Question Mail transfer using local email client?

[Pleskie]

In a few days I will start installing a new (bigger) server to replace my old (smaller) server.

The old server runs on Plesk Onyx. The new server will run on Plesk Obsidian.

I run 2 personal mail accounts (IMAP) on the old server which must be transfered to the new server once it is installed.

I contacted the manufacturer of my local email client and he told me that most likely if I create 2 empty mail accounts on the new server and connect my local email client to these 2 empty mail accounts, the 2 empty mail accounts on the new server will be automatically synchronized with my local email client. If this is true, it would mean that after synchronizing has finished the 2 mail accounts on the new server would be identical to the ones on the old server.

Can someone confirm (or deny) that this will work?

 

[learning_curve]

How to migrate only mail content to Plesk server using Plesk migrator?

Applicable to: Plesk for Linux Plesk for Windows How to migrate only mail content to Plesk server using Plesk migrator? Answer Log in to Plesk Start a new migration according to the Migration...

support.plesk.com

 

[Pleskie]

Thanks very much for your reply. However it was not my question. My question is if it will work if I create an empty account on my new server and then synchronize it with my local email client. Can anyone confirm or deny?

 

[learning_curve]

@Pleskie You're welcome, but you perhaps need to read more / investigate further. That article was just a starting point because it's not clear from your posts as to why two e-mail acccounts would need to be separated from the rest of your migration. You can read much, much further about the use of Plesk Migration, (there's many different fully Plesk detailed articles) which you've not said that you are going to use, but, if you are going from one Plesk based server to another, then presumably, you are? If / when you do that additional research, you'll see things like the use of "Re-sync to perform an additional sync of the subscription’s content" (sic) etc. plus many other relevant factors which may help.

 

[Pleskie]

@learning_curve

Thanks for you reply. The domain we are talking about does not contain anything else but only these 2 mail accounts. There is no website attached to the domain. That is why I don't need/want to migrate anything. I just want to setup a new domain (with the same domain name) on the new server. In that new domain I want to add 2 new mail accounts that have the same name and password as the ones on the old server. When that is done I want to change the DNS so the MX record will point to the new server. So when I now open my local email client it will connect to the 2 new mail accounts on the new server which at that point are empty. What I would like to know is if the 2 new mail accounts on the new server will be synchronized with my local email client on my PC.

 

[learning_curve]

@learning_curve

Thanks for you reply. The domain we are talking about does not contain anything else but only these 2 mail accounts. There is no website attached to the domain. That is why I don't need/want to migrate anything. I just want to setup a new domain (with the same domain name) on the new server. In that new domain I want to add 2 new mail accounts that have the same name and password as the ones on the old server. When that is done I want to change the DNS so the MX record will point to the new server. So when I now open my local email client it will connect to the 2 new mail accounts on the new server which at that point are empty. What I would like to know is if the 2 new mail accounts on the new server will be synchronized with my local email client on my PC.

We don't, but many people do have the same minimal, setup for some of their domains.
Worth remembering that a domain in that ^ situation will still have; Entries in the Plesk database, an SSL certificate, a domainkey (maybe customised & not the default Plesk domainkey - if say detailed DKIM has been applied) which are all located on the existing server. Yes, you can re-create all of those from scratch on your replacement server, instead of migrating them and then update all of your DNS rcords to suit afterwards etc, but, all of the mail server content for that specific domain, will still be sat on the existing server, so you've still got to move / migrate that too, if, you do want continued access to all of that old / existing data. Unless... of course, your local email client and NOT the existing server, is, for watever specific reason, setup to store ALL of your mail records?

 

[Pleskie]

@learning_curve

My local email client does indeed contain all my mails and folders. So the question is if the new and empty mail accounts on the new server will be synchronized with my local email client so the new mail accounts on the new server will also contain these folders and emails.

 

[learning_curve]

My local email client does indeed contain all my mails and folders.

Yes, that was a possibility. It's a pretty old-style 'dial-up modem days' method of e-mail data managment, which is/was normally used, especially in dial-up modem / limited acccess days, if, you only normally accessed e-mail from just one client (PC). You must obviously have your own reasons for not using IMAP.

So the question is if the new and empty mail accounts on the new server will be synchronized with my local email client so the new mail accounts on the new server will also contain these folders and emails.

You're effectively asking your one client (PC) to become a mail server if you do (albeit only for a short time whilst you switch servers). That's far from being an ideal method and the main question would surely be; Why? Especially as you already have your own, self-managed remote server. You would need to find somebody... who has taken that exact same approach, to get your guaranteed answer. Meantime, why could you not connect another client / different PC / different location / different IP address etc to your existing server and test your requirement that way before your server migration? Although again: Why?

Assuming that you are using POP3 protocol for those two e-mail accounts because by default, you don't, for whatever specific reason, wish to use IMAP for them, why couldn't you / wouldn't you use a POP3 setup to leave all e-mail data on the server and migrate that data across as part of your overall migration?

 

[Pleskie]

@learning_curve

As I already mentioned in my first post I do use IMAP. My local email client is completely synced and therefore contains all folders and emails.

 

[learning_curve]

As I already mentioned in my first post I do use IMAP. My local email client is completely synced and therefore contains all folders and emails.

Yes, did see that, but had assumed (wrongly it appears now - sorry) that it was a unintentional POP3 typo.
FWIW - We've migrated over 150 IMAP accounts very recently, but none of those were migrated using the method you've suggested in your initial post.
If you are using IMAP for those two e-mail accounts, then the initial post is a strange one.
It's not clear why you would want to choose that particular method of transfer?
Post #7 :

My local email client does indeed contain all my mails and folders.

