I did it successfully the way you're thinking about doing it.
If your uid's changed you should use rsync's --usermap= and --groupmap=
I created a bash exec with an entry for each user:
#!/usr/bin/bash
USERMAP=400:psql,301:smbguest,501:bill
GROUPMAP=400:pvsw,401:pvsw-adm,301:smbguest,501:bill
echo smbguest
# begin single looong line
rsync -Aaxlrt --delete -e 'ssh -p 20026' --bwlimit=50m --numeric-ids --usermap=$USERMAP --groupmap=$GROUPMAP --exclude '*~'
--exclude 'dovecot*' --exclude 'maildir.dovecot.purge.conf' rsync://192.168.40.231/home/smbguest/Maildir/ /home/smbguest/Maildir/
# end single line
mv /home/smbguest/Maildir/current.sieve /home/smbguest/Maildir/dovecot.sieve
mv /home/smbguest/Maildir/current.svbin /home/smbguest/Maildir/dovecot.svbin
echo bill
.
.
Note I changed my sieve file name on the new server.
USERMAP consists of comma separated pairs of old_server_uid:new_server_username
likewise with GROUPMAP and gid and group_name
maildir.dovecot.purge.conf is a file I use to purge user folders
Bill
On 5/24/2017 10:31 AM, John Gateley wrote:
Hello,
I've done a fair amount of searching, and couldn't find a definitive answer.
I am moving my dovecot/postfix servers and mail in Maildir formats to a new
host.
When I move the Maildir directories, what should I do with the
dovecot.index/cache/log/etc. files?
I know I can filter them out, and dovecot will recreate them, but is that the
best approach?
I am thinking of the following:
Shut down postfix and dovecot on both the new and old server
rsync the maildirs from the old server to the new server
start up postfix/dovecot on the new server
verify all is okay
switch DNS from old server to new server.
Is this the best approach with minimal impact to mail users?
Thanks very much
John