Linux VPS3 - Dovecot and Maildir
Warning: Some email programs or systems (such as iManager and Open WebMail) may
not function correctly with the maildir email box format. Make a backup of any important emails before converting your
email box(es) to the maildir format. Also, Procmail recipes that contain paths may need to be updated to utilize the maildir
email box paths correctly.
By default, on Linux Virtual Private Servers (or VPS) the Dovecot email server fulfills POP and IMAP service
requests and email is stored in the mbox email format (which stores all email in one file for each email folder). Using
the proprietary vinstall command, you can configure your server to use the maildir email box format (which stores each
email in individual files and folders) instead of mbox.
The Dovecot vinstall configures Procmail as the LDA (or local email delivery agent) and also attempts to convert all
existing email boxes and IMAP folders for all users to maildir format. The vinstall places the email box contents in the
HOME/Maildir directory, where HOME is the path to the user’s home
directory. By default, the POP and IMAP services for Linux VPS are initiated by the Extended Internet Services Daemon
(or xinetd), and processes are only created upon request for that service. The vinstall changes this configuration
by removing the POP and IMAP services from the xinetd configuration and starting a Dovecot daemon, or persistent, process.
This Dovecot daemon process then runs all the time and fulfills all POP and IMAP requests.
Note: VPS accounts which have reached or are close to their disk quota limit
will not be able to install Dovecot and convert their email boxes until more disk space is freed to allow for email box
conversion.
Installation and Usage
To convert all email boxes to the maildir format and configure a Dovecot daemon process to handle all POP and IMAP
requests, connect to your VPS through SSH, su to root, and run the following command:
# vinstall dovecot
After converting your email boxes, if you have previously installed SpamAssassin or ClamAV, you should execute the
vinstall for these programs again to update their configurations to function correctly with maildir directories and
paths. Connect to your server through SSH and execute the following from the command prompt:
# vinstall spamassassin
and/or
# vinstall clamav
To convert all email boxes back to mbox format and return the POP and IMAP services to be controlled by xinetd, connect
to your server through SSH and execute the following command from the prompt:
# vuninstall dovecot
More Information
More information about Dovecot and the maildir format can be found here:
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