[Dovecot] Mailbox conversion/importing
I've been tasked with importing a large bunch of mbox folders (about 500) into an existing mdbox setup in Dovecot 2.1
As far as I can see, dsync "mirror" or "backup" are both inappropriate ways of doing this. Does anyone have any suggestions about how I could proceed?
Thanks in advance
On 10/06/13 12:03, Alan Brown wrote:
I've been tasked with importing a large bunch of mbox folders (about 500) into an existing mdbox setup in Dovecot 2.1
As far as I can see, dsync "mirror" or "backup" are both inappropriate ways of doing this. Does anyone have any suggestions about how I could proceed?
I've finally discovered doveadm import.
In this instance: doveadm -Dv import -u [user] mbox:/full/path/to/mbox old-mbox all
Relative paths don't work. :)
On Mon, 10 Jun 2013, Alan Brown wrote:
I've been tasked with importing a large bunch of mbox folders (about 500) into an existing mdbox setup in Dovecot 2.1
As far as I can see, dsync "mirror" or "backup" are both inappropriate ways of doing this. Does anyone have any suggestions about how I could proceed?
I've done a variety of mail migrations over the years, including some that were quite large (hundreds of thousands of accounts). I looked at a few options when doing the first one and ended up concluding that pop/imap was the best way to go. A specialised migration tool must be less tested (and perhaps more buggy) than pop/imap servers that are in use around the world constantly. By using pop/imap proxies we were able to do migrations that were completely transparent to users.
This presumes that you are migrating from one server to another. I've always done it like this, rather than having to worry about multiple storage formats on the one server.
Cheers,
Rob
-- Email: robert@timetraveller.org Linux counter ID #16440 IRC: Solver (OFTC & Freenode) Web: http://www.practicalsysadmin.com Director, Software in the Public Interest (http://spi-inc.org/) Information is a gas
Hi Robert,
On Jun 10, 2013, at 8:23 AM, Robert Brockway robert@timetraveller.org wrote:
I've done a variety of mail migrations over the years, including some that were quite large (hundreds of thousands of accounts). I looked at a few options when doing the first one and ended up concluding that pop/imap was the best way to go. A specialised migration tool must be less tested (and perhaps more buggy) than pop/imap servers that are in use around the world constantly. By using pop/imap proxies we were able to do migrations that were completely transparent to users.
I think this sounds very plausible - can you maybe elaborate a bit on how you did this exactly?
Would you say that it even makes sense to use a proxy-based migration if you're moving from one Dovecot installation (serving just IMAP) to another?
I'm just asking because I'm planning to replace a FreeBSD-based Dovecot setup (serving just IMAP) to Debian. I already have the Debian system set up, but I'm still undecided how to do the move in a way which is a) preferrably transparent to users and b) possibly even allows me to quickly switch back to the old system again, just in case.
-- Frerich Raabe - raabe@froglogic.com www.froglogic.com - Multi-Platform GUI Testing
A specialised migration tool must be less tested (and perhaps more buggy) than pop/imap servers that are in use around the world constantly.
On the other hand a tool which is specifically built to do IMAP migration can do the job quickly and efficiently. My experience is that a well-designed IMAP Migration tool which has been tested over the years is often the best bet.
Just my own 2 cents worth.
Rick Sanders rfs9999@earthlink.net
Hi,
We have used Rick's tools to migrate from scalix to dovecot, and they worked out incredibly well for us. Also Rick was very responsive to questions and suggestions.
I consider it $35 USD well spent.
And that's the end of this commercial. ;-)
Mourik Jan
On 06/17/2013 04:31 AM, Rick Sanders wrote:
A specialised migration tool must be less tested (and perhaps more buggy) than pop/imap servers that are in use around the world constantly.
On the other hand a tool which is specifically built to do IMAP migration can do the job quickly and efficiently. My experience is that a well-designed IMAP Migration tool which has been tested over the years is often the best bet.
Just my own 2 cents worth.
Rick Sanders rfs9999@earthlink.net
participants (5)
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Alan Brown
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Frerich Raabe
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mourik jan SOGo
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Rick Sanders
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Robert Brockway