[Dovecot] integration of old mails into new dovecot Maildir

Mon Apr 14 18:23:59 UTC 2014

Thank you for your prompt reply and timely help. I will try to be very
explanative in describing my situation. I will begin first with answering
the questions you asked;

1)      how are the messages storred on the old server, which storage
backend do you use, maybe Maildir?

Yes, Maildir. Dovecot  version is 2.1.7. 

Virtual users are authenticated by mysql backend. Login is plain login.

2) the storage backend on the new server?

                     Maildir. Dovecot Version 2.2.9.  Mysql virtual users
authentication. Plain login

3) do you care about the message UIDs?

I Would like to preserve the UIDs as much as possible. However, the most
important thing is for the users to have access to their old emails. 

4) How many users do you have (approx.) and can you access the user's
mailboxes via IMAP, e.g. using a master user or do you know their password
or can you switch to a known password during migration of one particular
user?

I have about 50 total users. I can access their mailboxes via imap but I
don't have their password handy. Mysql  database  with the userdata and
passwords was imported into the new new server so, the users can get
authenticated into the new server with the old server password.

5) Did you've changed namespaces?

                     No. I did not change namespaces.

- From your first post I figure that the basic mail server functionality of
the new server is working, most importantly login, message delivery and
retrieval.

Yes, the new server is functional and all the users are able to log in, view
delivered messages and retrieve the messages into their mail clients.
However, they cannot view any old messages or retrieve any old messages. 

Here is the dovecot.conf of the old mail server;

protocols = imap pop3

log_timestamp = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S "

mail_location = maildir:/var/vmail/%d/%n

mail_privileged_group = mail

first_valid_uid = 6060

ssl_cert= </etc/ssl/certs/dovecot.pem

ssl_key =< /etc/ssl/private/dovecot.pem

#ssl_ca = </etc/ssl/certs/gd_bundle.crt

ssl = yes

#ssl_cert = </etc/postfix/ssl/smtpd.crt

#ssl_key = </etc/postfix/ssl/smtpd.key

protocol imap {

  mail_plugins = autocreate quota imap_quota

}

protocol pop3 {

  pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv

  mail_plugins = quota

}

protocol lda {

  mail_plugins =  quota sieve

  quota_full_tempfail = yes

 rejection_reason = Your message to <%t> was automatically
rejected:%n%r%n%nThe Subject of your message was: %s

  auth_socket_path = /var/run/dovecot/auth-master

  log_path = /var/log/dovecot-deliver.log

  postmaster_address = postmaster at sbm1.motherindia.com

#  sieve_path = /var/sieve/global.sieve

}

  auth_mechanisms = plain login cram-md5

  auth_debug = no

  auth_debug_passwords = yes

  auth_verbose = no

  auth_verbose_passwords = no

  disable_plaintext_auth = no

  instance_name = dovecot

  login_greeting = Dovecot ready.

  mail_debug = no

  passdb {

  args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf

  driver = sql

}

  userdb {

  args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf

  driver = sql

}

-----Original Message-----
From: Steffen Kaiser [mailto:skdovecot at smail.inf.fh-brs.de] 
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 2:18 AM
To: K. C. Mohan
Cc: dovecot at dovecot.org
Subject: Re: [Dovecot] integration of old mails into new dovecot Maildir

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Hash: SHA1

On Sun, 13 Apr 2014, K. C. Mohan wrote:

Please, do not top post.

> Thank you Steffen, for addressing my problem of migrating old mails 

> into new mail server. I went through the article you pointed to but 

> could not succueed. I will appreciate if you could guide me to step by 

> step process to migrate the mails. My old mail server used 2.x dovecot
version.

you post very little information:

1) how are the messages storred on the old server, which storage backend do
you use, maybe Maildir?

2) the storage backend on the new server?

3) do you care about the message UIDs?

4) How many users do you have (approx.) and can you access the user's
mailboxes via IMAP, e.g. using a master user or do you know their password
or can you switch to a known password during migration of one particular
user?

5) Did you've changed namespaces?

- From your first post I figure that the basic mail server functionality of
the new server is working, most importantly login, message delivery and
retrieval.

I have attached both the old and new servers configuration files as .txt
attachments.

> -----Original Message----- From: Steffen Kaiser

> Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2014 6:14 AM

> To: K. C. Mohan - Personal  s

> Cc:  <mailto:dovecot at dovecot.org> dovecot at dovecot.org

> Subject: Re: [Dovecot] integration of old mails into new dovecot 

> Maildir

> 

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

> Hash: SHA1

> 

> On Tue, 8 Apr 2014, K. C. Mohan - Personal wrote:

> 

>> I just installed dovecot 2.2.9 on to a new server and want to 

>> transfer all the old mails into the email accounts I imported from 

>> the previous server into MySQL database. I am not able to view the 

>> subfolders and or old mails that I copied into their respective 

>> maildir folders. I was very much appreciate if anyone could let me 

>> know how to import old mails into the new server. All I see, is the 

>> new mails that have come into the account since I started dovecot service
in the new server.

> 

> Check out  <http://wiki2.dovecot.org/Migration>
http://wiki2.dovecot.org/Migration . Read esp. about 

> "preserving messages' UIDs".

> 

> If the old server uses Maildir, too, and you don't care about the 

> UIDs, copy the files over and you are done.

- --

Steffen Kaiser

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