On Sat, Dec 03, 2022 at 11:02:54PM +0000, GDS wrote:
Hello all! After reading some of the past threads on backups, I was wondering if I could get a sanity check... I run a Maildir configuration for a small (10 mailboxes) mail server. Using "doveadm backup", for each mailbox I do:
Weekly full backups and then copy the files to a network-based filesystem.
Daily incremental backups and then copy the files to a network-based filesystem.
My recovery assumption is that in case of hardware failure, I would re-set up the mail service and for each mailbox I will recover at the right directory the latest full mailbox backup and on top of it, each incremental backup to the latest day. Does this sound like a sound strategy?
Assumptions are dangerous things.
Have you tested your assumptions - i.e. simulated recovering from a hardware failure - in order to be sure your backups and procedures are adequate?
Are your server, and your network-based filesystem protected against bit-rot?
Also, I was thinking of setting up a second dovecot server on another server and replicating my primary on an hourly basis to decrease recovery time. But I looked at mbsync and it seems to require mailbox login/password for each mailbox (which I don't have). Is there an alternative?
You might want to consider using ZFS.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS
Jim Salter has written some fairly accessible tutorials. For instance:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/02/ars-walkthrough-using...
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/12/rsync-net-zfs-replica...
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/05/zfs-101-understanding...
https://jrs-s.net/category/open-source/zfs/
Sam