Migrate Mailboxes from mailprovider to own server
reddit / selfhosted

----------------------------------------------------------------------
darkside40 · 2023-12-12 14:45

Hi there,

so OVH messed it up by not supporting DKIM in their MX plans that are
included in their Webspace plans. After talking with their support
staff they also dont plan to. So if you dont  want to pay for their
E-Mail Pro or hosted Exchange (were DKIM is possible) you better of to
host your own email server. Thats not rocket science with projects
like Docker Mailserver etc. at least if you do it on community or
family level.

​

Only thing that bothers me: whats the best way to migrate the
mailboxes from the old hosted mailserver which is only gives me IMAP
access to the new mailserver i host myself reducing downtime etc?

Is there any recommende guide for this?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[deleted] · 2023-12-12 15:01

[removed]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
fbartels · 2023-12-12 15:07

https://imapsync.lamiral.info/ is the tool of choice for imap
migrations.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
darkside40 · 2023-12-12 15:10

But that only works if the new and the old server are functional,
right?

Dont i need a new domain for the new server than?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
fbartels · 2023-12-12 15:13

What imapsync essentially does is login to your source server and your
destination, checks which mails are missing on the destination and
then copies them over.

So yes, both servers need to be functional (and you need login
credentials) and you also need some way to reach the new server.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
FuriousRageSE · 2023-12-12 15:46

>Only thing that bothers me: whats the best way to migrate the
mailboxes from the old hosted mailserver which is only gives me IMAP
access to the new mailserver i host myself reducing downtime etc?

​

your question gave me an idea when using this.

Since I just bought a new domain and have yet to work in the mail, i
could probably create either sub-folders, and then connect to all mail
places and copy from one imap:ed account to the other inside the same
client, into a sub-folder, or an aliased mail (like protonmail can
with alias mailbox etc).  This might be plausible since i have extra
domains i could use temporary.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
arcadianarcadian · 2023-12-12 19:25

I used imapsync many times. It works flawlessly.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
lilolalu · 2023-12-12 22:13

Or getmail or fetchmail

----------------------------------------------------------------------
lilolalu · 2023-12-12 22:15

If you have shell access and you are using Linux with maildir format
mail storage, you can just copy over the mails from the old maildir to
the new maildir with SCP or rsync.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
fbartels · 2023-12-12 22:15

If you already have an imap inbox then either are not a good choice as
they will not preserve the original folder structure.

For polling mails from an external mailbox they are a good choice
however.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
lilolalu · 2023-12-12 22:19

If they are planning to self host their new email server (which I
personally would completely advise against), they could just download
the mails with getmail and fetchmail and copy it to the new
Mailservers maildir. I think either Mailu or Mailcow even has those
tools included already.