Backup¶
Manual¶
You can use the provided script helper-scripts/backup_and_restore.sh to backup mailcow automatically.
Please do not copy this script to another location.
To run a backup, write "backup" as first parameter and either one or more components to backup as following parameters.
You can also use "all" as second parameter to backup all components. Append --delete-days n to delete backups older than n days.
```
Syntax:¶
./helper-scripts/backup_and_restore.sh backup (vmail|crypt|redis|rspamd|postfix|mysql|all|--delete-days)¶
Backup all, delete backups older than 3 days¶
./helper-scripts/backup_and_restore.sh backup all --delete-days 3
Backup vmail, crypt and mysql data, delete backups older than 30 days¶
./helper-scripts/backup_and_restore.sh backup vmail crypt mysql --delete-days 30
Backup vmail¶
./helper-scripts/backup_and_restore.sh backup vmail
```
The script will ask you for a backup location. Inside of this location it will create folders in the format "mailcow_DATE". You should not rename those folders to not break the restore process.
To run a backup unattended, define MAILCOW_BACKUP_LOCATION as environment variable before starting the script:
MAILCOW_BACKUP_LOCATION=/opt/backup /opt/mailcow-dockerized/helper-scripts/backup_and_restore.sh backup all
Cronjob¶
You can run the backup script regularly via cronjob. Make sure BACKUP_LOCATION exists:
5 4 * * * cd /opt/mailcow-dockerized/; MAILCOW_BACKUP_LOCATION=/mnt/mailcow_backups /opt/mailcow-dockerized/helper-scripts/backup_and_restore.sh backup mysql crypt redis --delete-days 3
Per default cron sends the full result of each backup operation by email. If you want cron to only mail on error (non-zero exit code) you may want to use the following snippet. Pathes need to be modified according to your setup (this script is a user contribution).
This following script may be placed in /etc/cron.daily/mailcow-backup - do not forget to mark it as executable via chmod +x:
```
!/bin/sh¶
Backup mailcow data¶
https://mailcow.github.io/mailcow-dockerized-docs/backup_restore/b_n_r-backup/¶
set -e
OUT="$(mktemp)" export MAILCOW_BACKUP_LOCATION="/opt/backup" SCRIPT="/opt/mailcow-dockerized/helper-scripts/backup_and_restore.sh" PARAMETERS="backup all" OPTIONS="--delete-days 30"
run command¶
set +e "${SCRIPT}" ${PARAMETERS} ${OPTIONS} 2>&1 > "$OUT" RESULT=$?
if [ $RESULT -ne 0 ] then echo "${SCRIPT} ${PARAMETERS} ${OPTIONS} encounters an error:" echo "RESULT=$RESULT" echo "STDOUT / STDERR:" cat "$OUT" fi ```
Backup strategy with rsync and mailcow backup script¶
Create the destination directory for mailcows helper script:
mkdir -p /external_share/backups/backup_script
Create cronjobs: ``` 25 1 * * * rsync -aH --delete /opt/mailcow-dockerized /external_share/backups/mailcow-dockerized 40 2 * * * rsync -aH --delete /var/lib/docker/volumes /external_share/backups/var_lib_docker_volumes 5 4 * * * cd /opt/mailcow-dockerized/; BACKUP_LOCATION=/external_share/backups/backup_script /opt/mailcow-dockerized/helper-scripts/backup_and_restore.sh backup mysql crypt redis --delete-days 3
If you want to, use the acl util to backup permissions of some/all folders/files: getfacl -Rn /path¶
```
On the destination (in this case /external_share/backups) you may want to have snapshot capabilities (ZFS, Btrfs etc.). Snapshot daily and keep for n days for a consistent backup.
Do not rsync to a Samba share, you need to keep the correct permissions!
To restore you'd simply need to run rsync the other way round and restart Docker to re-read the volumes. Run docker-compose pull and docker-compose up -d.
If you are lucky Redis and MariaDB can automatically fix the inconsistent databases (if they are inconsistent). In case of a corrupted database you'd need to use the helper script to restore the inconsistent elements. If a restore fails, try to extract the backups and copy the files back manually. Keep the file permissions!