Migrating Zimbra (from 8.6.0 to 8.8.7) - Leveraging Zextras “NG” modules

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Migrating Zimbra (from 8.6.0 to 8.8.7) - Leveraging Zextras “NG” modules

Post by DavidMerrill »

I've been tasked with crafting a proper recipe for migrating Zimbra services from one server running ZCS NE 8.6.0 to ZCS NE 8.8.7. I'm currently shooting for a side-by-side migration and using the Zextras NG Backup to get it done.

As I understand, Zimbra NG Backup comes enabled by default in 8.8.7. Then, one installs the Zextras backup agent on the OLD Zimbra 8.6.0 system, copy the backup to the new 8.8.7 system, and restore (see: https://wiki.zimbra.com/wiki/Zimbra_NG_ ... r_Recovery).

What’s not clear to me is how to get the Zextras backup agent installed on the OLD Zimbra server.

I see references to:

- https://wiki.zextras.com/wiki/ZxBackup
- https://wiki.zextras.com/wiki/Migrate_Zimbra

but nothing with the referencing “NG”?

Does one download the ZeXtra's Suite (https://www.zextras.com/download/) and enable the necessary tools?
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Re: Migrating Zimbra (from 8.6.0 to 8.8.7) - Leveraging Zextras “NG” modules

Post by phoenix »

You'll find details of the 'NG' modules on the Zimbra wiki as they are specifically Zimbra versions of ZeXtras: https://wiki.zimbra.com/wiki/Zimbra_NG_Modules

The ZeXtras site is for users that purchased the product directly from ZeXtras.
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Re: Migrating Zimbra (from 8.6.0 to 8.8.7) - Leveraging Zextras “NG” modules

Post by DavidMerrill »

Thanks Bill!

So to report in, I'm now following this method:

- https://wiki.zimbra.com/wiki/Zimbra_NG_ ... _NG_Backup

This incremental migration (where one does the initial data export/import, switch MX records and then do a final migration to capture any changes) will likely suit most of our clients as it should reduce the amount of down-time from their perspective.

Zimbra support says I'll have to pick up the the Zextras Suite for the OLD source (8.6.0) system, but one gets a 30 day trial license, so as long as you work the migration within that time-frame you're good to go.
Last edited by DavidMerrill on Mon Apr 02, 2018 4:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Migrating Zimbra (from 8.6.0 to 8.8.7) - Leveraging Zextras “NG” modules

Post by phoenix »

The two versions of ZeXtras, NG and the ones directly from Zextras, are effectively the same version. The version of the Backup Tool is available for free but the main ZeXtras suite to import to the new server is paid-for and available for a thirty days free trial - I've used both of those many times and I'm now a happy paid-up user of ZeXtras. I'm assuming that the Backup Tool will be upgraded at some point to run on the newer ZCS 8.8.x releases.
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Re: Migrating Zimbra (from 8.6.0 to 8.8.7) - Leveraging Zextras “NG” modules

Post by DavidMerrill »

OK further follow-up (as I've uncovered a few things that were unclear to me).

Zimbra Support offered up this URL as a starting point for migrations to 8.8.*

https://wiki.zimbra.com/wiki/Zimbra_Migration

On that page (in the "Creating a Backup from Source Server" section) it mentions:

• the Zextras Suite (& the provision of a 30 day trial license)
• details exactly which version of the Zextras Suite one needs (as we run Network edition running 6.0.8 to 8.7.11 we need to use the 2.4.11 legacy installer - https://www.zextras.com/download-legacy/)

If you check out:

https://wiki.zextras.com/wiki/Compatibi ... lity_Table

you'll see (in the Notes section):

• The Legacy build of Zextras Suite supports all Zimbra versions from Zimbra 6.0.7 to Zimbra 8.7.11.

I'd originally thought I'd need the current edition of the Zextras Suite but that is only appropriate for Zimbra Open Source Edition versions from Zimbra 8.0 to Zimbra the latest available.
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Re: Migrating Zimbra (from 8.6.0 to 8.8.7) - Leveraging Zextras “NG” modules

Post by L. Mark Stone »

David,

Zimbra are working on some new up to date Wiki articles to cover this, but as I have a little familiarity with your situation, and as others who are running Network Edition will want to upgrade to 8.8.x via a side-by-side migration, the process I have used comprises:

First, download the Legacy Suite from Zextras to install on the existing 8.6 mailbox servers from here:

Code: Select all

wget http://download.zextras.com/zextras_suite-legacy.tgz
The latest Zextras downloads are coded NOT to install on Network Edition; that's why you need to use the Legacy version.

Second, organize a "shuttle disk" if you can, like an NFS share that can be mounted by both the old, source server, and the new, target 8.8.7 server. If you can't do this, you'll still need a new disk on each existing Zimbra server for the Zextras backup, and then you'll need to rsync this to the new mailbox server.

Note that the Zextras backup tool (BackupNG in Network Edition-speak) does NOT require a 1:1 relationship between the old, source mailbox servers and the new, target mailbox servers. If you have, say, five old mailbox servers and you'd like to consolidate them down to two, you can restore backups from olderserver1, 2 and 3 onto newserver1, and then restore the backups from olderserver5 and 6 both to newserver2.

