each step during this procedure but apart from that it should be OK. Make sure you read the Release Notes thoroughly (several times :)) before the upgrade to make sure there's nothing in there that may cause you problems also read and understand the 32bit to 64bit document so you know what it's telling you to do. If you have any questions/problems then post again )or search the forums), good luck and let us know how you get on. You might want to wait for ZCS 7.0.1 which should be out in the not too distant future (I don't have any date for it) and that would save you having to do a further upgrade.

There is one bug (it's more annoying than anything) that you may want to watch out for: Bug 55541 – zmconfigd not rewriting main.cf There's a fix in the bug report and this bug doesn't hit most people but you just need to make sure you have a backup of your main.cf file in case you need to restore it quickly.

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Originally Posted by phoenix

You should, obviously, take adequate backups before and after (I'd suggest) each step during this procedure but apart from that it should be OK. Make sure you read the Release Notes thoroughly (several times :)) before the upgrade to make sure there's nothing in there that may cause you problems also read and understand the 32bit to 64bit document so you know what it's telling you to do. If you have any questions/problems then post again )or search the forums), good luck and let us know how you get on. You might want to wait for ZCS 7.0.1 which should be out in the not too distant future (I don't have any date for it) and that would save you having to do a further upgrade.

There is one bug (it's more annoying than anything) that you may want to watch out for: Bug 55541 – zmconfigd not rewriting main.cf There's a fix in the bug report and this bug doesn't hit most people but you just need to make sure you have a backup of your main.cf file in case you need to restore it quickly.

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Thank you very much for your help. I'm only about 8 months into the IT biz, so you can probably understand why I'm asking more broad questions, I feel like it is a bit of a big responsibility to put on me. Just to verify, you would approve of the following:

1. Backup the current mail server and DB.
2. Move this backup on another machine (This is moreso my idea because we have machines that aren't currently used for anything).
3. Upgrade from 32 bit version 5 to 32 bit version 7 on this other machine
4. Transfer over to 64 bit version 7 on final destination machine.

Again, I'd really like to thank you for your input. It is really incredible to me that there are people like you in the world who will help a stranger.

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Originally Posted by mt951742

1. Backup the current mail server and DB.
2. Move this backup on another machine (This is moreso my idea because we have machines that aren't currently used for anything).

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You don't really need to do that, the backup I meant was just for Zimbra - you basically do an rsync of the /opt/zimbra directory structure. Have a look at some of the backup articles on the wiki: Backup and Restore Articles - Zimbra :: Wiki - this is merely a precaution and shouldn't be needed.

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Originally Posted by mt951742

3. Upgrade from 32 bit version 5 to 32 bit version 7 on this other machine

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You don't need to do this, it's an unnecessary step.

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Originally Posted by mt951742

4. Transfer over to 64 bit version 7 on final destination machine.

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That will be what you do on the new 64bit server. If you follow the steps in the article you will 'move' the current version installed on your old server to the same version on the new server and then do the upgrade. I can't say this often enough, run the steps exactly as you see them in the wiki article (without the NE steps), they do work and you should have no problems and do your backup before each upgrade including the one on the new server.

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Originally Posted by mt951742

Again, I'd really like to thank you for your input. It is really incredible to me that there are people like you in the world who will help a stranger.

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You're more than welcome. :)

One point about the backup, obviously for the OSS edition you'll need to stop Zimbra to do the backup and you should make sure that you block incoming mail on port 25 at your firewall (assuming you have one) so you don't have any problems with missing mail. You can try this move as many times as you like, it's not an all or nothing scenario. As I mentioned earlier, read the wiki document and see how you get on with that - if there's any questions about what you need to do then please ask.

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Originally Posted by phoenix

You don't really need to do that, the backup I meant was just for Zimbra - you basically do an rsync of the /opt/zimbra directory structure. Have a look at some of the backup articles on the wiki: Backup and Restore Articles - Zimbra :: Wiki - this is merely a precaution and shouldn't be needed.

You don't need to do this, it's an unnecessary step.

That will be what you do on the new 64bit server. If you follow the steps in the article you will 'move' the current version installed on your old server to the same version on the new server and then do the upgrade. I can't say this often enough, run the steps exactly as you see them in the wiki article (without the NE steps), they do work and you should have no problems and do your backup before each upgrade including the one on the new server.

You're more than welcome. :)

One point about the backup, obviously for the OSS edition you'll need to stop Zimbra to do the backup and you should make sure that you block incoming mail on port 25 at your firewall (assuming you have one) so you don't have any problems with missing mail. You can try this move as many times as you like, it's not an all or nothing scenario. As I mentioned earlier, read the wiki document and see how you get on with that - if there's any questions about what you need to do then please ask.

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I really can't thank you enough! When it's done I'll be sure to let you know how it went. I'll be going over all the release notes and everything you mentioned today to make sure I get the proper procedure in place as much as possible prior to the migration. :)

I've got a couple (hopefully quick) questions that I need to make absolutely sure of:

1. For the 32 bit to 64 bit server migration, I have the 32 bit 5.0.8 version on the 32 bit server. I will install the 64 bit 5.0.8 version on the 64 bit server. Then I will be moving files from the 32 bit 5.0.8 version on the 32 bit server to the 64 bit 5.0.8 version on the 64 bit server, correct? (I guess what I'm kind of getting at is that the 64 bit server won't be running the 32 bit version).

2. This will bring over all the users, passwords, folders, briefcase, calendar, etc, correct?

3. I apparently might have to change the domain name too. Is there anywhere you could direct me to adjust the migration for that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mt951742

I've got a couple (hopefully quick) questions that I need to make absolutely sure of:

1. For the 32 bit to 64 bit server migration, I have the 32 bit 5.0.8 version on the 32 bit server. I will install the 64 bit 5.0.8 version on the 64 bit server. Then I will be moving files from the 32 bit 5.0.8 version on the 32 bit server to the 64 bit 5.0.8 version on the 64 bit server, correct? (I guess what I'm kind of getting at is that the 64 bit server won't be running the 32 bit version).

2. This will bring over all the users, passwords, folders, briefcase, calendar, etc, correct?

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Yes, that's correct.

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Originally Posted by mt951742

3. I apparently might have to change the domain name too. Is there anywhere you could direct me to adjust the migration for that?

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You do that after the migration with zmprov renameDomain - check the format of the command in the article.