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82 changes: 52 additions & 30 deletions doc/source/migrate.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -7,66 +7,88 @@ machine, you can use these steps. They were tested with a Linux laptop;
you might need to adjust some of the steps to your environment.

Let’s assume that your ``mail_domain`` is ``mail.example.org``, all
involved machines run Debian 12, your old site’s IP address is
``13.37.13.37``, and your new site’s IP address is ``13.12.23.42``.
involved machines run Debian 12, your old site’s IP version 4 address is
``$OLD_IP4``, and your new site’s IP4 address is ``$NEW_IP4``.

Note, you should lower the TTLs of your DNS records to a value such as
300 (5 minutes) so the migration happens as smoothly as possible.
First of all, you should lower the Time To Live (TTL) of your DNS records
to a value such as 300 (5 minutes).
Short TTL values allow to change DNS records during the migration more timely.

During the guide you might get a warning about changed SSH Host keys; in
this case, just run ``ssh-keygen -R "mail.example.org"`` as recommended.

1. First, disable mail services on the old site.
1. First, to make the downtime during the migration shorter,
let's transfer the current state of the mailboxes.
Login to your old machine (while forwarding your ssh-agent with ``ssh -A``)
so you can copy directly from the old to the new site with your SSH
key:

::

cmdeploy run --disable-mail --ssh-host 13.37.13.37
ssh -A root@$OLD_IP4
tar c /home/vmail/mail | ssh root@$NEW_IP4 "tar x -C /"

Now your users will notice the migration and will not be able to send
or receive messages until the migration is completed.
This saves us time during the downtime,
at least the mailboxes are there already.
They contain user passwords, encrypted push notification tokens,
messages which might not have been fetched by all devices of the user yet,
and dovecot indexes which track the state of the mailbox.

2. Now we want to copy ``/home/vmail``, ``/var/lib/acme``,
``/etc/dkimkeys``, and ``/var/spool/postfix`` to
the new site. Login to the old site while forwarding your SSH agent
so you can copy directly from the old to the new site with your SSH
key:
2. Then, from your local machine, install chatmail on the new machine, but don't activate it yet:

::

ssh -A root@13.37.13.37
tar c - /home/vmail/mail /var/lib/acme /etc/dkimkeys /var/spool/postfix | ssh root@13.12.23.42 "tar x -C /"
CMDEPLOY_STAGES=install,configure cmdeploy run --ssh-host $NEW_IP4

This transfers all addresses, the TLS certificate,
and DKIM keys (so DKIM DNS record remains valid).
It also preserves the Postfix mail spool so any messages
pending delivery will still be delivered.
The services are disabled for now; we will enable them later.
We first need to make the new site fully operational.

3. Install chatmail on the new machine:
3. Now it's getting serious: disable the mail services on the old site.

::

cmdeploy run --disable-mail --ssh-host 13.12.23.42
cmdeploy run --disable-mail --ssh-host $OLD_IP4

Postfix and Dovecot are disabled for now; we will enable them later.
We first need to make the new site fully operational.
Your users will start to notice the migration and will not be able to send
or receive messages until the migration is completed.
Other relays and mail servers will wait with delivering messages
until your relay is reachable again.

4. On the new site, run the following to ensure the ownership is correct
4. Now we want to copy ``/home/vmail``, ``/var/lib/acme``,
``/etc/dkimkeys``, and ``/var/spool/postfix`` to
the new site. Let's forward the SSH agent again to copy the files directly.
This time, we copy ``/home/vmail/mail`` with rsync to only copy the recent changes:

::

ssh -A root@$OLD_IP4
tar c /var/lib/acme /etc/dkimkeys /var/spool/postfix | ssh root@$NEW_IP4 "tar x -C /"
rsync -azH /home/vmail/mail root@$NEW_IP4:/home/vmail/

This transfers all messages which have not been fetched yet, the TLS certificate,
and DKIM keys (so DKIM DNS record remains valid).
It also preserves the Postfix mail spool so any messages
pending delivery will still be delivered.

5. Now login to the new site and run the following to ensure the ownership is correct
in case UIDs/GIDs changed:

::

ssh root@$NEW_IP4
chown root: -R /var/lib/acme
chown opendkim: -R /etc/dkimkeys
chown vmail: -R /home/vmail/mail

5. Now, update DNS entries.
6. Now, update the DNS entries.
You only need to change the ``A`` and ``AAAA`` records, for example:

::

If other MTAs try to deliver messages to your chatmail domain they
may fail intermittently, as DNS catches up with the new site settings
but normally will retry delivering messages for at least a week, so
messages will not be lost.
mail.example.org. IN A $NEW_IP4
mail.example.org. IN AAAA $NEW_IP6

6. Finally, you can execute ``cmdeploy run --ssh-host 13.12.23.42`` to
7. Finally, you can execute ``CMDEPLOY_STAGES=activate cmdeploy run --ssh-host $NEW_IP4`` to
turn on chatmail on the new relay. Your users will be able to use the
chatmail relay as soon as the DNS changes have propagated. Voilà!