AXIGEN Mail Server v 2.0 has completely automated the process of domain/account data migration from other MTAs. This means that once you decide to switch from your current messaging solution (be it commercial or Open Source) to AXIGEN, you can easily migrate the domains and accounts administered with your former MTA with no server downtime and no excessive resource usage.

Easy IMAP Migration Procedure from Third Party Applications to AXIGEN Mail Server

This automatic procedure is available through WebAdmin, AXIGEN’s web-based configuration interface. AXIGEN also provides an alternate configuration tool, CLI (Command Line Interface) which allows using custom scripts for automated domain data mass migration. However, WebAdmin is more intuitive and allows you to migrate data gradually, as users access their accounts.

The procedure below guides you through the migration procedure in WebAdmin. First of all to access the migration page, do the following:
  1. Log on to Webadmin
    • Click on the Domains tab.
      This tab lists all domains managed with AXIGEN. For instance, if you wish to migrate data for the domain “example.org”, you need to have previously created a domain with this name in AXIGEN. To see detailed instructions on how to create domains, see the corresponding page in AXIGEN online documentation.
    • Click on the Edit button next to the domain you wish to migrate. The following screen is displayed:
Then, in the screen displayed you can enable and configure automatic data migration for the respective domain.

Use the Enable migration field to enable automatic migration for this domain data. By setting the enable parameter to yes, you enable automatic migration for that domain.

Remote IMAP Address Setting


When the domain has the enabled attribute set to yes and some account tries to login (via any of WebMail, IMAP, POP3), AXIGEN verifies if the account exists in its accounts storage. If it does, it considers the account already migrated and doesn't perform any special migration-related operation.

If the account doesn't exist, it will try to connect to an IMAP host at the address (hostname:port) you specify when setting the remoteImapHost and remoteImapPort parameters (remoteImapHost:remoteImapPort). When connecting, AXIGEN uses the account credentials received. If the credentials allow AXIGEN to login successfully, it will create the account with the same username and password as the ones previously used to login and authenticate the user. It will also migrate the messages in this account via IMAP. This operation is equivalent to the one performed using the CLI MIGRATE command). If the credentials are not correct, the account is not created and the user receives an authentication failure message.

Important! The migrate operation will only work if the remote host has an IMAP server working.

Remote SMTP Address Setting


On the SMTP-side, if AXIGEN receives an e-mail to an account from a migration-enabled domain and the account does not exist, it will relay the e-mail to the address you specify when setting the remoteSmtpHost and remoteSmtpPort parameters. This way, space is saved by storing all the e-mails for the accounts that were not yet migrated, in the old MTA storage. The messages only get transferred to the AXIGEN storage when the user tries to login for the first time.

Important! This mail relay operation to the old MTA storage will only work if the remote host has a SMTP server working.

When you are done configuring these parameters click the Update button and the click Commit. To make changes effective, go to the Commands tab and click the Save config button.
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