Migrating SmarterMail from Windows to Linux, or from Linux to Windows, is a very straightforward process. It essentially boils down to system administrators placing files into the correct folders/locations that they're migrating to. SmarterMail then reads those paths, converts them, and does all of the work behind the scenes to get the new server ready to go.
Basically, both Windows and Linux have default locations for the files used by SmarterMail:
- C:\Smartermail on Windows translates to var/lib/smartermail on Linux.
- C:\Program Files (x86)\SmarterTools\SmarterMail\Service\Settings on Windows translates to etc/smartermail on Linux.
So, when planning your migration, if you move files between these two locations, the migration and conversion will be flawless.
IMPORTANT NOTE: It's important to keep any JSON files as-is during this migration. The migration process reads the JSONs from both the source and destination servers to determine which conversions need to take place. If changes are made to JSON files on the server being converted, the migration process may not work as expected. If you have XMLs becaue you are migrating from a pre-JSON build, they should also be transplanted to the new server as-is.
Below is an outline of how the transition from Windows to Linux would look. NOTE: This assumes you have already installed SmarterMail on the Linux server you're migrating to, and stopped the SmarterMail service using the following command in order to prepare the Linux environment for the migration:
sudo service smartermail stop
First, you'll want to move JSON files from the Windows machine over to the Linux box. If you're moving XML files from an older build, move them to /opt/smartermail rather than /etc/smartermail AND ensure you delete the JSON files within /etc/smartermail and /etc/smartermail/'Archived Data':
- JSON files from the C:\Program Files (x86)\SmarterTools\SmarterMail\Service\Settings directory on Windows go into /etc/smartermail on Linux. For example:
C:\Program Files (x86)\SmarterTools\SmarterMail\Service\Settings\Logs becomes /etc/smartermail/Logs
- Next, all files/folders from C:\SmarterMail on Windows go into /var/lib/smartermail on Linux. For example:
C:\SmarterMail\Domains becomes /var/lib/smartermail/Domains
- Once all of the files/folders have been placed into their destination directories, you can start the SmarterMail service using the following command:
sudo service smartermail start
- Once SmarterMail is started, go to the web interface, login with the system administrator credentials from the source server, and you'll see the OS Conversion page. This step-by-step wizard walks through the actual conversion. If errors or issues are encountered, they'll be displayed and the process will continue (SmarterMail can "fix" some issues on the fly) or you can correct the issues and continue on.
It's just that simple! We've gone to great lengths to ensure this conversion process is as seamless as possible, limiting the potential for issues, and notifying you when they are encountered. If you run into anything that SmarterMail cannot correct on its own, or something you can't seem to figure out, please feel free to let us know. We're here to help.