Upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.8.6

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shodan
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Upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.8.6

Post by shodan »

Hi all,
I just inherited a old single-server Zimbra 8.0.6 installation running on 64-bit CentOS 6.5. Being both the OS and Zimbra so old, I plan to update at the next maintenance window. However I would like to first do a reality-check asking on the forum.

I read the guide at https://wiki.zimbra.com/wiki/Zimbra_Rel ... .0/Upgrade (I can't find anything 8.8 specific) and my current plan is to:
- stop all mail flow;
- update the OS via yum and reboot;
- stop again all mail flow;
- upgrade Zimbra to the latest release (8.8.6 at time of writing this post).

The entire upgrade cycle will be preceded by a snapshot of the virtual machine on which it runs, as well by a lab-testing on a dedicated machine.

Can I ask:
- is my plan sound, or flawed?
- is upgrading the OS first a good choice?
- there is something to take into account when performing the upgrade (ie: common pitfall which should be avoided)?

Thank you all.
Labsy
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Re: Upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.8.6

Post by Labsy »

First off, I would stop mail flow on Firewall, not on ZCS server, because for ZCS upgrade Zimbra must be running. Don't upgrade Zimbra when its services are not running!
Secondly, after OS migrate, I'd first download and re-install the same ZCS version, this time for correct OS. That's mandatory, because you need to cope with new librarires and technologies.
Only then download and upgrade ZSC to newer version.
When opening back firewall, I'd first open only retreival ports, like POP3 and IMAP, but leave SMTP closed during test. Why? because if something is not working and would be beyond repair, you do not want fresh mail to get packed into non-working upgrade and you will be able to revert snapshot to pre-upgrade state, not loosing any mail.


But BEFORE you even start, make few copies of:
/opt/zimbra/log/mailbox.log
/opt/zimbra/log/nginx.log
Just for your future reference and comparison, if you hit some troubles. You will then know, if some issue was pre or post upgrade.
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JDunphy
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Re: Upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.8.6

Post by JDunphy »

I'll chime in as everyone has their favorite ways. I think your plan is sound. You should be fairly safe given you have vm snapshots to fall back should something go wrong.

0) use fw to disable access for users and incoming mail
1) I would also do a yum update; reboot
2) I would bring highest patch level 8.0.6 before step 3.
3) update to 8.6

Here I would do the following to my 8.6 release after it is up to prepare for 8.7 because proxies are required in that version.

Code: Select all

zmprov ms `zmhostname` zimbraReverseProxyMailMode https
zmprov ms `zmhostname` zimbraMailReferMode reverse-proxied
zmprov ms `zmhostname` zimbraReverseProxyHttpEnabled TRUE
 
/opt/zimbra/libexec/zmproxyconfig -e -w -o -a 8080:80:8443:443 -x https -H `zmhostname`
/opt/zimbra/libexec/zmproxyconfig -e -m -o -i 7143:143:7993:993 -p 7110:110:7995:995 -H `zmhostname`
 
zmcontrol restart
zmcontrol status
Next to fix the console gui with the proxy

Code: Select all

zmprov mcf zimbraPublicServiceHostname mail.example.com
zmprov md example.com zimbraPublicServicePort 443
zmprov md example.org zimbraPublicServicePort 443
zmprov md example.net zimbraPublicServicePort 443
zmprov md example.com zimbraPublicServiceProtocol https
zmprov md example.org zimbraPublicServiceProtocol https
zmprov md example.net zimbraPublicServiceProtocol https
zmmailboxdctl restart
Note: if some of the services fail because you don't have memcache or nginx installed, you can move to step 4 and allow it to happen at this step. You can also install them to test 8.6 but I tend to just move through this fairly fast.

Update 8.6 to 8.7
4) update to 8.7
Now I would update to 8.7 and make sure you install the proxy (nginx) and memcache software when it prompts you with install.sh

5) look for this when running 8.7 - viewtopic.php?t=60288

and this error in 'ldap checksum error' found via grep ldap /var/log/zimbra.log

Code: Select all

% zmlocalconfig -s -m nokey ldap_root_password
 
# Run this commands and cut/paste following lines with ^D
% ldapmodify -x -H ldapi:/// -D cn=config -W
 
dn: olcDatabase={0}config,cn=config
 
changetype:modify
 
replace: olcMaxDerefDepth
 
olcMaxDerefDepth: 15
 
followed by a control-D.
8.7 is going to require that you enable the proxy so make sure you follow all the directions and test various scenarios before moving on.

