[Mailman-Users] Moving Configurations and Lists to a New Server
Thanks to Steve Turnbull's help and some intelligent manual-reading, I have successfully built and installed version 2.1.18-1 on a Debian 7 (Wheezy) system. check_perms reports no problems, `version' reports the right version number, I'm ready for the next step, which is to move an entire configuration and mail spool from an old Debian 5+Mailman 2.1.11 server. I imagine the spool (/var) files can just be tar'd and moved en masse. But what about mailman configuration files--mailing list info, that sort of thing? What should be moved, what should be re-created, etc.? -- Mailman-Users mailing list Mailman-Users@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-users Mailman FAQ: http://wiki.list.org/x/AgA3 Security Policy: http://wiki.list.org/x/QIA9 Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/mailman-users%40python.org/ Unsubscribe: https://mail.python.org/mailman/options/mailman-users/archive%40jab.org
Re: [Mailman-Users] Moving Configurations and Lists to a New Server
On 06/05/2014 04:27 AM, Steve Matzura wrote: I'm ready for the next step, which is to move an entire configuration and mail spool from an old Debian 5+Mailman 2.1.11 server. I imagine the spool (/var) files can just be tar'd and moved en masse. Yes and no. You do not want to move the locks/, logs/ or qfiles/ directories and spam/ is probably non-existent or empty. It's probably not necessary to move anything from data/ but that reqwuires some thought. But what about mailman configuration files--mailing list info, that sort of thing? What should be moved, what should be re-created, etc.? See the FAQ at http://wiki.list.org/x/2oA9 You do want to move the lists/ directory in its entirety except maybe the lists/mailman/ site list if you have already set that up on the new server. That moves list configs, membership, etc. If host/domain names are changing, you will need to run fix_url; see the FAQ at http://wiki.list.org/x/mIA9. You also maybe need to run bin/genaliases if your MTA uses mailman generated aliases and you didn't move them from data/ Archives can be an issue. You can move the entire archives/private/ directory and that should be OK, but people sometimes run into permissions issues following that. It is best not to move archives/public/, but if you do, make sure that you end up moving the symlinks and not their targets. archives/public/ contains only symlinks into archives/private and these will be created as appropriate by Mailman as lists are accessed. If host/domain names are changing, The cleanest process is to move only the archives/private/LISTNAME.mbox/LISTNAME.mbox files and rebuild the HTML archive with bin/arch for each list, but there are downsides to this. If some lists have scrub_nondigest = Yes, the scrubbed attachments will be lost in this process, and if there are unescaped From lines in messages that will cause problems too (see bin/cleanarch). -- Mark Sapiro m...@msapiro.netThe highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, Californiabetter use your sense - B. Dylan -- Mailman-Users mailing list Mailman-Users@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-users Mailman FAQ: http://wiki.list.org/x/AgA3 Security Policy: http://wiki.list.org/x/QIA9 Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/mailman-users%40python.org/ Unsubscribe: https://mail.python.org/mailman/options/mailman-users/archive%40jab.org
Re: [Mailman-Users] Moving Configurations and Lists to a New Server
This reply mechanism is driving me a little weird--the reply function sends the messages to their individual authors, not the list. I hope I'm not breeching etiquette by redirecting my reply to the list. Thanks, Mark, for your cogent and complete reply. The short answer and good thing about all of this is, the new system is supposed to be an as-near-100% replica as is possible of the old system, just everything re-installed and new, just keeping the old data. The new system already has the same identity and nameserver info as the old, the idea being to move data and other applications (which is already underway) and then switch the DNS records after the new environment has been thoroughly tested. I'll check the wiki's you mentioned and report on progress when done. On Thu, 05 Jun 2014 08:09:52 -0700, you wrote: On 06/05/2014 04:27 AM, Steve Matzura wrote: I'm ready for the next step, which is to move an entire configuration and mail spool from an old Debian 5+Mailman 2.1.11 server. I imagine the spool (/var) files can just be tar'd and moved en masse. Yes and no. You do not want to move the locks/, logs/ or qfiles/ directories and spam/ is probably non-existent or empty. It's probably not necessary to move anything