A system administrator may need to move SmarterMail to a different server because they are moving to a more powerful server or changing hosting companies and need to move to their servers. SmarterTools makes it easy by allowing you to have 2 instances of your SmarterMail license running on 2 different servers for up to 30 days. At the end of the 30 days, the "old" license then needs to be uninstalled and should no longer call back to the SmarterTools' licensing servers.

Before starting the move process, add new MX records to your domains in DNS for the new server and allow 24-48 hours for the records to propagate through the Internet. Doing so will help ensure that you do not lose any mail. SmarterTools also recommends ensuring your license key can be activated again before beginning the migration process. This information can be found in the Licenses section of My Account.

NOTE: If you have SSL or TLS configured on any ports, the certificate being used must be exported (containing the private key) from the original servers certificate store. It then needs to be imported into the new server’s Personal folder within the certificate store. 

Applies to All Versions of SmarterMail

Follow this steps to migrate a SmarterMail installation to a different server:

1. Install SmarterMail on the new server and follow the instructions for setting up IIS if you plan on using it instead of the SmarterMail Web server.
2. Stop the SmarterMail Service on both servers.
3. Copy all .xml and .dat files from the Service directory of your install path from your old server to your new one. By default that path will be C:\Program Files (x86)\SmarterTools\SmarterMail\Service. Note that mailConfig.xml and domainList.xml are the only files absolutely required to be copied over.
4. Copy all domains folders from their directory on the older server to the same directory on the new server. By default the path domains are stored in is C:\SmarterMail\Domains
5. Start the SmarterMail service on the new server.
6. Log in and re-activate the software on the new server.
7. If you change the path to your domains, you would need to edit your domainList.xml file accordingly to reflect the new paths.
8. If your IP address or other DNS info changes, update the corresponding setting in SmarterMail and restart the SmarterMail Service (or reboot the server) to make the change effective.

NOTE: These steps assume that the domain data is stored in the default C:\SmarterMail\Domains directory and that the product is installed in the default location.

[END QUOTE]

[THIS HAS TO BE DONE BEFORE MOVING ONTO STEP 2]

OK first part missing from this article is that after installing Smarter Mail on the new server MAKE SURE you click on "Begin Setup" and actually complete this section...the way the article is written you would almost think you would not have to do this because you are moving existing files and domains but trust me this NEEDS to be done or it will not work....the article should clearly state this!

[THIS HAS TO BE DONE BEFORE MOVING ONTO STEP 5]

Next part missing from the KB article is that for some reason the install file does not set the "Windows Firewall Rules" so you have to manually set a rule for your email ports to pass thru Windows Firewall.

Other then those 2 steps I found this KB article to be very helpful and my migration went very smooth even though I was down with out my emails for a full day....once I figured out these missing steps I was up and running in literally mins....if these missing steps were in the article I do believe the entire migration might have taken me less then 30 mins!!

Respectfully,

James A. Civitello

PCS Bristol, LLC

Personal Computer Services of Bristol

860-261-4519