Migration questions

Printable View

01-26-2014, 05:45 PM
pup_seba

Migration questions

Hi all!

Although I already checked some wikis and forum posts, I still have some doubts regarding trying to migrate from version 6 single server to a version 8 multi server.

1) According to this ZxBackup: Incremental migration with ZeXtras Backup - ZeXtras Suite Wiki
I could do incremental restores (this is a huge difference with Zimbra native backups as it first deletes the mailbox) but if any item was deleted or moved during the different backups, those items won't be "updated" in the restored mailbox. Is this correct? I guess this also applies to appointments.

2) As I'm moving from single to multi-server arquitecture, is there any way to restore the information from the first single server accross my new servers (4 mailstores). If so, I would love to do it while performing an incremental migration.

BTW, as I write this, I'm also trying to find out the way in my lab. I'll share the results in any case :)

Thank you very much for your help!
Regards,
Sebas
01-27-2014, 10:50 AM
Cine

Hello Sebas!

I confirm that once an item has been imported by ZeXtras Backup it will be skipped by any following import. This applies to settings, emails, contacts, appointments, tasks and briefcase files.

Regarding the incremental migration from a single server to a multistore environment: accounts and data are imported on the server the import itself is started from, so if you wish to split your accounts on multiple servers you just need to select the accounts you wish to import on each server upon starting the imports. Once all accounts have been created, you can skip this step on any following import, as ZeXtras Backup will automatically skip any account that is in LDAP but is not hosted on the server you are running the import from.

Code:

- E.G.: 10 accounts split between 2 servers - Server1, first import: Select account1@domain.com...account5@domain.com Server2, first import: Select account6@domain.com...account10@domain.com Server1, second import: Select all accounts Server2, second import: Select all accounts ...and so on...

Both the ZeXtras Administration Zimlet and the ZeXtras CLI allow you to choose the accounts you wish to import.

Have a nice day,
Cine
the ZeXtras Team
01-29-2014, 09:40 AM
pup_seba

Hi Cine! Thank you so much for your answer! :) I also had the chance to try this in my lab and works great!!!

Thanks again for tour answer!
Sebas
01-29-2014, 10:07 AM
Cine

You're welcome! :o

Cine
03-12-2014, 08:39 PM
pup_seba

Hi!

After looking at all the resources showed by Cine at this thread http://forums.zextras.com/zextras-mi...resources.html I can not see the minimum Zimbra version required for the Migration tool.

I have to do a migration from RHEL 5.5 with ZCS 6.0.4 single store and 2 MTA to RHEL 6.5 with ZCS 8.0.6 multi-store / multi-master-LDAP (4) and 2 MTA.

The thing is that for using Zextras Suite, I know that I should perform an inplace upgrade of ZCS 6.0.4 to at least ZCS 6.0.7. As this is kind of a risky step, I would rather not to perform that upgrade...so i was wondering if maybe instead of installing the Zextras Suite to perform the export, installing the Migration tool would be possible while maintaining version 6.0.4 in the orginial server. That would be awesome! :)

For the restore process, I was thinking about some scripting...I'll play with my lab tomorrow to see how that goes (idea would be to get 4 lists of zimbra accounts {from a-g / l-o / etc} and do something like a "for i in ´zmprov ga {a-g}*@mydomain.com´ do; zxbackup {I'll have to see which commands go here :) }.

Any help is more than welcome! And if there is ANY way in which while restoring I can also "overcome" the limitation of not migrating "Items moved or deleted during the process will not be moved or deleted on the destination server.", you will make so damn happy! :)

Thanks!!!
Sebas
03-13-2014, 10:16 AM
Cine

Hello pup_seba!

The minimum requirements of the ZeXtras Migration Tool are the same ones than ZeXtras Suite (see HERE).

Regarding the import scripting part, the command you need to use is `zxsuite backup doExternal restore`:

Code:

zimbra@demo:~$ zxsuite backup doExternalRestore command doExternalRestore requires more parameters Syntax: zxsuite backup doExternalRestore {source_path} [attr1 value1 [attr2 value2...]] PARAMETER LIST NAME TYPE EXPECTED VALUES DEFAULT source_path(M) Path accounts(O) Account Name[,..] all domains(O) Domain Name[,..] all filter_deleted(O) Boolean true|false true skip_system_accounts(O) Boolean true|false true skip_aliases(O) Boolean true|false false skip_distribution_lists(O) Boolean true|false false skip_coses(O) Boolean true|false false provisioning_only(O) Boolean true|false false notifications(O) Email Address (M) == mandatory parameter, (O) == optional parameter Usage example: zxsuite backup doexternalrestore /path/to/data/ accounts john@example.com,jack@example.com domains example.com filter_deleted false skip_system_accounts false Restores the example.com domain, including all system accounts, and the john@example.com and jack@example.com accounts from a backup located in /path/to/data/

As you can see, you can use the "accounts" parameter instead of running the import command once for each account (this, depending on the number of accounts on your server, might save up quite some time).

