Making consistent backups from Dovecot with mdbox requires a snapshoted filesystem with (at least) a short Downtime for Dovecot.
I'd like to avoid killing several thenthousand IMAP-sessions for 60 seconds. Users don't like that... And the admin dislakes that too... What about a "short sleep" mechanism for Dovecot, where all writes are finished and new writes are easily delayed? I'd like to following process: *) "doveadm sleep" puts Dovecot in sleep-Mode: -- All existing writes are finished (before "doveadm sleep" is allowed to exit) -- All new writes are simply delayed -- All readonly-operations could work normally, so users can fetch and read mails *) The the admin can create a LVM-/SAN-snapshot of the filesystems *) "doveadm unsleep" will finish the magic Overall the whole process will take just some seconds. Users will recognize a simple write-delay, but they can work normally and the aren't unconnected at all. If the snapshot is really fast the users won't recognize the whole situation at all. Peer -- Heinlein Support GmbH Schwedter Str. 8/9b, 10119 Berlin http://www.heinlein-support.de Tel: 030 / 405051-42 Fax: 030 / 405051-19 Zwangsangaben lt. §35a GmbHG: HRB 93818 B / Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, Geschäftsführer: Peer Heinlein -- Sitz: Berlin