Database overview
Icewarp Icewarp Mail Server needs 2 databases by
default - the database for the Groupware module and the database for
the Anti-Spam engine. The groupware database stores all
groupware items - calendars, address books, notes, journals, etc. The
anti-spam database contains the quarantine items and the intrusion
prevention records.
The accounts and domains settings are by default
stored in the binary files in Icewarp\config folder, but you can
configure Icewarp to store that in a database also. You can store also
logs in a database, but it's not recommended.
You can find the groupware database connection
settings in the Administration interface/Groupware/General/â€DB
Settings...†dialog, the anti-spam database connection settings
can be found in the Anti-Spam/General/General/â€DB Settings...â€
dialog and the account database settings can be set in the
System/Storage/Accounts/â€DB Settings...†dialog (after
you enable database account storage).
Supported databases
The Icewarp 9 (Windows) installer lets you choose
whether you plan to use Icewarp as small or large server - the basic
installation for < 100 accounts and advanced installation for 100+
accounts. This question is asked because of database storage. There
are basically 2 types of databases - file databases and database
servers. The file databases are suitable only for smaller servers -
they don't need any additional programs to be installed, but they
don't handle big loads well. The database servers need to be
installed and configured, however they are able to handle the more
traffic. The account database storage is recommended for Icewarp with
more than 500 accounts, the dedicated SQL server is recommended for
Icewarp with more than few thousand accounts.
The default database for basic Windows Icewarp 9 installation is SQLite
database, in versions prior to Icewarp 9 the default
database was MS Access database.
The MySQL database for versions 9.1 and older was needed for Linux Icewarp
installation, in newer versions the default database will be also SQLite.
Generally Icewarp supports syntax of these database servers and
database engines: MS SQL, MySQL, InterBase, Oracle
and Firebird, MS Access and SQLite. The syntax is important
because of difference between the string variable type of each SQL server. The "Default"
syntax is universal syntax, but it doesn't use full potencial of the specific servers,
so it's better to specify the correct server syntax.
Database server settings and connection settings
ODBC (Open DataBase Connectivity) - the ODBC DSN (Database
Source Name) is needed to connect to MS Access database, MS SQL,
InterBase and Oracle servers. The MySQL and FireBird database can
use either it's own drivers or ODBC.
SQLite - the SQLite
database doesn't need the ODBC DSN or any additional driver
installation. The database files are installed with Icewarp 9+
regardless the currently selected database settings (the along with
SQLite driver).
The groupware database is located in the Icewarp\calendar\groupware.db file. The
Groupware/General/â€DB Settings...†for this configuration are:
The anti-spam database is located in the Icewarp\spam\antispam.db file. The
Anti-Spam/General/General/â€DB Settings...†for this configuration are:
MySQL - you don't
have to use ODBC to connect to MySQL server from Windows version of
Icewarp, you can connect directly to the MySQL server using the driver
from your version of MySQL server. You can find it in the MySQL
server installation folder:
MySQL server <version>\bin\libmysql.dll
You should either add this path to Windows system path or copy this file to Windows\system32\
to be able to connect to MySQL server without ODBC.
Note: The libmysql.dll library was part of the installation in versions prior to Icewarp server 9.1.
It is strongly recommanded to delete Icewarp\libmysql.dll file and use the library of your current MySQL
server instead.
MySQL database is needed
for Linux installation of Icewarp 9.1 or older (in case you want to use
Groupware and Anti-Spam features mentioned above). Required libraries
are in most cases installed along with Linux.
Here is the example how you can create database for Icewarp:
The â€DB Settings...†on Windows for both groupware and anti-spam are
for the local server with example database from above:
The typical “DB Setting...†for the same
database on Linux:
Database Migration
Icewarp contains integrated database migration tool. You can use it
to migrate from one type of database to another (to the same type
too, of course), as well as to backup your database. The database
migration is located in the Administration interface
System/Tools/Database Migration section.
You should select the database type (whether you migrate account,
groupware or anti-spam database) and fill the DB connection settings
according to instructions in previous chapter.
Database migration process drops destination database tables (not
all, only those, which belong to selected database type, and only if
the tables exist, naturally), and creates new tables with the same
data as in the source database.
Troubleshooting
All database errors are recorded into Icewarp error log
(you can find it in the Administration interface Status/Log/Error
log). So if you experience any problems with the database check the
log first.
As mentioned above, the file based databases are not
suitable for larger servers (100+ accounts), so these servers should
migrate database the some SQL server – this may resolve many
problems.
