Backing up vPostMaster

To backup vPostMaster, you have to get the following data:

• Copies of the /var/spool/vpostmaster/vpostmaster-configfiles.tar.bz2 and /var/spool/vpostmaster/vpostmaster-database.sql.bz2. These backups are rebuilt once per hour.
• /var/spool/vpostmaster/domains The directory where e-mail is stored. This can be rather large and changes frequently.
• The /etc/passwd and /etc/group entry for the "vpostmaster" account. The uid/gid's of these accounts either need to stay the same after a restore, or any file ownership associated with them need to be changed. In particular, /var/spool/vpostmaster must be owned by the vpostmaster user and writable by it, and the /usr/lib/vpostmaster/etc/*.conf files have to be readable by vpostmaster. The "wwwdb.conf" file also has to be readable by Apache, which is typically done during the install by changing it's group to the Apache group, and changing it's mode to 0660.

Versions previous to 1.36 of the community version and 2.12 of the pro version didn't automatically backup the configuration files and database files, so you'd need the following data:

• /etc/postfix The location where the Postfix configuration information is stored. This rarely if ever changes.
• /etc/dovecot.conf and /etc/dovecot-pgsql.conf Dovecot configuration and settings. This rarely if ever changes.
• /var/spool/vpostmaster The directory where e-mail is stored. This can be rather large and changes frequently.
• The PostgreSQL database tables. This is where all the mail system meta-data is stored. I'd recommend dumping these into the file-system somewhere with "su postgres -c pg_dumpall >/path/to/backup/file".

  This data changes frequently.

• /usr/lib/vpostmaster/etc This includes some database access files which are required for some parts of the system to access the database. This includes the access credentials for incoming mail processing, and the web interface.
• The /etc/passwd and /etc/group entry for the "vpostmaster" account. The uid/gid's of these accounts either need to stay the same after a restore, or any file ownership associated with them need to be changed. In particular, /var/spool/vpostmaster must be owned by the vpostmaster user and writable by it, and the /usr/lib/vpostmaster/etc/*.conf files have to be readable by vpostmaster. The "wwwdb.conf" file also has to be readable by Apache, which is typically done during the install by changing it's group to the Apache group, and changing it's mode to 0660.