Issues with Linux migration

Problem reported by Neil Harvey - 4/26/2025 at 3:47 PM

Submitted

Hi,

I am not a Linux expert but I have created a Ubuntu 24.04 server to test running in Linux and I am having an issue getting the migration to work.

Smartermail 9245 installs fine and my Windows server has been upgraded to the same version.

I stop the smartermail service on Linux and then

I copy my C:\Smartermail directory on wndows to /var/lib/smartermail on Linux.

I copy my C:\Program Files (x86)\SmarterTools\SmarterMail\Service\Settings on windows /etc/smartermail on Linux.

I then restart the service, once i goto to the locahost i get the following screen

The way I have copied the files over is to zip them on the windows server 1st and then scp them over, so not sure if that is causing an issue.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Osti

5 Replies

Reply to Thread

Alain W. Replied

4/28/2025 at 9:10 PM

Hi Osti

As far as I remember, this is the expected behavior. What I mean is, that after migration this page is displayed and you should click "next" to continue with the actual migration.

See for example: www.smartertools.com/blog/2024/04/smartermail-for-linux-introduction

Alain

Neil Harvey Replied

4/29/2025 at 3:49 AM

Hi Alain,

Many thanks for the response, i presumed that too, the problem I have is clicking next then pops up a red box at the bottom very quickly with access denied error and then just sits there.

Best regards

Osti

Alain W. Replied

4/29/2025 at 4:17 AM

Right. Did you copy and extract the files as root on the Linux box?

Alain W. Replied

4/29/2025 at 4:55 AM

Hi Osti

After a second glance at your screenshot, I have another possible theory.
Did you maybe copy all files from the Smartermail directory (including executables and such)?
I think that one article (a3691) is misleading.
Therefore mainly follow portal.smartertools.com/kb/a2724/migrate-smartermail-to-a-different-server.aspx for the migration of the data.

TLDR; Try to copy only the following:
SmarterMail\Service\Settings -> *.json files -> go to /etc/smartermail/
SmarterMail\Domains -> folders in there -> go to /var/lib/smartermail/Domains

(if you use Certificates, also copy that folder)

Probably it's best to purge and reinstall Smartermail on the Linux machine first.

Alain