6) update to 8.8.6 ... I tried it on my staging server and backed away because others are having odd reliability problems. It updated perfectly but I am waiting until I see less questions in the forums on reliability fore I go there with production.

You could have issues with your statistics and status under the admin console after 8.7... if that happens, there are some easy fixes that are well documented in these forums. Nothing major.

Note: The zimbra install.sh script is pretty impressive with it's ability to repair and fix things. You will require network connectivity with 8.7 as it will pull in some zimbra repositories for zimbra so you still need network access. I also think going to 8.6 they introduced a dns cache resolver so disable that in the install if you have bind on port 53 when prompted during your upgrade.

I am probably overly cautious and it might work going directly to your end version but what would you debug should it fail badly in the middle? Thus I go step wise through the versions thinking that pathway was probably tested the most. Doesn't add that much more time to the update process.

Good luck.
CBACIT
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Re: Upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.8.6

Post by CBACIT »

Would this be very similar if you are upgrading Ubuntu 14LTS with Zimbra 8.0.9 to Zimbra 8.8.6?
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JDunphy
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Re: Upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.8.6

Post by JDunphy »

CBACIT wrote:Would this be very similar if you are upgrading Ubuntu 14LTS with Zimbra 8.0.9 to Zimbra 8.8.6?
Yes it should be similar because I tend to upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.0.9 first before going to the next step which is 8.6+ ... 8.7 requires a little more care because that is when proxy/memcache became mandatory. I don't remember having any problem going from 8.0.X to 8.6 and I had no issue trying 8.7 to 8.8.6 ... I am just not going to 8.8+ in production until some of those outstanding bugs are closed but that's a personal choice because there are some really great features coming.
shodan
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Re: Upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.8.6

Post by shodan »

Hi all, thanks for your help!
From your reply, I understand that, due to the proxy requisite, 8.7+ is a somewhat bigger step than, say, 8.6.0p9

I wonder if a better plan would be to upgrade my 8.0.6 installation to 8.6.0p9 first, use it for some days (to be 100% all is working correctly), then schedule another downtime for 8.8.6 upgrade.

How do you feel about this idea?
Thanks.
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JDunphy
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Re: Upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.8.6

Post by JDunphy »

shodan wrote:Hi all, thanks for your help!
From your reply, I understand that, due to the proxy requisite, 8.7+ is a somewhat bigger step than, say, 8.6.0p9

I wonder if a better plan would be to upgrade my 8.0.6 installation to 8.6.0p9 first, use it for some days (to be 100% all is working correctly), then schedule another downtime for 8.8.6 upgrade.

How do you feel about this idea?
Thanks.
That should work too.

Add this to your TODO list when it comes time to configure the proxy so you see the client ip address and not the proxy in your logs.

Change X.X.X.X to the ip address of your zmhostname. See https://wiki.zimbra.com/wiki/Log_Files and the section Logging the Originating IP

Code: Select all

% zmprov mcf +zimbraMailTrustedIP 127.0.0.1 +zimbraMailTrustedIP X.X.X.X
% zmmailboxdctl restart
Generally these upgrades are pretty uneventful but I remember doing a lot of hand typing with 8.6 (if you test the proxy there first) or at 8.7. I practiced on a staging server with 8.6 then cut and paste from my todo list to minimize the downtime to the production server before the move to 8.7. The biggest gotcha was not having nginx and memcache software installed on that 8.6 production server and struggling to understand the error message when it wouldn't start as it did on my practice server. I thought it would be good enough to just configure the settings and restart so was a little panic'd when the production server didn't act like the 8.6 on my staging server. LOL You will be fine.
CBACIT
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Re: Upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.8.6

Post by CBACIT »

JDunphy wrote:
CBACIT wrote:Would this be very similar if you are upgrading Ubuntu 14LTS with Zimbra 8.0.9 to Zimbra 8.8.6?
Yes it should be similar because I tend to upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.0.9 first before going to the next step which is 8.6+ ... 8.7 requires a little more care because that is when proxy/memcache became mandatory. I don't remember having any problem going from 8.0.X to 8.6 and I had no issue trying 8.7 to 8.8.6 ... I am just not going to 8.8+ in production until some of those outstanding bugs are closed but that's a personal choice because there are some really great features coming.

