Zimbra NG Modules/Zimbra NG Backup/ExternalRestore

Zimbra NG Backup - External Restore

What is the External Restore?

The External Restore is one of the Restore Modes of Zimbra NG Backup.

How does it work?

The External Restore adds to the current Zimbra server all the data, metadata and configurations stored on an External Backup.

This also applies to Zimbra NG Modules Migration Tool exports, allowing you to import domains from other servers. See the Zimbra_NG_Modules/Migration_Tool_Guide for extended informations.

The workflow of the import procedure is the following:

PHASE1

"Operation Started" notification
Read Server Backup Data
Create empty Domains
Create needed COS (only those effectively used by the imported accounts)
Create empty DLs
Create empty Accounts
Restore all Accounts' attributes
Restore all Domains' attributes
Restore all DLs' attributes and share informations
"PHASE1 Feedback" Notification

PHASE2

Restore all Items

PHASE3

Restore all Mountpoints and Datasources
"Operation Ended" notification with complete feedback

Before you start

If you are working on a Multistore environment be sure to have read and understood the Multistore informations page before starting an External Restore.

If Zimbra NG Backup is already initialized on the destination server, disable the RealTime Scanner in order to improve both memory usage and I/O performances.

In order to reduce the I/O overhead and the amount of disk space used for the migration, advanced users may tweak or disable Zimbra's RedoLog for the duration of the import.

In order to further reduce the amount of disk space used, it's possible to enable compression on your Current Primary Volume before starting the import. If you do not wish to use a compressed Primary Volume after migration, it's possible to create a new and uncompressed Primary Volume, set it to "Current" and the switch the old one to "Secondary". All of this can be done using Zimbra NG HSM.

Running an External Restore

Via the Zimbra NG Backup Administration Zimlet

Click the Backup tab (be sure to have a valid License).

Click on the "Import Backup" button under "Import/Export" to open the Import Backup wizard.

Enter the Destination Path in the textbox and press Forward. Zimbra NG Backup will check if the destination folder contains a valid Zimbra Backup and whether the 'zimbra' user has Read permissions or not.

Select the domains you want to import and press Forward.

Select the accounts you want to import and press Forward.

Verify all your choices in the Operation Summary window. You can also add additional email addresses to be notified when the Restore operation is finished. Please notice that the Admin account and the User who started the Restore procedure are notified by default.

Via the Zimbra NG Modules CLI

To start an External Restore operation, the "doExternalRestore" command is available:

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
provisioning_only(O)          Boolean              true|false         false
skip_coses(O)                 Boolean              true|false         false
notifications(O)              Email Address                           

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

Usage example:

zxsuite backup doexternalrestore /opt/zimbra/backup/restorePath/ 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 /opt/zimbra/backup/restorePath/

After the Restore: Message Deduplication

Running a Message Deduplication operation through Zimbra NG HSM is highly suggested in order to save precious storage space.

Aug 25, 2016 - Know more »