Backup of Cryus IMAP

[John Alton Tamplin]

Michael Frank wrote:

>	I have heard that if I backup the database and/or user files as they are being accessed I might corrupt the files. Is this true? If so how can I implement an automated backup without taking the service down? I need to have the service up 24/7 and am unable to take it down at any point. Can anyone point me in the correct direction?
>  
>
Simply backing up the files as they are actively being used will not 
corrupt them.  However, it is possible that the file you backup is not 
usable since there is no synchronization between the updates to the 
database and the backup program.  The best practice discussed here for 
restoring inidividual folders is to create an empty folder, restore the 
message files themselves, and then reconstruct that folder, so there is 
no problem there.  For a full restore, to guard against corrupting 
important database files I do ctl_mboxlist -d to a text file just before 
the backup, and then backup that file.  If a full restore is required, 
the database can be rebuilt from the text file if necessary.

-- 
John A. Tamplin                               Unix System Administrator
Emory University, School of Public Health     +1 404/727-9931