Backing up Scalix

[stevelogik]

I am new to Scalix and have a question that isn't to hard to answer, I just don't know the answer.

Exchange has an information store that you backup, how does Scalix store the email? Is it a information store like exchange or is it a bunch of files in a central location? I would probably be using backup exec to backup scalix.

[Valerion]

Lots of disk files, no DB store. The data files are in /var/opt/scalix. Be VERY sure to preserve ownership and permissions, it is REALLY critical.

[stevelogik]

can you elaborate more on preserving permissions etc etc..

[Valerion]

Since the Scalix mail store is stored in hundreds of small files, and Scalix doesn't run as root, it must be able to read and write those files as the user it's running as. Your backup method needs to take this into account and preserve the ownerships and permissions on the files. This differs from backup method to backup method, I suggest you consult the manual for it, or ask the vendor. If it cannot offer this functionality, then it is not suitable to backup Scalix (or most UNIX systems, for that matter).

[sutton.ryan]

stevelogik,

If your server is installed on a logical volume, look into using a snapshot. I shut down the primary server services on my server such as httpd, dhcp, named, fedora directory server, scalix and its related services with a script. Set the snapshot, then restart the services with another script. I can then backup the snapshot partition with gnome archive manager (gui for tar.gz). This will preserve all permissions. The best part is the service are down for only a few minutes while the snapshot is created. Once the snapshot is backed up, you remove the snapshot. Note: the centos5 gui for LVM is problematic, I suggest LVM administration from bash.

Also, do a search for "ombackup". This is a script you can use with cron. It will create a backup of all your user mailboxes and the configuration of your scalix server. It can write each backup to a folder named by the day of the week so you can keep an archive of 7 days. With ombackup, individual mailboxes can be restored (command line).

Ryan