Similarly, if you have three over-loaded old mailbox servers, you can use the per-domain restore capability to restore those three backups to, say five new 8.8.x mailbox servers.

So once you have disk space (someplace) for the Zextras backup(s) on the old source server(s), you follow the existing wikis to clean up the old source server(s), take a Zextras backup, get the Zextras backup to the new, target server(s), and do a test restore. Once the restore is done, you again follow the existing wikis to do all the cleanup stuff (like the galsync account purge/recreation etc.), and if you are happy, then make the DNS change(s) needed to point to the new server(s).

One thing to keep in mind is that the BackupNG restore does not restore LDAP nor MySQL/MariaDB like the old Network Edition backup/restore does. The BackupNG system essentially recreates LDAP and MySQL data "on the fly" as the restore progresses. As a result, the ZimbraID mailbox ID will be different on the new servers--even if you do a 1:1 mailbox restore. Therefore, you'll see things like some ActiveSync clients doing a full reload after the migration, and in some cases end users being prompted to re-enter their credentials on their mobile device.

At the end of the day, really if you just stand up a new environment and do a few test restores to get comfortable with the process and the results, you'll be fine.

One other thing...

The Zextras Backup works like rsync. This is alluded to in the existing wikis, but not made explicitly clear. IOW, once you do your last test restore and are happy with the results, the next backup you take can be restored in an incremental manner, so you can quickly do the cutover no problem.

Hope that helps,
Mark
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Re: Migrating Zimbra (from 8.6.0 to 8.8.7) - Leveraging Zextras “NG” modules

Post by DavidMerrill »

Hi Mark!

Thanks for weighing in, my research (between Zimbra Support & Zimbra Wiki's) so far matched up nicely with your process/survey of the migration-landscape in this scenario.

Some remarks:

• The shuttle-disk concept will work great in our private cloud (where many of our clients' single-server deployments reside), attach the disk to the source-server, do a backup, then attach the same disk to the destination server & do the restore
• Thanks for the gotcha on ActiveSync clients post-cutover, we'll remember to prepare our clients for that
• The rsync nature of Zextras Backup is great (I'm a big fan of that kind of final post-cutover-sync that takes a small amount of time to put a final bow on the migration)

Off to the lab,
David
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Re: Migrating Zimbra (from 8.6.0 to 8.8.7) - Leveraging Zextras “NG” modules

Post by MolallaComm »

We are in a similar situation - source server is 8.6.0 NE ubuntu 12.04 - destination is 8.8.8 NE ubuntu 16.04. Initially, I had done:

# wget https://download.zextras.com/zextras_mi ... latest.tgz

and installed it on the source server. FWIW, when you untar this it creates a folder zextras_migration_tool-2.4.12 but the dates on all the files in the archive are 2017-08-04 so I don't think it has been modified recently. A few weeks ago, before upgrading the destination server to 8.8.8, i did several trial migrations successfully when the destination server had 8.8.7NE on it. However, after upgrading to 8.8.8, the backup still appears to work fine on the source server, but when i go to import it on the destination, it won't find any accounts no matter what I do.

Can anyone confirm or deny that they have tried this approach with 8.8.8 yet? I think it is broken - in which case I guess I will reinstall the destination with 8.8.7 - do my migration - then upgrade to 8.8.8 unless someone has a better idea. I guess I will also open a support ticket - but thought I'd ask here first.
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Re: Migrating Zimbra (from 8.6.0 to 8.8.7) - Leveraging Zextras “NG” modules

Post by L. Mark Stone »

MolallaComm wrote:We are in a similar situation - source server is 8.6.0 NE ubuntu 12.04 - destination is 8.8.8 NE ubuntu 16.04. Initially, I had done:

# wget https://download.zextras.com/zextras_mi ... latest.tgz

and installed it on the source server. FWIW, when you untar this it creates a folder zextras_migration_tool-2.4.12 but the dates on all the files in the archive are 2017-08-04 so I don't think it has been modified recently. A few weeks ago, before upgrading the destination server to 8.8.8, i did several trial migrations successfully when the destination server had 8.8.7NE on it. However, after upgrading to 8.8.8, the backup still appears to work fine on the source server, but when i go to import it on the destination, it won't find any accounts no matter what I do.

Can anyone confirm or deny that they have tried this approach with 8.8.8 yet? I think it is broken - in which case I guess I will reinstall the destination with 8.8.7 - do my migration - then upgrade to 8.8.8 unless someone has a better idea. I guess I will also open a support ticket - but thought I'd ask here first.
I'm a day away from restoring to an 8.8.8 server; will let you know.

May I ask why you installed just the migration tools on the source server and not the Legacy suite as Zimbra recommends per their wiki?

All the best,
Mark
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Re: Migrating Zimbra (from 8.6.0 to 8.8.7) - Leveraging Zextras “NG” modules

Post by MolallaComm »

Regarding migration utility vs suite - probably just based on what i was reading at the time - i don't think i had seen the wiki article or this thread - just the howtos on zextras site. If i don't get any satisfaction from support, i may try uninstall migration utility and installing the suite on the source server. Does it give you the option of just installing the migration stuff during installation or does it try to install the whole suite? I will post back if I learn anything useful or figure it out.
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