E-mail migration between servers without knowing accounts password

[Rakaris Bakaris]

Hello!
All the e-mail migration guides found on Internet states the following migration guidelines:
1) Create email accounts with the same passwords as it was on old server;
2) Copy the mail directory content for user to the new mail server.

I just verified that if I:

1) delete some mailbox from server;
2) recreate deleted account with different password;
3) restore old account mail items backups to recreated account's directory.
The mail items is seen by user which is logged on with new password.

Questions:
Q1. Is this requirement that passwords must be the same? Is such migration plan is correct?

1) Create email accounts;
2) Send the new passwords to users;
2) Copy the mail directory content for user from the old to the new mail server.

Q2. Can I use the procedure above if I migrate email data between various Cpanel users. For example: Old server's account name is 'acc1', but the new server's account name is 'acc2' (full e-mail address remains the same)?

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello,

1. You don't have to create the accounts with the same passwords. It's recommended to do that so users can access their account with the same login credentials in order to make the migration seamless, but it's not a requirement.

2. Yes, this will still work, but remember to update the ownership of the files to the new username if you are manually copying the data files. Note that the transfer tool option in cPanel is advised over manual transfers.

Thank you.