This section contains guidelines for the most common task required by the users; also links to technical resources are also provided.

How to Activate Zextras Backup

Once you have finished your servers setup, you need a few more steps to configure the Backup module and have all your data automatically backed up.

  • Mount a storage device (like e.g., a NAS) in you desired path. We will use the default /opt/zimbra/backup/zextras throughout this section; remember to replace it with the path you chose.

The size of the device should be at least 80% of primary + secondary volume size.

  • Set the correct permission on the backup path: chown zimbra:zimbra /opt/zimbra/backup/zextras

backup ui
Figure 1. Zextras Backup Admin Console
Basic Customisation of Backup

You can optionally customise some of the Zextras Backup options shown in Figure Zextras Backup Admin Console, for example:

  • Change the backup path. You can modify the full path for backups either from the admin console (see screenshot of Figure Zextras Backup Admin Console), or from the command line, for example:

zxsuite config server set $(zmhostname) attribute ZxBackup_DestPath value /opt/zimbra-backup

  • Backup Zimbra customisations. With this option, configuration and other changes made to Zimbra are saved in a separate file named customizations_dd_mm_yyy#xx_xx.tar.gz. Here, dd_mm_yyy represents the date when the backup was created, while xx_xx is an identifier. The archive contains the full configuration of zimbra: crontab, nginx webserver, postfix and antivirus, LDAP connection, Zimbra templates, and more.

  • Enable the Real Time Scan, by clicking the btn:[Enable] button in the _RealTime Scanner box

  • Once you have specified the backup path, it must be initialised, an operation that can be done either from the admin console or the command line. In the first case, click on the btn:[Initialize NOW!] button on the top right corner of Figure Zextras Backup Admin Console screenshot. From the CLI, initialization is done by simply starting SmartScan for the first time: zxsuite backup doSmartScan start

To avoid a flood of notifications about running operations, it is suggested to lower the default Notification level from Information to one of Warning, Error, or Critical (see Figure Zextras Backup Notification Level).
backup notification level
Figure 2. Zextras Backup Notification Level