Topic: whats the best way to backup my sme for a complete reinstall

[KaiNeR]

I have been having problems with fetchmail for quite sometime and its now really pissing me off, so i have decided to do a complete reinstall of SME version 6.0.1

whats the best way to backup my sme server and save all my users profiles, emails, settings all ibays and other files. I'm not that bothered about all the extra mods i've added coz i'll just spend a little time reinstalling them.

i have tried using the backup function in the server-manager but this failed as the file exceeded 4 gig, so i installed the advanced backup-restore contrib but this had the same problems,

Even if i can tar up all the main folders into one or 2 tar files and keep all the users permissions. Then reinstall SME and untar all back to where they belong. Whats the best way to do this ??

[raem]

KaiNeR

A search on backup would have answered this !

You need the backup2ws (backup to workstation) contrib from dmay, and select the Disaster Recovery job (911) and then specify a split size of 2Gb or less (this will allow the backup file to be restored correctly).

Install the contrib on the new box and then restore from the 911 backup file(s). The backup file will be split into multiple parts but it will be seen as one file by backup2ws.

After the restore is complete then reinstall any other contribs you had prviously installed.
Patience also, it takes a while to do big backups and restores.

[mrjhb3]

Why does he need the backup2ws contrib?  Why not just do a regular tape backup, re-install new server, restore tape, re-install contribs?

That what I do, and haven't had any issues with that.

2 cents,

JB

[azche24]

I have been having problems with fetchmail for quite sometime and its now really pissing me off, so i have decided to do a complete reinstall of SME version 6.0.1

If you got configuration probs (which seem to be the case), a "reinstall" will solve none of your problems.

Because the restore restores all the database and configuration files an your new server will have the same probs as the old one.

In these cases (messed up systems) i had to:

1. backup complete old-server with backup2ws for safety
2. manually copy contents of the ibays to another PC
3. dump all users/ibays with LAT (lazy admin tool) to another PC
4. tear down old server, install new server and backup2ws
5. manually add ibays
6. restore users/rights by LAT on new server
7. restore only contents of ibays by simple filecopy
8. restore only contents of /home/e-smith/files/users by doing a manual restore from the backup2ws-file (RAR)

Step 8 is the hardest. If you can delete all the old user-mail and user-homes, you can omit step 8.

Only for some fetchmail probs i would not do this. It should be easier to fix your mail configuration.

[raem]

mrjhb3

Agreed, tape backup works fine.

By the nature of his question I don't think KaiNeR has a tape drive.

Neither do a lot of other people, so for them backup2ws is a cost effective solution ie backup to a fixed or removable hard disk on a workstation.

[kruhm]

what fetchmail problems are you having?

[KaiNeR]

what fetchmail problems are you having?

Hi kruhm the fetchmail problems are here http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=28237.msg117173#msg117173

[kruhm]

i would hate to see you throw away a good install over a misbehaving contrib.

from what i could tell, you either have a permissions problem with the lock file for fetchmail -(~/.fetchmail.pid) or fetchmail can't delete the .fetchmail.pid.

either way, remove the ~/.fetchmail.pid . you might have to search around for it though. you can either grep for it or use mc.

make sure you have write permissions to your home directory. also check to make sure the home directory has correct ownership.