Zimbra Collaboration 8.7.x and Ubuntu OS update corrupts/removes Zimbra installation

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jorgedlcruz
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Zimbra Collaboration 8.7.x and Ubuntu OS update corrupts/removes Zimbra installation

Post by jorgedlcruz »

Hi everyone,
We are currently investigating a critical issue that corrupts an existing Zimbra 8.7 or 8.7.1 installation when upgrading Ubuntu OS. The upgrade will remove Zimbra packages and cause perl compatibility issues.
We strongly recommend customers not to upgrade Ubuntu OS if you are running Zimbra Collaboration 8.7 or 8.7.1 on Ubuntu 12.04 or 14.04, and monitor the next Bug for the latest information on this issue: If you are a Zimbra Customer, we strongly recommend you to contact Support before run an Ubuntu OS Upgrade if you have ZCS 8.7.x and Ubuntu 12.04 or 14.04.

We will keep you updated
Jorge de la Cruz https://jorgedelacruz.es
Systems Engineer at Veeam Software https://www.veeam.com/
djpark
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Re: Zimbra Collaboration 8.7.x and Ubuntu OS update corrupts/removes Zimbra installation

Post by djpark »

The following work around is tested many times to confirm working to solve the problem. You need to follow the instruction very carefully.

This process is done with Zimbra 8.7.1 running on Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04.1. If you are running the older version of Zimbra, it is important to upgrade to the latest (8.7.1 currently) while still on Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS.

The key point of successful Ubuntu upgrade is:-

1) save (backup or move) the existing Zimbra installation before 'do-release-upgrade'
2) fresh install Zimbra after Ubuntu upgrade
3) restore old Zimbra installation
4) replace the Zimbra binary files with the fresh installaed copy

Here are the commands I used. I ran all as root user. Since it deals with deleting some directories from the Zimbra installation, care should be taken and creating an extra backup copy may be safer. (I can't be responsible for any potential loss of data.)

On Ubuntu 14.04.5

1) Shutdown Zimbra services.

# /etc/init.d/zimbra stop

2) Rename existing Zimbra installation directory to avoid being deleted during Ubuntu upgrade.

# cd /opt
# mv zimbra zimbra.lts14


3) Uninstall Zimbra. It will not complain the non-existing Zimbra folder, but it will quietly remove Zimbra start script. Assuming that the installation directory of Zimbra 8.7.1 for Ubuntu 14.04 is also in /opt directory:

# cd zcs-8.7.1_GA_1670.UBUNTU14_64.20161025045105
# ./install.sh -u


4) Upgrade Ubuntu 14.04.5 to 16.04.1.

# do-release-upgrade

If action for configuration file is required, select 'N' to keep the current copy.

On Ubuntu 16.04.1

5) After Ubuntu 16.04.1 is running, update it to the latest. (optional)

# apt-get update; apt-get -y dist-upgrade; apt-get -y autoremove

6) Fresh install Zimbra 8.7.1 for Ubuntu 16.04 (software only).

# cd /opt
# cd zcs-8.7.1_GA_1670.UBUNTU16_64.20161025045114
# ./install -s


7) Rename new Zimbra directory to a temporary directory.

# cd /opt
# mv zimbra zimbra.lts16


8) Restore old Zimbra back and remove Zimbra 8.7.1 for Ubuntu 14.04 binary files.

# cd /opt
# mv zimbra.lts14 zimbra
# cd zimbra
# rm -rf bin common/bin common/lib common/libexec common/sbin common/share lib libexec


9) Copy new Zimbra 8.7.1 for Ubuntu 16.04 binary to zimbra directory.

# cd /opt
# cd zimbra.lts16
# cp -adpRx bin common/bin common/lib common/libexec common/sbin common/share lib libexec /opt/zimbra


10) Zimbra 8.7.1 for Ubuntu 16.04 is ready to run. It is not necessary to reinstall Zimbra.

# /etc/init.d/zimbra start

I hope this solves problems for the users wanting to upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04 now.

DJ
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jorgedlcruz
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Re: Zimbra Collaboration 8.7.x and Ubuntu OS update corrupts/removes Zimbra installation

Post by jorgedlcruz »

Thank you djpark,
Great feedback! I haven't tried yet but looks solid. However Zimbra should work on the issue and allow rolling upgrades without any issues.

