Server Migration

[ryanwagner]

I found 2 previous posts, one from 2005 and one from 2006. The 2005 post was not very helpful and the 2006 threads are not exactly what I was expecting. So I wanted to ask the question to be sure.


I have already stood up the new fedora 12 server. The old server is also fedora 12.

I need to migrate local users and sendmail mailboxes. In the past couple of years the environment was small enough to create a copy of the users and then have the users mail themselves, but I want to start migrating users/mailboxes properly.

On a unix level I am a jr admin, but I have extensive senior level experience as a windows engineer and network engineer. I do feel comfortable with using the unix command line, but usually operate the unix systems thru webmin because I am not familular with more complex commands.

Ideally a software solution to migrate users and/or mailboxes from one server to another is what I am looking for, but in leiu of a software solution I still need to migrate user accounts and their mailboxes. LDAP is not in place, but if the process becomes easier with LDAP I am willing to do what is needed to set up LDAP. (I have no previous experience setting up LDAP)

I do not want to change my mail server from sendmail to different software. At least right now.

Both systems are up and running. They can connect to each other via public ipv4 address' only.

The new server has already been installed and configured with all the software to match the old server.


How do I migrate users and sendmail mailboxes from one fedora 12 server to another fedora 12 server?

[Draciron]

Once LDAP is installed that should take care of the users.

Once you have the LDAP users on both machines it's fairly easy to tarball the mail boxes but be sure to preserve permissions and owners.

A manual way to migrate users is to go into /etc/shadow and /etc/passwd and copy every user above 499 and append it to the new machine's passwd and shadow files. Don't copy users below 500 those are for system accounts and app accounts and if you overwrite those users giving them a different user number it can cause havoc with your system.

example of what users look like in /etc/passwd.

draciron:x:500:500::/home/draciron:/bin/bash
mysql:x:27:481:MySQL Server:/var/lib/mysql:/bin/bash
apache:x:48:480:Apache:/var/www:/sbin/nologin
openvpn:x:493:479:OpenVPN:/etc/openvpn:/sbin/nologin
hsqldb:x:96:96::/var/lib/hsqldb:/sbin/nologin
gdm:x:42:476::/var/lib/gdm:/sbin/nologin
vdr:x:492:39:Video Disk Recorder:/var/lib/vdr/data:/sbin/nologin
postgres:x:26:26:PostgreSQL Server:/var/lib/pgsql:/bin/bash
abrt:x:491:482::/etc/abrt:/sbin/nologin
somebodyelse:x:501:501::/home/ironthorn:/bin/bash

Generally easier if you use a quick Perl or Python script to do this. Do the same thing with shadow.

[kyuso]

If they are about the same architecture, you could even install the old hard disks on the new server and the root Fedora 12 partition will automatically work on the new machine. No need to migrate anything. That's what I do when I upgrade to a new machine.

[smr54]

If you're inexperienced with LDAP, it can be a pretty steep learning curve. My own recommendation for an introduction is http://home.roadrunner.com/~computertaijutsu/ldap.html

which also has some additional links at the end.