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IRIS

Instructional & Research Information Systems

ImapSync

This page is deprecated, but remains here for reference. Campus email service has since migrated from CalMail to bMail.

The imapsync tool is available to help you copy your existing email from imap.eecs to CalMail. You can expect to run this tool multiple times, with the last run being done just before you make your final change to use CalMail instead of imap.eecs. Further information on our migration to CalMail is available on the CalMail Migration FAQ.

Pre-Migration Tips

  • You should look over your EECS IMAP mail and delete any messages you no longer need. The less mail you are copying over the less likely you are to have problems. You can see how big all your folders are at a glance by logging into the EECS Webmail interface. At the bottom of your folder list is a folder called “Manage Folders”. Click that to see how big each folder is.
  • If you haven’t already, you can configure the EECS imap server to automatically delete all mail in your EECS-Filtered/Spam folder that is older than a given number of days. This is easier than having to clean up the Spam folder by hand.
  • If you use a mail client such as Thunderbird or Outlook, you should compact (or expunge) your mail folders before you run imapsync, and empty any Trash folder you may have. This will help reduce the amount of data that needs to be copied.
  • [Optional] You may wish to login to the IRIS IMAP Transition site (https://iris.eecs.berkeley.edu/imapsync) to get an estimate of how long it will take to copy your mail over.
  • You may continue to work as usual the first time you run imapsync; the initial synchronization can take from an hour to more than a day. The last time you run imapsync, you should quit any running mail programs first. The last quick sync should take 30-60 minutes, often much less.

Doing the Migration

Feel free to do your first run of the imapsync tool at any time. You will likely need to run it multiple times before successful completion. The IRIS Helpdesk can assist you in performing these tasks.

1. RUN IRIS-IMAPSYNC

  • Begin an ssh session to imapsync.eecs.berkeley.edu.
  • Login with your EECS Unix OR Windows username and password. (Visit the IRIS Helpdesk if you can’t remember either password.)
  • Run the command “iris-imapsync” (without the quotes).
  • iris-imapsync generates two logs in your home directory, of the form:
    • imapsync-USERNAME-DATE.txt
    • imapsync-errors-USERNAME-DATE.txt
  • You may logout of imapsync.eecs.berkeley.edu, and the process will continue running.
  • You will eventually receive an email with the subject line “imapsync is done for USERNAME” (or “imapsync failed for USERNAME”)
  • The last line of this email should read “Detected 0 errors”. This is a successful sync.
  • If the last line says other than “Detected 0 errors”, or if you get the “imapsync failed” email, you can check your error log (imapsync-errors-USERNAME-DATE.txt) for details. Running iris-imapsync again may overcome some errors. You may send the errors log to help@eecs for review.

The imapsync tool does exactly that. It syncs two imap trees. In our environment the first time you run the sync, all the data is on imap.eecs.berkeley.edu; it can take time to “sync” to the empty tree on CalMail. With 5GB of mail, a first run took about 22 hours.

When you are sure the two trees are synced, you may proceed to the next step.

2. DELETE YOUR CALMAIL FORWARD

Your CalMail Forward has been in place to make sure that new mail for you was delivered to imap.eecs. Now that your imap trees are successfully synced, you no longer need delivery to imap.eecs, so you may delete your CalMail Forward:

  1. Quit out of all mail clients
  2. Go to https://calmail.berkeley.edu
  3. In the left hand menu bar click “Manage Your Account”
  4. Login with your CalNet ID
  5. In the left hand menu bar click “Manage Your Account” again
  6. Select your USERNAME@eecs.berkeley.edu account
  7. In the left hand menu bar click “Forwarding”
  8. Click the link “stop forwarding to USERNAME@imap.eecs.berkeley.edu”
  9. Log out

3. CONFIGURE YOUR EMAIL CLIENT TO USE CALMAIL

With the CalMail Forward deleted, any new mail to USERNAME@eecs.berkeley.eduwill only be delivered to your EECS CalMail account, not to imap.eecs. So now you need to reconfigure your Thunderbird/Outlook/etc. to work with CalMail instead.

  1. Open your email client and take all accounts off line, or do not enter your password. Your two imap trees are now synced; don’t check email or they will become out of sync
  2. Delete the settings that use imap.eecs.berkeley.edu
  3. Add the CalMail settings. Select your email client from the CalMail Client Settings page (https://calmail.berkeley.edu/docs/client.html) and follow the instructions, or use the general information on that page for any other mail program.
  4. There is one key exception: when entering your user name, be sure to fully qualify it, e.g. username@eecs.berkeley.edu will work, whereas username alone will not.

4. RUN IRIS-IMAPSYNC AGAIN

Run the iris-imapsync tool one last time after deleting your CalMail Forward.

  • Login via ssh again to imapsync.eecs.berkeley.edu.
  • Run the command “iris-imapsync” (without the quotes).
  • Logout of imapsync.eecs.berkeley.edu, and the process will continue running.

5. REPORTING COMPLETION

Please report when you are done with imap.eecs.berkeley.edu:

  • Website to report that you are done with migration: https://iris.eecs.berkeley.edu/imapsync

This will effectively freeze your imap.eecs.berkeley.edu tree. The data will remain until IDSG decommissions the hardware, probably sometime in February of 2011. IDSG retains one year of backup on tape, retrievable for a time and materials charge.

Additional Notes

  • CalMail does not support “@” in folder names. Any such folders will have @ replaced with _at_.
  • You can (and should) run imapsync multiple times. It keeps track of which messages have been copied over and will only copy new messages over.
  • The amount of memory needed is determined by the total size of your largest folders. Problems may arise if you have very large folders (total bytes) or individual messages that are very large.
  • If you had created any whitelists/blacklists for your mail on imap.eecs, you may wish to create CalMail Filters for your EECS CalMail account. (FAQ page forthcoming; see “Manage Your Account” on https://calmail.berkeley.edu/)
  • The original imapsync command FAQ can be found at http://www.linux-france.org/prj/imapsync/FAQ

IRIS imapsync FAQ v. $Revision: 1.7 $ 
Last updated: $Date: 2010/11/10 18:25:26 $