Topic: Backup Backups and Configs? (Fetchmail and SoGO)

[chaos_sme]

Hello Again,

Yesterday i made a Thread because a VM with Raid1 HDD (https://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=52871.new;topicseen#new).
After a couple of post, i made a New Server without RAID1. After i made a SME Backup and imported to my new server, iam very happy but i have no Addons there?! I had "Fetchmail" and "SoGO" installed and configured. Is there a way to export the config of the Old Server and imported to my new Server?


Sorry for my bad english, iam german ...

[brianr]

As far as I know there is no way to export and import contribs, although you can use:

/sbin/e-smith/audittools/newrpms


to show you which rpms you have installed in addition to the standard rpms.

[janet]

chaos_sme

If  you read the wiki (Manual, Forums, Howtos etc) you will see that standard procedure is to backup, install new OS, restore from backup, then reinstall contribs.
Note that the configuration for any installed supported contribs is included in the backup & so is also restored.
When the contrib is reinstalled it uses the already restored configuration settings & so should function as previously.
The important proviso here, is that these are sme server supported contribs, & that the contrib you install on the new OS sme server version is compatible with the old contrib (ie sme9 version of contrib is compatible & has same functionality as sme8 version of contrib).
In most cases the contribs are compatible, BUT it always pays to check first.
If documentation does not specifically say so, then it is a wise policy to carry out a test upgrade first & find out for yourself that the contribs you use are compatible & that they will perform as expected after you upgrade the OS using the "backup, install OS, restore, reinstall contribs" method.

If you have other external contribs installed, or have manually installed contribs (that do not have a contrib in sme server repos), then you need to make sure that the configuration data etc are included in backups.

See
https://wiki.contribs.org/Backup_server_config

http://distro.ibiblio.org/smeserver/releases/9/smecontribs/i386/RPMS/ - for 32 bit
http://distro.ibiblio.org/smeserver/releases/9/smecontribs/x86_64/RPMS/ - for 64 bit

https://wiki.contribs.org/SME9.0_Contribs_QA


The same concept applies to backup, restore of the same sme server version eg sme 9 to sme 9, although contrib compatibility is usually not an issue then. Contribs are never included in backups (as standard), unless perhaps you install them to a known location that is included in the standard backup eg an ibay or /opt, & include /opt in the backup configuration. Web apps are typically OK, but binary files can be problematic.

Note the reason for not including contribs in the backup & restore is because the program files may be incompatible between versions eg el4, el5, el6 versions etc, so the correct version of the contrib packages has to be reinstalled to match the underlying operating system version (just like you did when doing a fresh install of the operating system).