URGENT help needed - after backup no mails !

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URGENT help needed - after backup no mails !

I'm absolutely helpless and need your very urgent assistance:

I installed security update 2009-002 and found that it doesn't work (amavisd did not start, even after installing all Perl modules as Pterobyte advised in his "upgrade amavisd" tutorial. However I did not upgrade amavisd, just installed the Perl modules.

Nothing worked.

Then I used a clone of the startup disk I created before, but now I get these errors in system.log:

Aug 1 06:29:36 dns2 postfix/qmgr[719]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:29:37 dns2 postfix/master[677]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/qmgr pid 719 exit status 1
Aug 1 06:29:37 dns2 postfix/master[677]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/qmgr: bad command startup -- throttling
Aug 1 06:30:03 dns2 postfix/smtpd[681]: warning: 81.214.57.44: hostname dsl.static812145744.ttnet.net.tr verification failed: Host not found
Aug 1 06:30:31 dns2 postfix/smtpd[724]: auxpropfunc error no mechanism available\n

Aug 1 06:30:37 dns2 postfix/qmgr[726]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:30:38 dns2 postfix/smtpd[727]: auxpropfunc error no mechanism available\n
Aug 1 06:30:38 dns2 postfix/master[677]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/qmgr pid 726 exit status 1
Aug 1 06:30:38 dns2 postfix/master[677]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/qmgr: bad command startup -- throttling
Aug 1 06:31:04 dns2 sudo: root : TTY=unknown ; PWD=/ ; USER=cyrusimap ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/cyrus/bin/cyrus-quota -r
Aug 1 06:31:37 dns2 sudo: root : TTY=unknown ; PWD=/ ; USER=cyrusimap ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/cyrus/bin/cyrus-quota -r
Aug 1 06:31:38 dns2 postfix/qmgr[1319]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:31:39 dns2 postfix/master[677]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/qmgr pid 1319 exit status 1
Aug 1 06:31:39 dns2 postfix/master[677]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/qmgr: bad command startup -- throttling

I cleared the mail queue, but no luck. Mails are not being delivered.

What can I do ? Please assist, they need the server and I have no idea. I thought the backup will work in emergency case...

Posted on Jul 31, 2009 9:40 PM

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Answer 1

max_shawn Author

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Jul 31, 2009 9:42 PM in response to max_shawn

Some other errors I get. Maybe it helps somebody:

/var/log/mailaccess.log:

Aug 1 06:26:52 dns2 reconstruct[620]: DBERROR: reading /var/imap/db/skipstamp, assuming the worst: No such file or directory

/var/log/mail.log:

Aug 1 06:16:59 dns2 postfix/qmgr[450]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:18:00 dns2 postfix/qmgr[466]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:19:01 dns2 postfix/qmgr[480]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:20:02 dns2 postfix/qmgr[492]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:21:03 dns2 postfix/qmgr[505]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:22:04 dns2 postfix/qmgr[525]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:23:05 dns2 postfix/qmgr[539]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:24:06 dns2 postfix/qmgr[558]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:25:07 dns2 postfix/qmgr[585]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:27:05 dns2 postfix/qmgr[637]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:27:34 dns2 postfix/qmgr[680]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:28:35 dns2 postfix/qmgr[704]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:29:36 dns2 postfix/qmgr[719]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:30:37 dns2 postfix/qmgr[726]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:31:38 dns2 postfix/qmgr[1319]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:32:39 dns2 postfix/qmgr[1328]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:33:40 dns2 postfix/qmgr[1343]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:34:41 dns2 postfix/qmgr[1362]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:35:42 dns2 postfix/qmgr[1372]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:36:43 dns2 postfix/qmgr[1382]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:37:44 dns2 postfix/qmgr[1387]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:38:45 dns2 postfix/qmgr[1397]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:39:46 dns2 postfix/qmgr[1412]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:40:47 dns2 postfix/qmgr[1431]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied
Aug 1 06:41:48 dns2 postfix/qmgr[1436]: fatal: qmgr_move: update active/B/B71195A1742D time stamps: Permission denied

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Answer 2

max_shawn Author

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Aug 1, 2009 2:31 AM in response to max_shawn

As I read on this forum, I executed

sudo postsuper -d ALL

which seemed to solve the issues. But what has caused this and what exactly does "postsuper" do ?

How can I prevent in the future when a backup clone is required errors of such type ?

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Answer 3

Aug 1, 2009 5:46 AM in response to max_shawn

For command-level details, see:

+man postsuper+

Usual practice for creating an archive involves shutting down the mail server, gathering the backup or clone or whatever, and then restarting. Given the way SMTP works, incoming mail will be delayed and not dropped. Your mail server will be unavailable for outbound mail during the shutdown, however.

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Answer 4

Aug 1, 2009 10:16 PM in response to max_shawn

Making a working backup of a 'live' server is, at best, hit or miss. It is certainly possible to have backup software execute scripts prior to a backup to stop services to allow files and databases to close properly so that they may be backed up by the B/U software. However, the only certain method -at this time- of making a bootable backup of a server drive that contains open files or databases, is to take the server off-line and boot it from an external drive or start it in Firewire TDM while connected to another system and either image it or clone it to another drive.

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Answer 5

max_shawn Author

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Aug 2, 2009 2:47 AM in response to MrHoffman

I have stopped all services, beside the firewall, because the server where still connected with the network.

When thinking about other typically used databases, do you think I should check others as well (like user database, mail accounts, etc.) ? How can this be done ?

I know how to rebuild the cyrus database, for example, but is there a way to check it for integrity ?

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