# Safe reinstallation of a chatmail relay

**URL:** <https://forum.delta.chat/t/safe-reinstallation-of-a-chatmail-relay/5816>\
**Category:** Chatmail Relays\
**Created:** [September 23, 2026, 12:26pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/safe-reinstallation-of-a-chatmail-relay/5816 "2026-09-23T12:26:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alxndr](https://forum.delta.chat/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@alxndr](https://forum.delta.chat/u/alxndr)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 12:26pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/safe-reinstallation-of-a-chatmail-relay/5816/1 "2026-09-23T12:26:16Z")

</div>

I’m currently running [delta.ybti.net](http://delta.ybti.net) on Ubuntu 24.04, but would like to switch to Debian as soon as [Debian 13 compatibility](https://github.com/chatmail/relay/issues/476) is solved.

The document [Migrating to a new machine](https://chatmail.at/doc/relay/migrate.html) explains migrating between two running servers, but should be adaptable to a reinstallation. Just to make sure I don’t overlook any potential issues, would this work?

1. Disable mail service as in step 3.
2. Backup all the data mentioned in step 4.
3. Reinstall server.
4. Pre-configure chatmail relay as in step 2.
5. Restore the data mentioned in step 4.
6. Activate chatmail relay as in step 6.