I searched the archives and do not see a question/answer for this. Should I perform a set of ordered steps after setting up replication? I have setup dovecot on both ends with identical config except for the remote hostname. Main concern is the existing server gets replicated to the new server. I want nothing from new server replicated to the old server. Risking "Trial and error" and "crossing fingers? doesn?t work with production emails Specifically: Do I need to setup the mail directories for the various virtual users on the remote? If so, do the directories need to empty? Should I initially do a manually one-way synch using doveadm from the existing server? If so, is there a way of turning off automatic replication while the manual one runs? Anything else? T David
Hi David, Afaik you have to put the 'old' emails before replicating on both, because replicating only works on new arriving. I just migrated to a server on a different platform keeping same os and dovecot version. One namespace had mbox storage which on the new server became mdbox. For the mbox -> mdbox namespace I used this doveadm backup -f -n inbox -F /root/backup-accounts.txt tcp:mailXX.local:542 Test first with one account, depending on the permissions of the directories on the destination, dovecot will create all the files. I had a 2nd namespace that I needed to migrate that was already in mdbox. I decided the rsync that, because here it was 2 days vs 5 hours syncing. After the rsync I did again the backup on that namespace doveadm backup -f -n Archive -F /root/backup-accounts.txt tcp:mailXX.local:542 Then I ran a script counting messages in mailboxes of all users on both servers and a diff showed that everything was ok. I guess if you handle it like this you will not loose a message. ;) -----Original Message----- From: David Morsberger [mailto:david at mmpcrofton.com] Sent: 29 December 2020 20:09 To: dovecot mailing list Subject: Initial Replication I searched the archives and do not see a question/answer for this. Should I perform a set of ordered steps after setting up replication? I have setup dovecot on both ends with identical config except for the remote hostname. Main concern is the existing server gets replicated to the new server. I want nothing from new server replicated to the old server. Risking "Trial and error" and "crossing fingers doesnt work with production emails Specifically: Do I need to setup the mail directories for the various virtual users on the remote? If so, do the directories need to empty? Should I initially do a manually one-way synch using doveadm from the existing server? If so, is there a way of turning off automatic replication while the manual one runs? Anything else? T David
Thanks Ross! Your instructions worked like a charm. I?ve been monitoring both sides for days and everything looks great. Sent from my iPhone> On Dec 29, 2020, at 15:30, Marc Roos <M.Roos at f1-outsourcing.eu> wrote: > > ? > > Hi David, > > Afaik you have to put the 'old' emails before replicating on both, > because replicating only works on new arriving. > > I just migrated to a server on a different platform keeping same os and > dovecot version. One namespace had mbox storage which on the new server > became mdbox. > > For the mbox -> mdbox namespace I used this > > doveadm backup -f -n inbox -F /root/backup-accounts.txt > tcp:mailXX.local:542 > > Test first with one account, depending on the permissions of the > directories on the destination, dovecot will create all the files. > > I had a 2nd namespace that I needed to migrate that was already in > mdbox. I decided the rsync that, because here it was 2 days vs 5 hours > syncing. > > After the rsync I did again the backup on that namespace > > doveadm backup -f -n Archive -F /root/backup-accounts.txt > tcp:mailXX.local:542 > > Then I ran a script counting messages in mailboxes of all users on both > servers and a diff showed that everything was ok. > > I guess if you handle it like this you will not loose a message. ;) > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: David Morsberger [mailto:david at mmpcrofton.com] > Sent: 29 December 2020 20:09 > To: dovecot mailing list > Subject: Initial Replication > > I searched the archives and do not see a question/answer for this. > > Should I perform a set of ordered steps after setting up replication? I > have setup dovecot on both ends with identical config except for the > remote hostname. > > Main concern is the existing server gets replicated to the new server. I > want nothing from new server replicated to the old server. Risking > "Trial and error" and "crossing fingers doesnt work with production > emails > > Specifically: > > Do I need to setup the mail directories for the various virtual users on > the remote? If so, do the directories need to empty? > > Should I initially do a manually one-way synch using doveadm from the > existing server? If so, is there a way of turning off automatic > replication while the manual one runs? > > Anything else? > > T > > David >