Migration

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Mailbox INBOX sync: mailbox_delete...

Hans Brage

29 Dec 2018 29 Dec '18

11:49 p.m.

Hi!

I'm currently running an small imap-server on Dovecot 2.2.4 but will retire that server. I've set up an new server with Dovecot 2.3.4 and will migrate the mailboxes (maildir-format) from the old to the new server. I'm planning to restructure the accounts a bit when migrating so I need to move them one by one. Its only a few so thats not a big issue.

Both servers are using virtual accounts (users file).

I've understood that best method for migration is to run doveadm backup -R from the new server. But I really cant figure out what other parameters or settings that I need to perform that task and if it should be run as user vmail or root.

Would be greatful for any tips, hints, links or similiar.

Regards, Hans

Show replies by date

Benny Pedersen

30 Dec 30 Dec

12:09 a.m.

Hans Brage skrev den 2018-12-29 22:49:

...

Would be greatful for any tips, hints, links or similiar.

if you want external tools i think imapsync is best way to sync all, it can keep source or delete, so you have backup in case of errors, it does not sync sieve, this is still not makeed, so each user must self copy sieve scripts from old to new via webmail or thunderbird with sieve plugin

Sami Ketola

11:53 a.m.

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On 29 Dec 2018, at 23.49, Hans Brage hans@plattformen.se wrote:

Hi!

I'm currently running an small imap-server on Dovecot 2.2.4 but will retire that server. I've set up an new server with Dovecot 2.3.4 and will migrate the mailboxes (maildir-format) from the old to the new server. I'm planning to restructure the accounts a bit when migrating so I need to move them one by one. Its only a few so thats not a big issue.

Both servers are using virtual accounts (users file).

I've understood that best method for migration is to run doveadm backup -R from the new server. But I really cant figure out what other parameters or settings that I need to perform that task and if it should be run as user vmail or root.

Would be greatful for any tips, hints, links or similiar.

Once you have the new server set up, you can use dsync over ssh to sync the mailboxes with something like:

doveadm backup -u user@newserver -R ssh sudouser@oldserver sudo /usr/bin/doveadm dsync-server -u user@oldserver

needs to be run as root on new server. Also ssh access with keys and without password is recommended.

Sami

Hans Brage

31 Dec 31 Dec

12:09 a.m.

Thanks!

That was a really useful answer.

// Hans

Den 2018-12-30 kl. 10:53, skrev Sami Ketola:

...

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On 29 Dec 2018, at 23.49, Hans Brage hans@plattformen.se wrote:

Hi!

I'm currently running an small imap-server on Dovecot 2.2.4 but will retire that server. I've set up an new server with Dovecot 2.3.4 and will migrate the mailboxes (maildir-format) from the old to the new server. I'm planning to restructure the accounts a bit when migrating so I need to move them one by one. Its only a few so thats not a big issue.

Both servers are using virtual accounts (users file).

I've understood that best method for migration is to run doveadm backup -R from the new server. But I really cant figure out what other parameters or settings that I need to perform that task and if it should be run as user vmail or root.

Would be greatful for any tips, hints, links or similiar.

Once you have the new server set up, you can use dsync over ssh to sync the mailboxes with something like:

doveadm backup -u user@newserver -R ssh sudouser@oldserver sudo /usr/bin/doveadm dsync-server -u user@oldserver

needs to be run as root on new server. Also ssh access with keys and without password is recommended.

Sami

Ignacio García

12:22 p.m.

A totally different approach (that is imap-server agnostic), providing that you're setting up those new accounts with temporary passwords (which you know), before users change their passwords to their liking: you could also use imapsync ( https://github.com/imapsync/imapsync) . We here use it with a batch file and a text file containing all accounts to do mass-migrations, usually at night, when there's little to none user interaction with their mail accounts. I like this approach because mail service never gets interrupted and we do programmed syncs all night in case DNS propagation takes more than expected and mail still arrives to the old server.

