Migrating emails only

[Thunderchild]

I have a customer that wants to migrate to my server. They have 7.5GB of junk that is broadly "website" and 2.5GB of emails. They are willing to ditch the site that were were going ho have replaced anyway so I think a fresh start is best with just the emails. How do i do this? do I run an "email backup" in cpanel that i am aware will only save settings and redirects and then download and re-upload the "mail" folder?

 

[cPanelLauren]

I'm going to say that the best and easiest way to migrate email is using imapsync. We have a couple of tutorials on it here:

HOW TO: Using IMAPSync to Transfer mail from server to server

There is an active feature request to have cPanel add a tool to help migrate IMAP Mailboxes from a non-cPanel server to a cPanel server. This is very important if you are trying to help a customer move to your cPanel hosting service, from a non-cPanel server. You can read (and vote on) the...

forums.cpanel.net

Tutorial - How To Sync IMAP Mailboxes Using Imapsync

cPanelResources submitted a new resource: How To Sync IMAP Mailboxes Using Imapsync - Learn how to use the Imapsync utility to sync emails from one server to another. How To Sync IMAP Mailboxes Using Imapsync Warnings • We recommend that only experienced system administrators perform these...

forums.cpanel.net

 

[Thunderchild]

These are both cPanel servers, so don't I copy the email folder and then backup/restore the settings?

 

[Thunderchild]

Any ideas? or do cPanel staff have more interest now is me buying 3rd party software I do not need?

 

[keat63]

Its possible to transfer an account from one server to the other using the account transfer tool built in to WHM, but you'll need access to both WHM servers, so I'm not sure how you would do this if the other party isn't willing to help.

If you have ftp access, you could potentially ftp the mail folder off one server create the account on the new server and ftp it back.

Or as Lauren suggests, maybe utilising imap, although imap takes ages.

 

[Thunderchild]

Who said the other party was unwilling? I have two cPanel accounts, I have full access, I don't want to upload 7.5GB of crap so i want to try and move emails only! I see that in cPanel backup options I can back up just emails but this does warn that it is the account setup only not the emails themselves. I read elsewhere that I can copy the emails but have to recreate the accounts but that is very old advice and i assume that the option to back up email settings is recent. The response from cPanel staff is baffling but I am also told that cPanel is not what it used to be since being bought out.

 

[keat63]

"Who said the other party was unwilling? "
I assumed when you said "I have a customer that wants to migrate to my server. ", that he was coming from a 3rd party.

I'm no expert by any means, I tried to give advise on the way I've done this in the past.

 

[Thunderchild]

Yes i have access to the third party account. But I don't want to drag over 7GB of photo album and 0.5GB of website stuff that is various people experiments or defunc anyway.

 

[keat63]

I moved my entire portfolio of domains from one server with a data centre to a brand new server in a different data centre recently.
The transfer tool in WHM was seamless and very fast.
Assuming you have access to WHM on the original server, then for me this would be the way to go.
Maybe just clearing out the stuff you don't wish to retain beforehand.

Prior to this, I've done this manually.
I would recreate the new email accounts on the new server, using the same passwords (this enabled the users to log in without errors).
Then copy the mail folders over manually.

It's tiresome if you have lots of email accounts, but workable if only a handful.

There may be a tool to copy only the email accounts, and asscociated data, but i'll be honest, I've not spotted it if there is.

 

[Thunderchild]

If you go into backup on cPanel and go for a partial emails is one of the options, but then you get a warning that this is account and forwarder settings only not the emails themselves. I assume it's more recent than the many "guides" i have found from 5 years ago. cPanel documentation is hopeless.

I don't have access to WHM on the source and on the destination although I am a reseller I don't have much of the WHM.

 

[keat63]

It seems strange that one can transfer the email accounts and forwarders, but not the actual data.

I'm certain that you will not be the first or the last person to encounter this issue.
And I'd be extremely surprised if this hasn't been brought up or considered for a future release.

I've had CPanel since at least 2008, so if it's work in progress, then it's taking its time.

Personally, I could only suggest using FTP or IMAP to transfer the actual data.

Or get the two WHM owners to work together, but this will probably be nigh on impossible.

 

[Thunderchild]

To be honest when you think about the actual functionality cPanel is expensive, like all things linux, here's a user interface but not much you can do with it. This damn thing costs more than windows and does a fraction and it's an ongoing cost year after year with very little incremental improvements but a poor excuse for replacing all of the do it yourself solutions.

I too am very surprised that i can't just run an email backup and restore, it makes so much sense. In this case the account is a wreck so i do not want to maintain it for them, i want to start afresh for them and what they really need is their emails, the site and all of it's age old hanger bits are broken anyway.

 

[cPanelLauren]

Any ideas? or do cPanel staff have more interest now is me buying 3rd party software I do not need?

This comment is not only extremely unnecessary but rude and incorrect; I'd suggest you read the forum guidelines Forums Guidelines and FAQ before continuing this line of conversation further. Using impasync is something we're going to be adding to the product most likely, and there is no cost for it. Furthermore, it wouldn't have been recommended if it wasn't highly reliable. There's an issue with email backups taking forever due to the nature of mail files (a ton of really small files).

To be honest, when you think about the actual functionality cPanel is expensive, like all things linux, here's a user interface but not much you can do with it. This damn thing costs more than windows and does a fraction and it's an ongoing cost year after year with very little incremental improvements but a poor excuse for replacing all of the do it yourself solutions.

Well, for starters, cPanel is not an Operating System, so it's quite challenging to compare it to one when their functionality is entirely different. I'm sorry you feel like you can't do much with the cPanel interface because you can't take just email backups. Server Administration isn't always smooth and straight forward, and while cPanel tries to make this as easy as possible for the standard user, it doesn't do everything....yet, maybe one day.

You *can* take a full backup and exclude the website files in the domain's document root if you'd like to do that instead of the original suggestion.

How to Exclude Files from Backups | cPanel & WHM Documentation

To exclude files or directories from your user backups, you can perform various actions.

docs.cpanel.net

 

[Thunderchild]

The software suggested appears to cost 50 Euro's. Your solution requires access that i do not have as a reseller user. So lets try again, if i follow 5 year old instructions to download and reupload the mail folder for the account and then do an email account backup will this work?

 

[Thunderchild]

Or do i do a full backup and then just delete everything but the mail folder, that that could delete other host related stuff.