Upgrading Zimbra 8.0.5

[TitusI]

Hi, I have a zimbra 8.0.5 installation
Release 8.0.5_GA_5839.RHEL6_64_20130910123908 RHEL6_64 FOSS edition.

on a CentOS release 6.6 (Final)
2.6.32-504.1.3.el6.x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

The system has not been updated for a long time, so i want to change this situation, and I need some suggestion.
First: I'll take a snapshot before made any change (first step I want to do a yum update...),
after this step a full backup of the /opt/zimbra folder is enough or I need to take another snapshot before update zimbra?

Starting from: 8.0.5_GA_5839 how many update can I make into a sigle step? I want to install the patch to 8.6.0 (zcs-patch-8.6.0_GA_1211)
can I do this into a single step or I need some intermediate patch? Or do you suggest anoter patch?

Any help/suggestion is really appreciated, I've searched the forum (install update section) but this seems to be old stuff, if there is any topic/documentation of reference please help me found it (eg a table of possible update...).

Thank you.

[phoenix]

I'd suggest the following (as this is a VM): install a new CentOS7 and update that; install the latest ZCS version on that CentOS7 server then use the ZeXtras Migration Tool to move your complete installation to the new server - it's quick, easy, it works and it's free to use.

BTW, there is plenty of advice all over the forums (not just in this section) and the Zimbra wiki that covers upgrading/moving your ZCS installation. You also shouldn't need any intermediate versions of ZCS, however, you should always read the Release Notes in detail to see if there's any issues that may affect your installation.

[TitusI]

I'd suggest the following (as this is a VM): install a new CentOS7 and update that; install the latest ZCS version on that CentOS7 server then use the ZeXtras Migration Tool to move your complete installation to the new server - it's quick, easy, it works and it's free to use.

BTW, there is plenty of advice all over the forums (not just in this section) and the Zimbra wiki that covers upgrading/moving your ZCS installation. You also shouldn't need any intermediate versions of ZCS, however, you should always read the Release Notes in detail to see if there's any issues that may affect your installation.

Thank you phonix!

This server is of a client, it is a virtual machine remotely hosted, I haven't another VM, so i need to do everything on this machine.
I suppose I can make a dist upgrade of the centos, and then upgrade/patch zimbra (I don't think a double installation of zimbra and zmextras is feasible I'm wrong?) do you think is feasible in this way?

Yes it's plenty of documentation, the problem is to found the correct one in such a sea 8.0.5 is a old version, so I had to dig into a lot of not related infos this is the reason because I ask for a hint.

[TitusI]

Ok, a new server is been deployed (Centos 7) so the upgrade is no more an option.
I'll install the last zimbra Open Source. I've onle a doubt about DNS settings, I don't want to change them until the migration is complete, I suppose this is not a problem, but this is my first zimbra installation. I Go RTFM.

[phoenix]

If you don't want to see any DNS 'outage' then I'd suggest you add a DNS MX record at a lower priority for the new server, when you're ready for the changeover you can just remove your old MX record and mail should just arrive at the new server.

[TitusI]

If you don't want to see any DNS 'outage' then I'd suggest you add a DNS MX record at a lower priority for the new server, when you're ready for the changeover you can just remove your old MX record and mail should just arrive at the new server.

Oh, thank you great hint!
I was, erroneously, convinced that MX records with different priorities are both active (mail some time go trough one some other times trough the other using the priority as a weight) but as you say if the one with the highest priority is up the other is never reached.

Thank you.

[TitusI]

If you don't want to see any DNS 'outage' then I'd suggest you add a DNS MX record at a lower priority for the new server, when you're ready for the changeover you can just remove your old MX record and mail should just arrive at the new server.

Excuse me,

if i have a mx record like this:

MX mail.domain.com 20

A record
mail.domain.com --> old_mailserver_ip_address

I have a new mail server

the new MX record must be to another FQHN in my case myserverX.otherdomain.com

the new record is

MX mail.domain.com 20
MX myserverX.otherdomain.com 70

myserverX.otherdomain.com ha a A record like

myserverX.otherdomain.com --> new_mailserver_ip_address

then when the old server go offline I had to modify the pointer of
mail.domain.com --> new_mailserver_ip_address.

My question is, the different mail server host name/domain could cause some problem during the "transition" phase?

[phoenix]

My question is, the different mail server host name/domain could cause some problem during the "transition" phase?

It shouldn't cause any problems with the obvious proviso: it should have a valid public IP; it should have a valid reverse DNS; it should also answer the handshake with the same FQDN as the reverse DNS. Obviously as this is a VM I'd assume that the FQDN is different and (possibly) the initial name in which ZCS replies to SMTP connections - you'd need to fix those.

[TitusI]

Hi,

thank you for the reply, i need to full understand the DNS setup.
Each of my mail server is pointed (direct and reverse) by severNumber.myinfrastructuredomain.com

then I point the customer domain to the server ip of their mail server

dig mail.customer.com --> ip of the server
dig -x ip of the server give severNumber.myinfrastructuredomain.com
then i have a spf record who authorize ip of the server to send mail for the customer domain.

Is this setup correct? Or I need to changhe it? What to do if I have more than one customer per mail server?

Thank you, I greatly appreciate your help.