Upgrade from an older version

gweit

Hi, i have an older Version of mailcow runing, should be before 2021. When i execute the upgrade.sh everything seems to be executed fine but i get no mailboxes, domains or any other config in the new interface.

Is there any wa to accomplish this? Maybe through multiple upgrades to versions in between?

esackbauer

There were so many critical security vulnerabilites in the meantime, that I suggest you consider your mailcow installation as compromised.
You should scrap the old installation, set up a new one and restore the mailboxes only.

gweit

esackbauer

Uh ok i understand.

Is there any way to migrate all the data/mails? Can i set up a new one and retrieve the data from a Backup? - or can i rsync /var/lib/docker/volumes?

esackbauer

I would sync as few data as possible, so only the mail data folders.

gweit

esackbauer

Ok so basicaly i recreate all the domains and mailboxes by hand and then rsync the mailfolders?

esackbauer

yes

gweit

esackbauer

Thank you very much, i´ll try and let you know 🙂

gweit

I managed to recreate all the domains and mailboxes and rsynced /var/lib/docker/volumes/mailcowdockerized_vmail-vol-1/_data.

Now i can see the quota working in the Domain Interface but not working in the Mailboxes Interface - showing 0%.

Also when i login into a Mailbox via Webmail no mails are in there, is there some kind fo flush i have to make or so?

I also tried to restart the whole stack but results are the same.

esackbauer

You need dovecot to reindex everything.
https://docs.mailcow.email/manual-guides/Dovecot/u_e-dovecot-fts/#delete-mailbox-data
docker compose exec dovecot-mailcow doveadm index -A '*'

gweit

esackbauer

Thank you very muhc, i executed the command but nothing happens.

Should i re-execute it and maybe add a -i to see the output?

docker compose exec -i dovecot-mailcow doveadm index -A ‘*’

esackbauer

Yes, I guess so.
Or you can connect to the shell in the container and run the commands.
Here more reference:
https://doc.dovecot.org/admin_manual/doveadm_mailbox_commands/
You could also try doveadm force-resync

gweit

esackbauer

Output is blank, using the command outside and also inside the Container.

the force-resync command should be something like this right?

docker compose exec -i dovecot-mailcow doveadm force-resync -A ‘*’

gweit

esackbauer

I figured it out.

I set up a new instance and installed the latest version, then i copied only the mails via rsync. I managed manualy to set all the domains and users and then imported the mails via doveadm via custom importer-script.

I made a git where you can see the script and maybe some day this helps someone:

gweit/mailcow-importer

Should also work for migrations from non-mailcow to mailcow, as far as the “old” system was also dovecot.

dewille

I’m currently facing the same issue as the OP. My Mailcow server instance was installed almost 3 years ago, and I haven’t updated it once since then… and surprisingly, it’s running perfectly. I suspect that attempting to update it now has a high chance of failure because there have probably been many other major updates over these 3 years. On the current server, I have over 100 email accounts and two domains, so setting up each mailbox from scratch is not an option. Additionally, I have a lot of aliases, anti-spam filters, etc. Migration was advised against, even just for the data, but I still would like to try if possible at all. I understand that I would need to transfer the database from the old instance to the new one.
How can I even check the version of the current instance? I did it once through the shell, but I don’t remember.

gweit

dewille

You should be able to see your Mailcow-Version in your Dashboard, but i can not say for sure as i have no 2021-installation to check.

When tempted to update anyway please make sure to backup all your data in the first place, in the best case you also go through an emergency-recovery based on that backup before updating.

I updated my repo, it includes a bash-script which creates domains and mailboxes based on the maildir - but it should be updated to create the mailboxes with the corresponding passwords as well, maybe based on a .json-file.

esackbauer

dewille My Mailcow server instance was installed almost 3 years ago, and I haven’t updated it once since then

Are you proud of this?? I really cannot understand why people are doing this. You are prone to get hacked, there were a lot critical updates since then. Maybe you are already hacked and someone is already collecting your mails. You are exposing yourself and your users to identity theft.
Also you might be abused as relay server for spam, ruining the mail experience for everyone else.

This is why I think mail servers should stop themselves if not patched at least every 3 months.