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Re: Upgrade a mail server



Good procedure!

----- Original Message -----
From: "I. Forbes" <iforbes@zsd.co.za>
To: <debian-isp@lists.debian.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2002 11:35 PM
Subject: Re: Upgrade a mail server


> Hello Craig
>
> On 19 Feb 2002, at 10:38, Craig Sanders wrote:
>
> > i'd love to convert it over to Maildir/ but haven't yet found any way
> > that doesn't involve many hours of downtime while converting the
> > mailboxes from mbox format to Maildir.
>
> I did this a while back. It is possible with very little apparent
> downtime.  (We are using Exim and Courier):
>
> -   create Maildirs for all users.  (This is important if both your
>     POP3/IMAP software and MDA are not configured to create missing
>     Maildirs "on the fly").
>
> -   change your MDA to deliver into the new maildirs
>
> (At this stage new mail is not visible to users when it arrives - but
> they can still see their old mail.  The downtime for this phase should
> be short)
>
> -   change your POP3/IMAP programs to pick up mail from the
>     maildirs.
>
> (At this stage old mail is not visible to users, but new mail is.  This
> should not be too much of a problem - if users have left MB worth of
> mail in their boxes, they can't want it too badly, it is when new mail
> is not available that people complain.)
>
> -   run your script which reads the mbox files, and delivers to
>     maildirs. My script renamed the mailbox files just after they
>     had been converted, so I could restart the script without
>     incurring duplicate deliveries if (when) the script crashed.
>
> -   By the time the script finishes, all mail is visible again.
>
> -   Keep the old mbox files around for a few days just in case you
>     discover a problem ...
>
> No corruption, no duplication, no mail lost, no file locking, no error
> messages on client desktops, not too much loss of service and very
> few support calls.
>
> Have fun!
>
>
> Ian
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ian Forbes ZSD
> http://www.zsd.co.za
> Office: +27 21 683-1388  Fax: +27 21 674-1106
> Snail Mail: P.O. Box 46827, Glosderry, 7702, South Africa
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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