How to Take Backup of Zimbra Mail Server

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Zimbra backup on a user side allows backing up mailbox and other application data from Zimbra desktop client. It must be separated with Zimbra server backup, a completely different task.

Handy Backup allows saving Zimbra in a “hot” mode, including backup Zimbra mail server content.

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Zimbra Backup Mailbox

Basics for Zimbra Backup and Restore

Zimbra Backup and Restore

Zimbra software for Windows creates a folder containing all components and settings of the local program dataset. A user can save this folder with Handy Backup, using the standard “Computer” data source, to backup Zimbra, and then return the content of this folder to its place to restore data.

Advantages of Zimbra Backup with Handy Backup


As a unified backup solution, Handy Backup contains many advantages and key features, allowing backing up Zimbra client information with efficiency and comfort. Some of these principal advantages include such things as:

  • Backing up any data along with Zimbra, allowing planning an entire backup strategy;
  • Keeping native data formats in backups, making Zimbra files usable directly in backups;
  • Running Zimbra backup in a “hot” mode without stopping a Zimbra client;
  • Scheduling backups repeatedly by time, or linking it to an event such as logon to a system;
  • Different methods and settings of backing up, preserving time, space and security of data.
Zimbra Automatic Backup

Advantages over Zimbra Backup Script

zimbra backup and restore script

You can always use some Zimbra backup and restore script for the same purposes as Handy Backup. In this case, however, you must be ready to meet a lack of interface, troubles with automatic scheduled jobs and other problems. Still, you can use Zimbra email backup with Handy Backup in a batch mode.


How to Backup Zimbra Mail Server with Handy Backup


To allow Zimbra backup mailbox and other data with Handy Backup, you can create a task that will do this action automatically every time when you will start it. For further automation, you can also schedule the repeated start of this task for a planned period. Let us explain how to make it.

  1. Open Handy Backup. Start a New Task Wizard by clicking a button or a menu item.
  2. Select a backup task on Step 1. For advanced options such as Zimbra incremental backup, mark the “Advanced mode” checkbox on this step.
  3. On Step 2, click on the “Computer” data source in the “Local or Network drive” group.
  4. Using the navigation by a tree of Windows folders, select and mark with “+” a folder:

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Zimbra\Zimbra Desktop

Select Computer for Zimbra Backup

Note: For non-standard installations and in some other cases, it is also possible to use “File filters…” option on a Step 2, with including all files and folder names containing a mask “*zimbra*” into a backup set. You can add some of these files and folders or remove it from backups by marking with a “+”.


Setting File Filters for Zimbra Backup
  1. Then click “OK” and proceed to next steps. Choose a storage for backups on a Step 3.
  2. Select other parameters such as incremental or versioned backup, encryption and compression.
  3. Also you can allow scheduling and set up time and interval for running a Zimbra backup task.
  4. Finally, give a name for your task. Click “Finish” to complete task creation.

That is all; your Handy Backup task for Zimbra mail backup is ready to use. Run it manually or set a period for a task to perform an automatic execution. The program will create a copy of your Zimbra folder in a storage specified for a task on a Step 3.


Zimbra Incremental Backup and Other Partial Techniques

With Handy Backup, you can allow Zimbra backup email data partially, e.g. by using incremental or differential backup. You can also operate with mixed backup techniques, consisting of a cycle of full backup and some sequential incremental or differential backups, with repeating all cycle time by time.

Zimbra Incremental Backup

Partial backup techniques allow saving both storage space and backup worktime, as these techniques always operate with only a part of all Zimbra email backup amount, not with a full dataset of mails.

Caveat! To use Zimbra differential backup, as well as incremental or mixed backup, you must either work in Advanced task wizard mode or edit all task parameters after creation by using the task properties window!

Restore Zimbra Information from Backups


You can create a restoration task by just the same way as a backup task, using the same GUI and almost the same other operations to do it. Alternatively, you can just copy a Zimbra folder or its components by any file browser to a default location of Zimbra client folder.


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Version 8.5.3 , built on March 5, 2024. 116 MB
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