Michael Frank wrote:
I have heard that if I backup the database and/or user files as they are being accessed I might corrupt the files. Is this true? If so how can I implement an automated backup without taking the service down? I need to have the service up 24/7 and am unable to take it down at any point. Can anyone point me in the correct direction?Simply backing up the files as they are actively being used will not corrupt them. However, it is possible that the file you backup is not usable since there is no synchronization between the updates to the database and the backup program. The best practice discussed here for restoring inidividual folders is to create an empty folder, restore the message files themselves, and then reconstruct that folder, so there is no problem there. For a full restore, to guard against corrupting important database files I do ctl_mboxlist -d to a text file just before the backup, and then backup that file. If a full restore is required, the database can be rebuilt from the text file if necessary.
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John A. Tamplin Unix System Administrator
Emory University, School of Public Health +1 404/727-9931
