Backup and Restore SmarterMail

SmarterMail > Server Configuration and Management
This article applies to recent versions of SmarterMail. View articles for SmarterMail 16.x and earlier.
Regularly backing up your email files is a good practice to keep as it helps prevent the loss of important data in the event of a hardware crash, hard drive corruption, system failures, etc. This article explains which files need to be backed up manually or via a backup solution, such as BackupExec or Veritas. If there is no prior backup solution in place, we recommend Hobocopy, an open source alternative to Robocopy (which is not recommended for backups due to its tendency to lock files). 

In addition, SmarterMail automatically generates daily backups of the system, domain and user configuration files. Within the Archived Data folders, you'll find today's archives in separate files and zipped files of yesterday's and previous days' archives. The Archived Data folders are stored at:

Windows
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\SmarterTools\SmarterMail\Service\Settings\Archived Data\
  • C:\SmarterMail\Domains\[domain_name]\Archived Data\
  • C:\SmarterMail\Domains\[domain_name]\Users\[username]\Archived Data\
Linux
  • etc/smartermail/Archived Data/
  • var/lib/smartermail/Domains/[domain_name]/Archived Data/
  • var/lib/smartermail/Domains/[domain_name]/Users/[username]/Archived Data/

Backing up Data
 
  • When backing up a SmarterMail installation, include all .json and .dat files found in the Settings directory of the install path (Windows Default: C:\Program Files (x86)\SmarterTools\SmarterMail\Service\Settings\ |  Linux Default: /etc/smartermail/).
  • All SmarterMail domain folders must also be backed up (Windows Default: C:\Smartermail\Domains  |  Linux Default: /var/lib/smartermail/Domains).
  • You don't have to backup your Certificates, but you can (Windows Default: C:\SmarterMail\Certificates  |  Linux Default: /var/lib/smartermail/Certificates).
  • No registry settings or databases are necessary to back up your SmarterMail install.
 
Restoring Data
 
  • Prior to restoring files, ensure the SmarterMail Service (MailService.exe) is stopped.
  • Restore the Settings folder that was backed up (Windows Default: C:\Program Files (x86)\SmarterTools\SmarterMail\Service\Settings\ |  Linux Default: /etc/smartermail/).
  • Next, you can simply replace the domain or user folders with the backed-up version of these same folders. It's even possible to replace the entire Domains folder.
  • Don't forget to replace your Certificates if needed.
  • If need be, it's also possible to restore individual user accounts, folders or email messages.
 
Learn more about SmarterMail's enterprise email features and benefits.
Article ID: 2643, , Modified: 10/8/2024 at 8:43 AM

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