Best regards
Jorge de la Cruz https://jorgedelacruz.es
Systems Engineer at Veeam Software https://www.veeam.com/
djpark
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Re: Zimbra Collaboration 8.7.x and Ubuntu OS update corrupts/removes Zimbra installation

Post by djpark »

Of course it is best to get Zimbra to take care of the problem. My solution is for those who can't wait for Zimbra.

Zimbra may solve the upgrade issue by creating binaries linked to self-contained library instead of against system library or static (at least for a intermediate version for release upgrade).

For the people doing tot install.sh -s followed by restore and reinstall, just add binary directories copy option to the script to avoid LDAP failure from the older version.

Best regards,

D. J. Park
danielfarrelly
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Re: Zimbra Collaboration 8.7.x and Ubuntu OS update corrupts/removes Zimbra installation

Post by danielfarrelly »

we were early adopters of 8.7 on ubuntu 16 and ran into a few issues as well. ended up apt-get removing zimbra-*, then install -s w/o zimbra repo, and finally copying over /opt/zimbra/.saveconfig/localconfig.xml to conf directory to compensate for ldap error. everything runs smooth, though logger still spikes all cores everyday around 1600.
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howanitz
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Re: Zimbra Collaboration 8.7.x and Ubuntu OS update corrupts/removes Zimbra installation

Post by howanitz »

I am waiting on upgrading (the paid NE) until things stabilize more. I wish issues of this order would get email alerts to paying customers.
hippiecool
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Re: Zimbra Collaboration 8.7.x and Ubuntu OS update corrupts/removes Zimbra installation

Post by hippiecool »

Followed your instructions D.J. (Thank you) but now, none of the zimbra commands are found. zmcontrol: command not found I can't start zimbra. When I try even as root, no difference. zmmailboxdctl: command not found Did I miss something?
racerock
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Re: Zimbra Collaboration 8.7.x and Ubuntu OS update corrupts/removes Zimbra installation

Post by racerock »

Unfortunately I followed the steps as are, but in my case I see LDAP and perl issues appearing after implementing the procedures and then trying to start, It fails , I tried a few procedures from this broken zimbra install stepping through various other documented "fixes" including further install /upgrade with switches such as (./install.sh --skip-upgrade-check) fails to fix all at some stge of an install / upgrade over-the top of the existing migrated install.
Ps My particular install was originally installed as an 8.09 on 14.04 upgraded at each stage gradually up to 8.71.
joebitcoinorg
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Re: Zimbra Collaboration 8.7.x and Ubuntu OS update corrupts/removes Zimbra installation

Post by joebitcoinorg »

This 14.04 Ubuntu server was inadvertently upgraded to 16.04.1 this morning. Yes, Zimbra 8.7.1 was running on it. I am trying everything to get this working again. It appears that getting LDAP working again is really important.

One of my first steps was to try to load 8.7.1 zimbra for Ubuntu 16.04.
The install script would bomb out with messages complaining about not being able to connect to the ldap server.

After going into the packages directly, and performing a "dpkg -i *" command, I thought I should be able to start the Zimbra service perhaps, but no.

I then did the "apt autoremove" command to remove old packages .

I'm in a strange place here. It seems that the ldap server is necessary to run the upgrade program.

I've seen some of the prescriptions for this problem above and am working on trying to do it.

Anyway, I thought I should put a message into the forum since I'm encountering this problem. I also called Zimbra to inquire about support for the open source edition. I'm waiting to get a call back with pricing information for support.

Oh, and I had to disable my VPN to post this because spamhaus listed the vpn ip address in this way Your IP 5.153.233.18 has been blocked because it is blacklisted. For details please see http://www.spamhaus.org/query/bl?ip=5.153.233.18. People need vpns to resist surveillance. Some might only be able to access this site from a tor network. Please consider not blocking these sorts of networks in a blanket way.
joebitcoinorg
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Re: Zimbra Collaboration 8.7.x and Ubuntu OS update corrupts/removes Zimbra installation

Post by joebitcoinorg »

9) Copy new Zimbra 8.7.1 for Ubuntu 16.04 binary to zimbra directory.

# cd /opt
# cd zimbra.lts16
# cp -adpRx bin common/bin common/lib common/libexec common/sbin common/share lib libexec /opt/zimbra
When performing this I got...

Code: Select all

root@mail3:/opt/zimbra-16.04# cp -adpRx bin common/bin common/lib common/libexec
 common/sbin common/share lib libexec /opt/zimbra
cp: cannot stat 'common/bin': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat 'common/libexec': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat 'common/sbin': No such file or directory
So I modified the command removing the non-existing directories.
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