Zimbra Mail Server migrate Physical to VMware

[reza_karim]

Hi,

I have a Zimbra mail server on a Physical machine, Now I want to migrate it to the VMware environment.

Please suggest what way is best to migrate Zimbra Mail Server migrate Physical to VMware.

[scott28tt]

It would depend mostly on the host OS for the application, not the application itself.

This is the tool which VMware provide to help convert physical systems to a VM: vCenter Converter: P2V Virtual Machine Converter | VMware

[reza_karim]

Hi scott28tt​ Zimbra mail server have around 8 TB of user mailbox data. So

i) can I migrate it using P2V converter?

ii) is it need any downtime needed for the server?

iii) is there any service up dependencies after migrate to VM?

[scott28tt]

Depends on the underlying OS as I mentioned.

There will be some sort of switchover which will require downtime if you did a P2V, it would usually be recommended to stop application services for the most smooth conversion.

Not sure what you mean with your last question,

The alternative to a P2V would be some process native to Zimbra - such as deploying a new VM, building up an instance of Zimbra, then migrating mailboxes over from old physical to new virtual.

Is the mailbox data on some form of external SAN/NAS storage?