If you're using IMAP in its minimal setup format on both your local e-mail client and your existing server, but you then deleted your existing server (mail-server) these ^ will no longer be present on your local e-mail client, other than via a pre-planned complete server back-up and restore process. With IMAP, your local e-mail client is normally just that. A client. It's not usually an mail-server per se, hence a Plesk server migration and subsequent re-synch (if needed) is normally the optimum method of satisfying all e-mail clients on all domains that are providing a mail service. i.e. If all of the content of your existing server is migrated correctly, you would normally not need to create any 'empty ' anything, on your new server as replicas of the originals would already exist. Posts #2 #4 and especially #6 above have already provided references to server migration & other items which could help you complete a migration if you choose that option.

 

[Pleskie]

@learning_curve

Pfff, it may be too late but I'm not understanding very much of what you are saying.

I use IMAP. My local email program (client) on my PC contains all folders and mails. The manufacturer of the local email client told me that the IMAP protocol does never delete mails without user interaction. According to him, a message only gets deleted when the user manually deletes it. He said that if I would connect my local email client to an empty mailbox (with same username/password) the folders will start synchronizing. Since the IMAP protocol doesn't delete anything without user action, according to him the empty mailbox on the server would be synchronized with the local email client ... in other words the mailbox on the server would become a copy of the local email client. Can you confirm this, or is this inforamtion incorrect? If it is incorrect i DO need to migrate, but if this works it would be easier for me.

 

[learning_curve]

@Pleskie It's an old thread now, so many technical things have changed / improved since, but see the answer from XOR42 in here (which is somebody else's informative summary; back then) plus other comments, as most of the points are covered for you, in what was a similar situation to the one you want to try out.

 

[Pleskie]

@learning_curve

Thanks. Not getting really wiser though. I think I will create a test mailaccount ... then send and receive some messages in my local email client ... then delete the test account on the server and create a new account and connect it again with the local client and then see what happens. That should probably give more information

By the way ... where is the mail actually stored? Can't I just copy/paste some folders?

 

[learning_curve]

Thanks. Not getting really wiser though. I think I will create a test mailaccount ... then send and receive some messages in my local email client ... then delete the test account on the server and create a new account and connect it again with the local client and then see what happens. That should probably give more information

By the way ... where is the mail actually stored? Can't I just copy/paste some folders?

It's worth re-reading all of the points made in that last link again in detail. e.g. this one:

"....For example, email clients using IMAP do NOT usually download and keep ALL your emails. Instead, an IMAP server is meant to be the holder of your emails. Your IMAP email clients only synchronize a configured number of emails, not generally everything...."

That ^^ could mean that a short test as you've described, may not give you results that are applicable to the much longer data storage of those two accounts...
The mail location in Plesk is covered here: Where are mailboxes located on a Plesk server

 

[Pleskie]

@learning_curve

Thanks for your concerns. I did a check. I disabled internet connection and was able to open all mail messages in my local email client, so apparently it stores all messages. I also found my mail location Thanks for the help, I think I'm good to go now

 

[learning_curve]

....I disabled internet connection and was able to open all mail messages in my local email client, so apparently it stores all messages....

Yep, that ^ does depend on the IMAP client / server setups (post #10 above) but there's nothing stronger than your own test results as proof
Once you've finished changing servers, it might be handy for others, if you posted the final result and then maybe, mark this thread as solved?
Finally, off topic but FWIW we'd say Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is a good answer to your other conundrum

 

[Pleskie]

@learning_curve

If I don't forget I will let know if the synchronization has worked. But like you said ... IMAP client setup may differ so even if it works for me it is no guarantee for others.

>> Finally, off topic but FWIW we'd say Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is a good answer to your other conundrum

Thanks Never heard of the word 'conundrum' so learned something new today By the way who is 'we' in "we'd say"?

Would Debian be a good option as well? I've been reading some other topics (on other websites) on the same issue and besides being angry I see quite a lot of people/companies stating they will stop using Centos/RHEL and switch to Debian. Is Debian a good alternative?

 

[learning_curve]

....By the way who is 'we' in "we'd say"? Would Debian be a good option as well? I've been reading some other topics (on other websites) on the same issue and besides being angry I see quite a lot of people/companies stating they will stop using Centos/RHEL and switch to Debian. Is Debian a good alternative?

'We' as in a group of us, that replaced CentOS 6.* with Ubuntu some time ago and have been happy ever since
Debian is arguably "the provider OS" for all others, but we still chose Ubuntu, mainly, due to more widespread knowledge and fast active support.
Your own experience might differ of course...

 

[Pleskie]

@learning_curve

Ah okay. On CentOS 7 I used yum to install packages. On CentOS 8 I use dnf. Does Ubuntu or Debian also work with dnf? Do you perhaps know that? I am mainly a webdesigner/webdeveloper guy and not really a server guy, although I have been learning few things the last couple of years. So far I have only used CentOS 7 and recently CentOS 8. Will things be (very) different in Ubuntu or Debian? Are there specific things I should be aware of?

 

[learning_curve]

Ah okay. On CentOS 7 I used yum to install packages. On CentOS 8 I use dnf. Does Ubuntu or Debian also work with dnf? Do you perhaps know that?

Ubuntu uses apt not dnf. Here's somebody else's summary of the differences between two: DNF vs APT: Similarities and Differences Analysed!

I am mainly a webdesigner/webdeveloper guy and not really a server guy, although I have been learning few things the last couple of years. So far I have only used CentOS 7 and recently CentOS 8. Will things be (very) different in Ubuntu or Debian? Are there specific things I should be aware of?

We've never used CentOS 7.* or 8.* as the change to Ubuntu was made back in CentOS 6.* days, so can't answer that one accurately for you. If you dedicate some research time, there's 1000's of comparison articles online (similar to that one above) that may give you a clearer picture of +'s and -'s of all those OS's.