I am going to try to upgrade from Ubuntu 14LTS Zimbra 8.0.9 to 8.8.7 this weekend... Zimbra Support said they support it and I already have proxy / memcache enabled. Does anybody see any issues with this?
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Re: Upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.8.6

Post by L. Mark Stone »

shodan wrote:Hi all,
I just inherited a old single-server Zimbra 8.0.6 installation running on 64-bit CentOS 6.5. Being both the OS and Zimbra so old, I plan to update at the next maintenance window. However I would like to first do a reality-check asking on the forum.

I read the guide at https://wiki.zimbra.com/wiki/Zimbra_Rel ... .0/Upgrade (I can't find anything 8.8 specific) and my current plan is to:
- stop all mail flow;
- update the OS via yum and reboot;
- stop again all mail flow;
- upgrade Zimbra to the latest release (8.8.6 at time of writing this post).

The entire upgrade cycle will be preceded by a snapshot of the virtual machine on which it runs, as well by a lab-testing on a dedicated machine.

Can I ask:
- is my plan sound, or flawed?
- is upgrading the OS first a good choice?
- there is something to take into account when performing the upgrade (ie: common pitfall which should be avoided)?

Thank you all.
You don't say if you are running Network Edition or FOSS, but if you are running Network Edition it is much, much easier to do a side-by-side migration to a totally new server running 8.8.7 and whatever supported OS you want. The BackupNG tools (Zextras, essentially), will have you install an agent on your old server and take a Zextras backup; copy/transport the backup to the new server and restore.

Unlike the old Network Edition backup/restore, the Zextras BackupNG tools restore sharing, distribution lists and all the other bits the Network Edition backup does not.

BackupNG can also be done in an Incremental manner, whereby you provision the mailboxes on the new server to make the server usable and effect your cutover, and then you restore the data. The BackupNG backups work like rsync as well, so you could restore on Friday the backup you took on Thursday, do the cutover, then take an incremental backup and do an incremental restore.

Hope that helps,
Mark
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Re: Upgrade from 8.0.6 to 8.8.6

Post by gabaker »

L. Mark Stone wrote: You don't say if you are running Network Edition or FOSS, but if you are running Network Edition it is much, much easier to do a side-by-side migration to a totally new server running 8.8.7 and whatever supported OS you want. The BackupNG tools (Zextras, essentially), will have you install an agent on your old server and take a Zextras backup; copy/transport the backup to the new server and restore.

Unlike the old Network Edition backup/restore, the Zextras BackupNG tools restore sharing, distribution lists and all the other bits the Network Edition backup does not.

BackupNG can also be done in an Incremental manner, whereby you provision the mailboxes on the new server to make the server usable and effect your cutover, and then you restore the data. The BackupNG backups work like rsync as well, so you could restore on Friday the backup you took on Thursday, do the cutover, then take an incremental backup and do an incremental restore.

Hope that helps,
Mark
Hi Mark,
I am running the Network Edition at 8.0.9 [Centos6.5 VM on Xen5.5] and want to upgrade to a new Centos7 VM server with Network Edition 8.8.7. (on VMWare ESXi6.0) (Nota Bene: I started with Zimbra 7 back in 2011 and have upgraded a few times on that same server, but have left it alone for a number of years now. Zimbra has just 'worked' flawlessly all this time, but it is now high time to upgrade)

What you have described sounds great, but I am not finding any reference material for this. Can you recommend some good links that do a good job outlining the steps?
(My install is a small corporate install, single server, with only 130 accounts. However accounts are large and I have about 250-300Gigs of message data. I do use HSM to a NAS for older message storage)

TIA
Gary
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