The moved/deleted items limitation cannot be overcame in any way, as it is a safety measure to rule out any chance of item duplication. Personally, the best way I found to deal with this is by keeping users informed and up to date with what's happening: a simple email with some informations about the migration and about the fact that "while all emails will be moved to the new server some changes will not be restored (so make as less changes as possible, pretty please)" can do wonders...

Have a nice day,
Cine
the ZeXtras Team

p.s.: If, as I presume, you have a quite large number of accounts to migrate why not trying the Incremental Migration way?
03-13-2014, 11:12 AM
pup_seba

Hi Cine!

You are the man! :) One of the first things I personally look at when testing products is "how alive its community is"...I have to say that you do an amazing job with ZeXtras community!!!

I have to migrate something like 10.000 accounts and incremental backup is what I was planning. As part of this particular migration, I'll have to also change the platform components from:

1 Core/LDAP + 2 MTA/Proxy (ZCS 6.0.5 NE over RHEL 5)

to:

4 Core/LDAP (multimaster) + 2 MTA/Proxy (ZCS 8.0.6 NE over RHEL 6)

So, I was planning to export everything with the zxmig tool and then import it using the zextras suite. I thought that running a script at import time to import only some users for every single Store, would help me in "splitting" all the accounts among all the 4 new servers. Is that a good idea?

BTW, you just save me lots of testing time with your answers! :)

I tried today to deploy the zxmig tool on top of a 6.0.5 and I was able to (after alterning the scripted function that checked for the installed zimbra version), but then I was not able to start zextras as it wasn't able to reach the server :( (so far my "hacking" abilities LOL).

The transport I will try to use, is to export to a shared folder and then import from that very same shared folder, to avoid wasting time "copying, rsyncing, etc".

Do you know by any chance if "shared" items are also maintained? Like shared calendars, will they still be shared after the migration? And "send as" permissions or briefcase docs?

Thanks again Cine!
Sebas
03-13-2014, 12:46 PM
Cine

Quote:

Originally Posted by pup_seba

Hi Cine!

You are the man! :) One of the first things I personally look at when testing products is "how alive its community is"...I have to say that you do an amazing job with ZeXtras community!!!

Thank you! I'm glad I have a full beard or my colleagues would be able see me blushing right now :D
Jokes aside, I'm really glad you enjoy both the product and the community, means a lot to me and to the whole team!

Quote:

Originally Posted by pup_seba

I have to migrate something like 10.000 accounts and incremental backup is what I was planning. As part of this particular migration, I'll have to also change the platform components from:

1 Core/LDAP + 2 MTA/Proxy (ZCS 6.0.5 NE over RHEL 5)

to:

4 Core/LDAP (multimaster) + 2 MTA/Proxy (ZCS 8.0.6 NE over RHEL 6)

So, I was planning to export everything with the zxmig tool and then import it using the zextras suite. I thought that running a script at import time to import only some users for every single Store, would help me in "splitting" all the accounts among all the 4 new servers. Is that a good idea?

That's exactly the way to do a single-to-multimailbox migration, so it's a good idea indeed!

Quote:

Originally Posted by pup_seba

BTW, you just save me lots of testing time with your answers! :)

I tried today to deploy the zxmig tool on top of a 6.0.5 and I was able to (after alterning the scripted function that checked for the installed zimbra version), but then I was not able to start zextras as it wasn't able to reach the server :( (so far my "hacking" abilities LOL).

The installer check is just to warn the user before installing the ZeXtras Core on an incompatible server, the real check is within the core itself...

Quote:

Originally Posted by pup_seba

The transport I will try to use, is to export to a shared folder and then import from that very same shared folder, to avoid wasting time "copying, rsyncing, etc".

The transport ultimately depends on your networking and storage performances, so the only advice I can give here is to run a couple of tests and see which is the most performing option.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pup_seba

Do you know by any chance if "shared" items are also maintained? Like shared calendars, will they still be shared after the migration? And "send as" permissions or briefcase docs?

Shared Items: Yes, but since you are doing a single-to-multistore migration shares between users on different servers won't work out of the box. You'll need to use the `doCheckShares` and `doFixShares` ZxBackup CLI commands to update those share grants according to the new servers IDs.

Briefcase items: Yes.

sendAs rights: Yes. There might be some issues when the right is granted to an alias due to the latest changes in Zimbra (see HERE and HERE for more info), so you might need to reapply some rights manually.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pup_seba

Thanks again Cine!
Sebas

You're welcome!

Have a nice day,
Cine
the ZeXtras Team