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Manually Migrating GFI MailEssentials Settings to a New Server

Author: Luis Fernandes Updated

Answer

If you are moving to a new physical server and / or upgrading to a new version of Microsoft Exchange server, we recommend performing the following steps to import your data from the old GFI MailEssentials installation.

GFI MailEssentials 

It is essentials that the installation path AND the installation mode of the new and the old GFI MailEssentials installation are the same. There are two installation modes within GFI MailEssentials: SMTP or Active Directory. If the previous installation of GFI MailEssentials retrieved users from the Active Directory, the new machine needs to be part of the same Active Directory domain. If you are currently running GFI MailEssentials in a gateway mode, the new installation will still run in the gateway mode.

The same build of GFI MailEssentials should be installed on the new server. If an upgrade is required, you can upgrade the installation on the old server before moving the installation to the new server.

  1. Install GFI MailEssentials on the new server 
  2. Ensure that the old and new installations are on the same version and build. The check can be done from the GFI MailEssentials configuration > General Settings > Version Information
  3. Moderate all quarantined emails which were quarantined on the old server. By doing this the size of the quarantine store will decrease, thus minimizing the chances of any data inconsistencies and corruption during the migration process.
  4. Stop all the GFI MailEssentials services and the IIS admin service, taking note of the dependencies that are stopped. This should be done on both servers. 
  5. Move the following files to the new location, ensuring that the same path is retained:
  • AutoWhitelist database: <...GFI\MailEssentials\AntiSpam\Autowhitelist.mdb>
  • Bayesian Database: <...GFI\MailEssentials\AntiSpam\data\weights.bsp>
  • Whitelist database <...GFI\MailEssentials\AntiSpam\data\controlLists.sdf>
  1. You can move the Anti-Spam log files if these where being saved to the same location. By default these will be found in <...GFI\MailEssentials\AntiSpam\DebugLogs\*.*>.
  2. If the reports data was archived to a Microsoft Access mdb file, you can continue to use the same reports database. The default location for this database is <...GFI\MailEssentials\AntiSpam\data\reports.mdb>. If you where using Microsoft SQL server, you can configure in the new installation of GFI MailEssentials to start archiving report data to the same Microsoft SQL database.
  3. If the archive data was archived to a Microsoft Access mdb file, you can continue to use the same archive database. The default location for this database is <...GFI\MailEssentials\AntiSpam\data\archive.mdb>. If you where using Microsoft SQL server, you can configure the new installation of GFI MailEssentials to start archiving data to the same Microsoft SQL database.
  4. If you had any Newsletters or Discussion lists configured, the subscribed users will be saved to a database. If you choose to store subscribers to a Microsoft Access database, you can move the Microsoft Access database to the new location. The default location for these databases is <...GFI\MailEssentials\AntiSpam\ata\ListName.mdb>. If you where using Microsoft SQL server, you can configure in the new installation of GFI MailEssentials to start using the same Microsoft SQL database. 
  5. Export the manual Whitelist / Blacklist lists from the GFI MailEssentials configuration -> Anti-Spam -> Whitelist / Email Blocklist. Re-import the exported lists to the new GFI MailEssentials installation. 
  6. You can move the Anti-Malware log files if these where being saved to the same location. By default these will be found in <...GFI\MailEssentialsEmailSecurity\DebugLogs\*.*>
  7. Copy <..\GFI\MailEssentials\EMailSecurity\Data\avapicfg.mdb from the old machine to the new machine. 
  8. Using Microsoft Access, open avapicfg.mdb that has just been copied and perform the following steps:
  9. Open the tb_ldapsettings table
  10. Delete the contents of the user and password fields
  11. Close the tb_ldapsetttings table
  12. Double click the tb_autoupdate table
  13. Delete the contents of the proxyuser and proxypw
  • NOTE: Make sure that the fields are really empty and do not contain any blank spaces
  1. Start all GFI MailEssentials related services
  2. Re-configure the GFI MailEssentials Directory harvesting module:
  • GFI MailEssentials Configuration > Quarantine > Malware Options > Nonexistent recipients
  1. Reconfigure the proxy settings:
  • GFI MailEssentials Configuration > General Settings > Settings > Updates

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