Backing up users' e-mail

We will be using dump to backup the whole partition containing our mailboxes. The dump command copies files on a file system to a specified disk, tape, or other media.

Some of the reasons for using it are:

  • It is incredibly fast (in my tests, the network is the bottleneck)
  • It is simple (one command suffices)
  • It can run unattended (for example, as cron job)
  • It does not need any additional software to be installed
  • It does not need a GUI
  • It is very mature having been around since AT&T UNIX Version 6, circa 1975

The restore command performs the opposite of dump. A backup of a file system taken using dump can be restored as the complete file system or you can selectively restore certain files or directories.

Mail storage

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