Ignacio

El 30/12/2018 a las 23:09, Hans Brage escribió:

...

Thanks!

That was a really useful answer.

// Hans

Den 2018-12-30 kl. 10:53, skrev Sami Ketola:

...
...
On 29 Dec 2018, at 23.49, Hans Brage hans@plattformen.se wrote:

Hi!

I'm currently running an small imap-server on Dovecot 2.2.4 but will retire that server. I've set up an new server with Dovecot 2.3.4 and will migrate the mailboxes (maildir-format) from the old to the new server. I'm planning to restructure the accounts a bit when migrating so I need to move them one by one. Its only a few so thats not a big issue.

Both servers are using virtual accounts (users file).

I've understood that best method for migration is to run doveadm backup -R from the new server. But I really cant figure out what other parameters or settings that I need to perform that task and if it should be run as user vmail or root.

Would be greatful for any tips, hints, links or similiar.

Once you have the new server set up, you can use dsync over ssh to sync the mailboxes with something like:

doveadm backup -u user@newserver -R ssh sudouser@oldserver sudo /usr/bin/doveadm dsync-server -u user@oldserver

needs to be run as root on new server. Also ssh access with keys and without password is recommended.

Sami

Sami Ketola

12:54 p.m.

...

On 31 Dec 2018, at 12.22, Ignacio García yo@ignasi.com wrote:

A totally different approach (that is imap-server agnostic), providing that you're setting up those new accounts with temporary passwords (which you know), before users change their passwords to their liking: you could also use imapsync ( https://github.com/imapsync/imapsync) . We here use it with a batch file and a text file containing all accounts to do mass-migrations, usually at night, when there's little to none user interaction with their mail accounts. I like this approach because mail service never gets interrupted and we do programmed syncs all night in case DNS propagation takes more than expected and mail still arrives to the old server.

I still don't recommend to use imapsync for migrations as UIDVALIDITY and UID numbers will change and end users will need to invalidate their local client caches and redownload all mail headers and usually also mail bodies again.

Sami

Tanstaafl

12 Jan 12 Jan

6:08 p.m.

On 12/31/2018, 5:22:48 AM, Ignacio García yo@ignasi.com wrote:

...

A totally different approach (that is imap-server agnostic), providing that you're setting up those new accounts with temporary passwords (which you know), before users change their passwords to their liking: you could also use imapsync ( https://github.com/imapsync/imapsync) . We here use it with a batch file and a text file containing all accounts to do mass-migrations, usually at night, when there's little to none user interaction with their mail accounts. I like this approach because mail service never gets interrupted and we do programmed syncs all night in case DNS propagation takes more than expected and mail still arrives to the old server.

Or, you can use Master Passwords on both sides, and just do the migration at your leisure. I did this when migrating from our dovecot server to Office 365.

Next time I'll look at using a dovecot method (DSync? doveadm?) but still using Master Passwords.

Alex La

1 Oct 1 Oct

11:29 a.m.

Am 30.12.18 um 10:53 schrieb Sami Ketola:

...

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On 29 Dec 2018, at 23.49, Hans Brage hans@plattformen.se wrote:

Hi!

I'm currently running an small imap-server on Dovecot 2.2.4 but will retire that server. I've set up an new server with Dovecot 2.3.4 and will migrate the mailboxes (maildir-format) from the old to the new server. I'm planning to restructure the accounts a bit when migrating so I need to move them one by one. Its only a few so thats not a big issue.

Both servers are using virtual accounts (users file).

I've understood that best method for migration is to run doveadm backup -R from the new server. But I really cant figure out what other parameters or settings that I need to perform that task and if it should be run as user vmail or root.

Would be greatful for any tips, hints, links or similiar.

Once you have the new server set up, you can use dsync over ssh to sync the mailboxes with something like:

doveadm backup -u user@newserver -R ssh sudouser@oldserver sudo /usr/bin/doveadm dsync-server -u user@oldserver

needs to be run as root on new server. Also ssh access with keys and without password is recommended.

