Mailtraq - the Complete Email Server
   

Enstar for Mailtraq email server sales & support
Making world-class Internet technology affordable  

Search for:

Advanced search

KB03041102 Backing up for data intensive users

II. Data intensive uses

Mailtraq provides comprehensive general backup utilities to enable you to backup your messages, address books etc stored in the Mailtraq database. See www.mailtraq.com/backup for more information.

Administrators in data intensive situations should have a disaster recovery plan in place, that will accommodate the loss or inaccessability of the server location. In these situations a standard back-up may not be sufficiently robust: with access to a current back-up of the Database folder it is a simple matter to download a new 'install' of Mailtraq and be up and running in minutes.

Administrators should consider the time taken to restore from backups.

Method
The most robust way of backing up is to copy the database as described below. This provides you with a complete data capture and a simple restore that is available very quickly.

In data intensive situations we recommend archiving these Database captures to another machine, DVD or tape system on a daily basis.

     General Advice

  • We strongly suggest the use of RAIDw to replicate your data among multiple hard drives.
  • We recommend the use of Server editions of Windows.
  • Ensure that the hard drive does not run out of space.  See more here ...


Copying the Database

A full backup can be effected on any Mailtraq (AFV, Firebird or AFX database) by shutting down Mailtraq and copying the Database folder to a safe location before restarting Mailtraq.

  1. Shut down
  2. Copy
  3. Restart

Automating
A simple batch file containing the following XCOPY based routine - run as a scheduled task - will copy the entire Mailtraq database (including IMAP, WebMail and any other stored messages) to another drive on your network. This is easy to implement, but you must take into account that Mailtraq needs exclusive access to its Database, so Mailtraq needs to be stopped and started.
 
 You would set this to run at a known quiet time on the network.
 
 Here is an example of the basis for a batch file which your IT professional could implement for you .
 
     net stop mailtraqserver
     xcopy "C:\Program Files\Mailtraq\database" G:\Data\mtqbackup /E/C/D/F/H/R/K/Y/Z
     net start mailtraqserver

 
The Mailtraq database folder is copied to a folder previously created on network drive G, called Data\mtqbackup with these switches set.

/E includes empty directories and subdirectories
/C - Continues copying even if errors occur
/D - This option allows you to update only files that have changed.
/F - Displays full source and destination file names while copying
/H - Copies hidden and system files also
/R - Overwrites read-only files
/K - Copies attributes.
/Y - Overwrites existing files without prompting
/Z - Copies networked files in restartable mode

This folder can then be safely included in your normal corporate backup routines without any potential conflicts with exclusive Database file access.

Mailtraq will be temporarily unavailable to your clients whilst it is shut-down for back up, but no messages will be lost as the SMTP protocol automatically queues messages for later delivery.

Restore: Should you need to Restore, you simply need to substitute the saved Database folder for the current folder. Mailtraq must be shut down when making the substitution


Keywords: kb general
Mailtraq Highlights...
 SMTP Server     Mailtraq SMTP email server video IMAP Server     Mailtraq IMAP email Server video
 POP3 Server     Mailtraq POP3 email server video Proxy Server     Mailtraq proxy email server video
 Webmail Server     Mailtraq webmail email server video Mailing-list Server     Mailing list email server video
 Groupware Services     Mailtraq groupware email services video Spam and Virus control     Spam and virus control email server video

 

   Copyright © 2003 - 2011 Enstar Ltd, Enstar LLC & Fastraq Ltd. All rights reserved. Privacy policy.
   Mailtraq® is a registered trademark of Fastraq Limited.