Mac OS X Server 10.4: Manually restoring mail databases when upgrading from 10.3

  • Last Modified: September 09, 2008
  • Article: TS2261
  • Old Article: 301656

Symptoms

If you install Mac OS X Server 10.4 on a different volume from your Mac OS X Server 10.3.x mail services data, you must manually upgrade the 10.3.x mail services database. Otherwise, mail services will report errors and will not send or receive mail messages.

Products Affected

Mac OS X Server 10.4, Mac OS X Server 10.3

Resolution

To resolve the issue, follow these steps:

  1. Stop mail services.
  2. Open the Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/).
  3. Type the following command to copy the file "ctl_mboxlist" from your 10.3 partition to the 10.4 partition:

    sudo cp -p /Volumes/<your 10.3.x partition>/usr/bin/cyrus/bin/ctl_mboxlist /usr/bin/cyrus/bin/ctl_mboxlist.old

    Note: This command and others in this article may appear wrapped in your browser, but they are entered without any line breaks. For simplicity you can copy/paste from this article into Terminal.
     
  4. Now copy your associated mail databases from the 10.3 partition to the 10.4 partition (your locations may vary from ours if you customized your mail server). In our two examples, we're copying over IMAP and spool data:

    sudo cp -rp /Volumes/<your 10.3.x partition>/var/imap /var/imap

    sudo cp -rp /Volumes/<your 10.3.x partition>/var/spool/imap /var/spool/imap

     
  5. Type the following command to run the upgrade script:

    sudo /System/Library/ServerSetup/SetupExtras/upgradedb

    Note: As indicated above, you may choose which data you wish to upgrade. Additionally, if you had customized your previous mail server, your customized mail databases may reside in a different location.
Not helpful Somewhat helpful Helpful Very helpful Solved my problem