from data/ but that reqwuires some thought. But what about mailman configuration files--mailing list info, that sort of thing? What should be moved, what should be re-created, etc.? See the FAQ at http://wiki.list.org/x/2oA9 You do want to move the lists/ directory in its entirety except maybe the lists/mailman/ site list if you have already set that up on the new server. That moves list configs, membership, etc. If host/domain names are changing, you will need to run fix_url; see the FAQ at http://wiki.list.org/x/mIA9. You also maybe need to run bin/genaliases if your MTA uses mailman generated aliases and you didn't move them from data/ Archives can be an issue. You can move the entire archives/private/ directory and that should be OK, but people sometimes run into permissions issues following that. It is best not to move archives/public/, but if you do, make sure that you end up moving the symlinks and not their targets. archives/public/ contains only symlinks into archives/private and these will be created as appropriate by Mailman as lists are accessed. If host/domain names are changing, The cleanest process is to move only the archives/private/LISTNAME.mbox/LISTNAME.mbox files and rebuild the HTML archive with bin/arch for each list, but there are downsides to this. If some lists have scrub_nondigest = Yes, the scrubbed attachments will be lost in this process, and if there are unescaped From lines in messages that will cause problems too (see bin/cleanarch). -- Mailman-Users mailing list Mailman-Users@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-users Mailman FAQ: http://wiki.list.org/x/AgA3 Security Policy: http://wiki.list.org/x/QIA9 Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/mailman-users%40python.org/ Unsubscribe: https://mail.python.org/mailman/options/mailman-users/archive%40jab.org
Re: [Mailman-Users] Moving Configurations and Lists to a New Server
On Thu, 2014-06-05 at 12:43 -0400, Steve Matzura wrote: This reply mechanism is driving me a little weird--the reply function sends the messages to their individual authors, not the list. I hope I'm not breeching etiquette by redirecting my reply to the list. Not at all! Most mail user agents can detect a list post and will offer a choice of whether to reply to the list or the original poster. Yours apparently can't do this. If the reply to all options is available the list address will be included and you can just delete the original poster address. Thanks, Mark, for your cogent and complete reply. The short answer and good thing about all of this is, the new system is supposed to be an as-near-100% replica as is possible of the old system, just everything re-installed and new, just keeping the old data. The new system already has the same identity and nameserver info as the old, the idea being to move data and other applications (which is already underway) and then switch the DNS records after the new environment has been thoroughly tested. I'll check the wiki's you mentioned and report on progress when done. Mark's answer was very complete and I won't try to add any details, but since I've had to move lists between servers in situations pretty much identical to what you describe I thought I'd offer a couple scripts which I've used quite successfully to move entire lists - subscribers, archives, etc. There's no need to set them up on the receiving server ahead of time. This is the script, called tar_list.sh and run as root on the source server, which creates an archive directory and contents in /tmp: #!/bin/sh if [ $1 = ]; then echo 'Usage: tar_list.sh listname' exit fi if [ ! -e /var/lib/mailman/lists/$1 ]; then echo $1: No such list! exit fi mkdir /tmp/$1 cd /var/lib/mailman/lists/ echo Creating $1_list.tar.gz tar -czvf $1_list.tar.gz $1 mv $1_list.tar.gz /tmp/$1 cd /var/lib/mailman/archives/private/ echo Creating $1_archive.tar.gz tar -czvf $1_archive.tar.gz $1 mv $1_archive.tar.gz /tmp/$1 echo Creating $1_archive_mbox.tar.gz tar -czvf $1_archive_mbox.tar.gz $1.mbox mv $1_archive_mbox.tar.gz /tmp/$1 if [ -L /var/lib/mailman/archives/public/$1 ]; then touch /tmp/$1/$1_archive_is_public fi --- The second script, called untar_list.sh lives in ~mailman/bin and is run as user mailman on the receiving server: #!