How to backup and restore the Mail Utilities settings and configuration

Symptoms

I want to backup all my rules and settings for disaster recovery purposes or to migrate the Exclaimer settings and disclaimer text to another server that I am building or upgrading without having to retype or reenter all the data.

Resolution

Exclaimer settings and rules are mostly contained within a single file called Mail Utilities.4.50.xml (exclaimer4.xml for versions prior to 4.50) There are a couple of other files and some folders that need to be backed up and restored to preserve these settings.

Backing up

In the Exclaimer program files folder on the server, backup the following:

• Mail Utilities.4.50.xml (exclaimer4.xml for versions prior to 4.50)
• AD.xml
• Cluster.xml (If it exists)
• template.xml located in the Control Panel folder under Program files\Exclaimer
• UserFiles folder

Restoring

If restoring to an existing Exclaimer installation, restore the items that were previously backed up in point 1 above. Exclaimer will automatically pick up the restored settings.
If migrating to a new server, ensure that Exclaimer has been installed on this server using the Exclaimer installation program. Complete the installation wizard - any settings entered here will be overwritten by the restore procedure. Restore the items that were previously backed up in point 1 above. Exclaimer will automatically pick up the restored settings.
If upgrading from Exclaimer version 1 or 2, delete the file Exclaimer4.xml after restoring the file Exclaimer.xml. Then re-run and complete the Exclaimer Setup Wizard and Exclaimer will recreate the Exclaimer4.xml file from the contents of the old Exclaimer.xml file.
You will need to re-apply your license (the text file) you received from sales. If you can not find your license file, please contact sales@exclaimer.com.

More Information

As part of a normal server backup strategy it is sufficient to simply include the whole Exclaimer program files folder and its sub folders in the list of items that are backed up.
In this case recovery can be performed by restoring the whole folder and then re-installing Exclaimer back into this folder using the installation program.