Scheduling MailMarshal (SEG) or ECM Configuration Backup

This article applies to:

• Trustwave MailMarshal (SEG)
• Trustwave ECM/MailMarshal Exchange 7.X

Question:

• How can I back up MailMarshal configuration automatically?
• How can I schedule regular backups of MailMarshal configuration?

Procedure:

You should back up your MailMarshal configuration settings regularly. You may want to keep a history of backups, so that you can revert or restore any changes more easily if required.

SEG 7.2 and above

In SEG 7.2 and above, automated configuration backup is available from the Configurator or Management Console, Array Properties > Backup page. You can choose to back on a schedule and/or after committing configuration. Daily backup is enabled by default.

Earlier versions

You can accomplish this task using the MailMarshal Configuration Export Tool (mmexportcfg.exe or MEXexportcfg.exe) This tool allows you to export and import MailMarshal configuration settings from a command line interface or batch file. The input or output is an XML file that contains the MailMarshal configuration information.

You can create a scheduled task using a simple batch file to create a date-stamped backup of MailMarshal configuration.

1. Run the date command to determine your regional date format:
   C:\> date /T
   • Depending on regional settings the date may be returned as MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY and the day of the week may be included.
2. Use the Windows date substring functions to generate a date stamp in any format you want.
   • The syntax %date:~start,characters% allows you to extract substrings from the Windows Date environment variable.
   • The following examples show substring usage based on different regional date formats. All examples return the string 2009-08-16
     • Sun 16/08/2009: %date:~10,4%-%date:~7,2%-%date:~4,2%
     • Sun 08/16/2009: %date:~10,4%-%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%
     • 08/16/2009: %date:~6,4%-%date:~0,2%-%date:~3,2%
       
3. A sample file is as follows:

cd "c:\Program Files\Marshal\MailMarshal"
mmexportcfg %date:~10,4%-%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%-mmbackup.xml

Replace the first line with the location of your MailMarshal installation. Specify the correct executable name (mmexportcfg.exe or MEXexportcfg.exe).

The result of running this task will be a date-stamped XML file, such as 2009-08-16-mmbackup.xml

Notes:

• You must use the version of mmexportcfg.exe or MEXexportcfg.exe that matches your installed version of MailMarshal.
• For more details of the options available with mmexportcfg.exe or MEXexportcfg.exe, see "Using the Configuration Export Tool" in the User Guide.
• For details of additional items you should back up to have a complete record of configuration, see "Backing Up and Restoring the Configuration" in the User Guide.

Thanks to Trustwave Forum users for suggesting the date format information.