/bin/sh if [ $2 = ]; then echo 'Usage: untar_list.sh server listname' exit fi cd ~/tmp/ echo Give root password on remote system ... scp root@$1:/tmp/$2/* . cd /var/lib/mailman/lists/ echo echo Creating list $2 ... tar -xzvpf ~/tmp/$2_list.tar.gz cd /var/lib/mailman/archives/private/ echo echo Creating archive for $2 ... tar -xzvpf ~/tmp/$2_archive.tar.gz echo Creating archive mbox for $1 ... tar -xzvpf ~/tmp/$2_archive_mbox.tar.gz if [ -e ~/tmp/$2_archive_is_public ]; then ln -s /var/lib/mailman/archives/private/$2 /var/lib/mailman/archives/public/$2 fi echo echo If no errors, delete files in ~/tmp and delete /tmp/$2 directory on remote system - This requires a couple of things which may not be advisable for permanent use from a security perspective. * The unprivileged user mailman should have a shell login on the old server. * The unprivileged user mailman on the new server must have ssh access to a root login on the old server. sshd can be configured to selectively allow this only from a very limited number of accounts on other servers. As I said, I've used these scripts successfully for a couple of different moves of our dozen or so lists between servers when migrating to a new server environment, and they've been subjected to a few tweaks here and there so that they work flawlessly for me at this point. They're self-documenting and transparent to error messages. -- Lindsay Haisley | Everything works if you let it FMP Computer Services | 512-259-1190 | --- The Roadie http://www.fmp.com| -- Mailman-Users mailing list Mailman-Users@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-users Mailman FAQ: http://wiki.list.org/x/AgA3 Security Policy: http://wiki.list.org/x/QIA9 Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/mailman-users%40python.org/ Unsubscribe: https://mail.python.org/mailman/options/mailman-users/archive%40jab.org
Re: [Mailman-Users] Moving Configurations and Lists to a New Server
On Thu, 05 Jun 2014 12:13:30 -0500, you wrote: On Thu, 2014-06-05 at 12:43 -0400, Steve Matzura wrote: This reply mechanism is driving me a little weird--the reply function sends the messages to their individual authors, not the list. I hope I'm not breeching etiquette by redirecting my reply to the list. Not at all! Most mail user agents can detect a list post and will offer a choice of whether to reply to the list or the original poster. Yours apparently can't do this. If the reply to all options is available the list address will be included and you can just delete the original poster address. OH no, it can do that all right, but it's a little odd in how it does it. Instead of putting both addresses in the To field, it puts the author in To and the mailing list in CC. I just use the regular reply and change the address, pointing that reply back here. It's a kluge, but it's what I got :-). -- Mailman-Users mailing list Mailman-Users@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-users Mailman FAQ: http://wiki.list.org/x/AgA3 Security Policy: http://wiki.list.org/x/QIA9 Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/mailman-users%40python.org/ Unsubscribe: https://mail.python.org/mailman/options/mailman-users/archive%40jab.org
Re: [Mailman-Users] Moving Configurations and Lists to a New Server
On 06/05/2014 08:45 PM, Steve Matzura wrote: OH no, it can do that all right, but it's a little odd in how it does it. Instead of putting both addresses in the To field, it puts the author in To and the mailing list in CC. I just use the regular reply and change the address, pointing that reply back here. It's a kluge, but it's what I got :-). Whether reply all puts the list in To: or Cc: is dependent on your MUA. Thunderbird which I'm using here puts both the list (original To:) and the poster (original From:) in To: and any additional To: recipients in To: and any Cc: recipients in Cc:. Other MUAs may differ. Thunderbird also offers Reply List which is what I'm using here. Mutt, which I also use, has a group reply option which puts the original To: in Cc: and also has a list reply option to reply to just the list. For an idea of some of the reasons why this list is reply to poster and not reply to list see http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html. It's somewhat dated, but still relevant. Note also that reply all can be useful and does not require you to remove the OP's address. If you leave the OP's address as a recipient of your Reply, the OP controls whether or not she receives duplicates, and you may be doing the OP a favor by keeping her in the loop if she's a digest subscriber. Common practice on this list is reply all or reply list except in cases where the reply must contain private information which shouldn't be on the list. -- Mark Sapiro m...@msapiro.netThe highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, Californiabetter use your sense - B. Dylan -- Mailman-Users mailing list Mailman-Users@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-users Mailman FAQ: http://wiki.list.org/x/AgA3 Security Policy: http://wiki.list.org/x/QIA9 Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/mailman-users%40python.org/ Unsubscribe: https://mail.python.org/mailman/options/mailman-users/archive%40jab.org