How to Backup Message Audit Logs

Products

• Messaging Gateway

Issue/Introduction

How do I backup the Message Audit Logs from a Messaging Gateway scanner

Cause

Backing up settings when performing an OSrestore or moving message audit logs from one scanner to another scanner.

Resolution

You can backup and restore Message Audit Logs from an SMG scanner using the CLI command "mallog".

• Login as "admin". (From virtual or physical console or through SSH)
• To backup, run the "mallog --backup" command:
  • "mallog --backup <url>" (Use SCP or FTP for URL)
  • Example: mallog --backup ftp://<username>:<password>@<Hostname or IP>/<path>/
  • Replace <username> with the username on the FTP or SCP server, replace <password> with the password for the user, replace <Servername or IP> with the server's DNS hostname or IP address and replace <path> with any path needed for the FTP or SCP server (Specifying a path is optional).
• To restore, run the "mallog --restore" command:
  • "mallog --restore <url>" (Use SCP, FTP or HTTP for URL for restore only)
  • Example: mallog --restore ftp://<username>:<password>@<Hostname or IP>/<path>/<filename>
  • Replace <username> with the username on the FTP, SCP or HTTP server, replace <password> with the password for the user, replace <Servername or IP> with the server's DNS hostname or IP address replace <path> with any path needed for the FTP, SCP or HTTP server and replace <filename> with the file name of the MAL backup.

Options:

• --backup url
  • Create a backup of all of the message tracking logs that are in tar.gz format, and upload
    the resulting file to the specified URL.
    • (Note: This option suspends mail processing while the command is executed)
• --list
  • List individual message tracking logs on the file system and their timestamps and sizes.
• --restore url
  • Restore message tracking logs from the specified URL. Existing logs are overwritten.
    • (Note: This option suspends mail processing while the command is executed)
  • URLs may have a scheme of either FTP, SCP, or, HTTP (for restore only). If you specify a path that ends with a forward slash, the diagnostics file is written to the path that you specify with the default file name. If you specify a path that does not end with a forward slash, the backup file is written with the file name specified in the path. The --restore option requires a full path name which includes a file name. The entire URL should be taken in double quotes. If any part of the URL contains special characters, such as full or double quotes, escape the special characters with a backslash. When the password is part of the URL, it should be written in quotes if it has any special shell characters in it.
• url
  • Transmit the package to the url location by SCP or FTP.
    (NOTE: The entire URL should be taken in double quotes. If any part of the URL contains special characters, such as full or double quotes, escape the special characters with a backslash. When the password is part of the URL, it should be written in quotes if it has any special shell characters in it)

 

Running mallog --backup or mallog --restore stops email processing while these commands run. No inbound email or outbound email is delivered during this time. If your organization's email availability policies are strict, it may be appropriate to only run these commands during off hours.

References:

Messaging Gateway Command Line Guide (Search for "Messaging Gateway" and click on "Related Documents")