Back up remote hard disk space?

[noname]

hello to the team.
it is possible to make remote back ups to external disks...
for example.
amazon s3 ?
or
other hosting providers?
..
etc
also can i use scp to move directory backup to other location ?
for example drop to Livedrive

thanks
regards

[Cine]

Hello noname,
welcome to the forums!

While the Real Time Scanner backup mode is designed to be used on a "fast" storage - either local or remote as long as it has a mountpoint on the server - to avoid excessive operation queuing, it's possible to use the "External Backup" feature of ZeXtras Backup to create a snapshot of the data in your server. This snapshot can be compressed and stored anywhere you like.

Furthermore, using CRON and the ZeXtras CLI you can schedule the execution of the "doExport" CLI command to be automatically executed to your needs (I suggest a weekly execution in a timeslot that does not overlap with the scheduled Smarscan/Fullscan execution).

Reference: the "doExport" command

Syntax:
   zxsuite backup doExport {destination_path} [attr1 value1 [attr2 value2...]]


PARAMETER LIST


NAME                   TYPE                  DEFAULT
destination_path(M)    Path                  
domains(O)             Domain Name[,..]      all
notifications(O)       Email Address[,..]    


(M) == mandatory parameter, (O) == optional parameter


Usage example:


zxsuite backup doexport /opt/zimbra/backup/ domains example.com notifications john@example.com
Exports a backup of example.com to /opt/zimbra/backup/ and notifies john@example.com

Have a nice day,
Cine
the ZeXtras Team

[anandi]

Hi Cine,

Hello noname,
welcome to the forums!

While the Real Time Scanner backup mode is designed to be used on a "fast" storage - either local or remote as long as it has a mountpoint on the server - to avoid excessive operation queuing, it's possible to use the "External Backup" feature of ZeXtras Backup to create a snapshot of the data in your server. This snapshot can be compressed and stored anywhere you like.

Furthermore, using CRON and the ZeXtras CLI you can schedule the execution of the "doExport" CLI command to be automatically executed to your needs (I suggest a weekly execution in a timeslot that does not overlap with the scheduled Smarscan/Fullscan execution).

Reference: the "doExport" command

Syntax:
   zxsuite backup doExport {destination_path} [attr1 value1 [attr2 value2...]]


PARAMETER LIST


NAME                   TYPE                  DEFAULT
destination_path(M)    Path                  
domains(O)             Domain Name[,..]      all
notifications(O)       Email Address[,..]    


(M) == mandatory parameter, (O) == optional parameter


Usage example:


zxsuite backup doexport /opt/zimbra/backup/ domains example.com notifications john@example.com
Exports a backup of example.com to /opt/zimbra/backup/ and notifies john@example.com

Have a nice day,
Cine
the ZeXtras Team

Thanks for the above cli example.

Few questions:

1. How does the backup work ? Does it backup all accounts, its contacts, and all possible data for the associated account ?
2. Can we just restore an accounts contacts ?
3. Using the method you have just shown above, can i get zxsuite to backup on a daily basis and create an incremental backup on a NAS ? My client wants to backup on a daily basis, all accounts, their respective contacts in incremental format.
4. Does the backup restore mails which have been downloaded via POP from the mailbox ?
5. I know you have mentioned above, but is it ok if i have the /opt/zimbra/backup/ on NFS volume on local NAS ? This way i can be sure my backup stays outside my zimbra server and that i don't have to keep backup space on my local raid10 volume.

Reply to above will be appreciated.

[noname]

very good questions anandi ;-)

[Cine]

Hi Cine,



Thanks for the above cli example.

Few questions:

Hello Anandi!

1. How does the backup work ? Does it backup all accounts, its contacts, and all possible data for the associated account ?

ZeXtras Backup performs a Realtime backup of all the events that occour in your Zimbra server, from new items to configuration changes. Zx Backup: Real Time Scan - ZeXtras Suite Wiki

2. Can we just restore an accounts contacts ?

No. The available restore modes can be seen at ZxBackup Admin Guide - ZeXtras Suite Wiki

3. Using the method you have just shown above, can i get zxsuite to backup on a daily basis and create an incremental backup on a NAS ? My client wants to backup on a daily basis, all accounts, their respective contacts in incremental format.

Yes and No. You can use the External Backup feature (of which the "doExport" command is the CLI) to take a snapshot of the current data in your Zimbra server, but there is no "official" way to use this feature to implement an incremental backup system.

4. Does the backup restore mails which have been downloaded via POP from the mailbox ?

Yes, as long as the Real Time Scanner processed them .
Let me explain: the Real Time Scanner executes 1 backup operation one at a time, and should the operations be executed too slowly (e.g. because of low I/O performances - that's why I said that a fast storage is better suited to the Real Time Scanner) they will start queuing. If an email is queued and then deleted by a POP3 download while still in the backup queue, the Real Time Scanner won't be able to backup it as the original data will not be available anymore.

5. I know you have mentioned above, but is it ok if i have the /opt/zimbra/backup/ on NFS volume on local NAS ? This way i can be sure my backup stays outside my zimbra server and that i don't have to keep backup space on my local raid10 volume.

It surely is! The only limitation is that the backup path must be on a case-sensitive filesystem. See ZxBackup Store - ZeXtras Suite Wiki and ZxBackup Store/Case Sensitive filesystem for ZeXtras Backup - ZeXtras Suite Wiki for more informations about the way ZeXtras Backup stores its data.

Reply to above will be appreciated.

Hope my replies meet your needs... If you have any feedback on the docs I linked you, please let me know!


Have a nice day,
Cine