I used to run doveadm backup on the new server with glusterfs and at the middle of the sync the glusterfs is gone. Have anyone good experience with glusterfs and doveadm backup/sync?

...

Sami

Regards Aleks

Sami Ketola

11:32 a.m.

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On 1 Oct 2019, at 11.29, Alex La via dovecot dovecot@dovecot.org wrote:

Am 30.12.18 um 10:53 schrieb Sami Ketola:

...
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On 29 Dec 2018, at 23.49, Hans Brage hans@plattformen.se wrote:

Hi!

I'm currently running an small imap-server on Dovecot 2.2.4 but will retire that server. I've set up an new server with Dovecot 2.3.4 and will migrate the mailboxes (maildir-format) from the old to the new server. I'm planning to restructure the accounts a bit when migrating so I need to move them one by one. Its only a few so thats not a big issue.

Both servers are using virtual accounts (users file).

I've understood that best method for migration is to run doveadm backup -R from the new server. But I really cant figure out what other parameters or settings that I need to perform that task and if it should be run as user vmail or root.

Would be greatful for any tips, hints, links or similiar.

Once you have the new server set up, you can use dsync over ssh to sync the mailboxes with something like:

doveadm backup -u user@newserver -R ssh sudouser@oldserver sudo /usr/bin/doveadm dsync-server -u user@oldserver

needs to be run as root on new server. Also ssh access with keys and without password is recommended.

I used to run doveadm backup on the new server with glusterfs and at the middle of the sync the glusterfs is gone. Have anyone good experience with glusterfs and doveadm backup/sync?

No. I only have bad and very bad experiences with glusterfs in general. Too many corruptions and unsync metadata (even with one node setup) that we migrated customer away from it and they are now using nfs instead.

Sami

Alex La

11:58 a.m.

Am 01.10.19 um 10:32 schrieb Sami Ketola via dovecot:

...

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On 1 Oct 2019, at 11.29, Alex La via dovecot mailto:dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:

Am 30.12.18 um 10:53 schrieb Sami Ketola:

...
...
On 29 Dec 2018, at 23.49, Hans Brage mailto:hans@plattformen.se> wrote:

Hi!

I'm currently running an small imap-server on Dovecot 2.2.4 but will retire that server. I've set up an new server with Dovecot 2.3.4 and will migrate the mailboxes (maildir-format) from the old to the new server. I'm planning to restructure the accounts a bit when migrating so I need to move them one by one. Its only a few so thats not a big issue.

Both servers are using virtual accounts (users file).

I've understood that best method for migration is to run doveadm backup -R from the new server. But I really cant figure out what other parameters or settings that I need to perform that task and if it should be run as user vmail or root.

Would be greatful for any tips, hints, links or similiar.

Once you have the new server set up, you can use dsync over ssh to sync the mailboxes with something like:

doveadm backup -u user@newserver -R ssh sudouser@oldserver sudo /usr/bin/doveadm dsync-server -u user@oldserver

needs to be run as root on new server. Also ssh access with keys and without password is recommended.

I used to run doveadm backup on the new server with glusterfs and at the middle of the sync the glusterfs is gone. Have anyone good experience with glusterfs and doveadm backup/sync?

No. I only have bad and very bad experiences with glusterfs in general. Too many corruptions and unsync metadata (even with one node setup) that we migrated customer away from it and they are now using nfs instead.

Thank you for your fast answer. I had some issues with glusterfs in the migration startup phase and wanted to know if this is only my experience or someone else also.

We are now moving away from glusterfs and use dedicated storage.

...

Sami

Regards Alex

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9 comments

6 participants

participants (6)

Alex La
Benny Pedersen
Hans Brage
Ignacio García
Sami Ketola
Tanstaafl

Migration

Hans Brage

Benny Pedersen

Sami Ketola

Hans Brage

Ignacio García

Sami Ketola

Tanstaafl

Alex La

Sami Ketola

Alex La

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participants (6)