Backup of Cryus IMAP (restore?)

[Thomas Hannan]

So to backup Cyrus, I should do the following?:
ctl_mboxlist -d /var/backup/mydbbackupfile
cp -dPr /var/imap /var/backup/imap
cp -dPr /var/spool/imap /var/backup/spool/imap

Would it be better to tar them first, or just copy and then tar later?
And to do a full restore? How would I do so? (I assume I'd have to stop the
service to restore)...

Thank you
Thomas Hannan

> 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