A prudent safety precaution would be to save/backup the original AppleShare IP Mail Database before using the database file produced by the AppleShare IP Mail Tool.
Tool Purpose
The AppleShare IP Mail Tool allows administrators to manage the AppleShare IP Mail Server database. While this database requires no management or intervention by users under normal circumstances, it is possible for the database to become corrupted after a system crash. The AppleShare IP Mail Tool also allows reassignment of mail messages for disabled mailboxes, and can be used to update and compress existing databases.
Tool Requirements
The AppleShare IP Mail Tool requires AppleShare IP 5.0.1 or later. If you are running AppleShare IP Mail 5.0 and wish to use the AppleShare IP Mail Tool, refer to the AppleShare IP web site at http://appleshareip.apple.com for more information on how to obtain the latest updates to AppleShare IP.
Warning: The AppleShare IP Mail Tool will not create or modify an AppleShare IP 5.0 compatible mail database. But you can use the tool's Mail Database Updating feature to "upgrade" a 5.0 Mail Database, and then work with the upgraded version of the database file. This upgraded database file will require AppleShare IP 5.0.1 or later. Information about obtaining 5.0.1 or later can be found on the World Wide Web at: http://appleshareip.apple.com.
Tool Features
• Mail Database Updating
Users of the AppleShare IP 5.0 Mail Server wishing to deploy the AppleShare IP 5.0.1 or 5.0.2 Mail Server must use AppleShare IP Mail Tool to update the database format if they do not wish to force all of their users to download their mail. This format conversion is not required if you are already using AppleShare IP 5.0.1 or later versions.
• Mail Database Compression and Verification
The AppleShare IP Mail Tool offers the ability to compress, verify and/or repair an AppleShare IP Mail Database. Database corruption can occur for a variety of reasons that include (but are not limited to) power failure, hardware failure, and system crashes. In addition to being a database verification tool it is also sometimes useful to run the tool on mail databases since the verification removes unused free space inside the original mail database, with the potential of greatly compressing the size of a mail database which may have grown over time.
• Disabled Mailbox Reassignment
The mail server uses a special “fingerprint” to ensure that a user’s POP mailbox in the mail database matches the correct user record in the current AppleShare IP Users & Groups Data File. The fingerprint is a unique number that is stored in both the user’s record and the user’s POP mailbox in the AppleShare IP Mail database.
The mail server checks for fingerprint mismatches each time it starts up. When it finds a mailbox in the AppleShare IP Mail database whose fingerprint does not match the fingerprint of a user in the currently active Users & Groups Data File the server disables that POP mailbox. No mail is deleted from the disabled mailbox, however, the mailbox in inaccessible to a user trying to login under that account. To retrieve mail from a disabled mailbox, use the AppleShare IP Mail Tool to assign the disabled mailbox to a valid user in the AppleShare IP Users & Groups Data File.
You can prevent POP mailbox mismatch problems by taking these precautions:
– Treat the Users & Groups Data File and the AppleShare IP Mail Database as a set. Always back up and restore them together. If you were to restore the AppleShare IP Users & Groups Data File without also restoring the mail database, the mail server could disable mailboxes that have no matching user in the current Users & Groups Data File. If you must restore the Users & Groups Data File, make sure that all current users have retrieved their mail first (if possible). Then restore the Users & Groups Data File and the mail database from the same backup. Alternatively, you can restore the Users & Groups Data File, start the mail server, note the mailboxes that are disabled, and use the AppleShare IP Mail Tool to assign the disabled mailboxes to valid users.
– If you move the AppleShare IP mail database to another computer, move the AppleShare IP Users & Groups Data File also. If you were to move the AppleShare IP mail database to another computer without moving the Users & Groups Data File, the mail server would disable most if not all mailboxes and create new, empty mailboxes for all users in the Users & Groups Data File for whom mail is enabled. Note that moving the Users & Groups Data File to another computer that is running the Web & File Server will cause any access privileges that have been assigned on that computer to be lost because the access privileges no longer match the Users & Group Data File.
– When you delete users for whom mail is enabled, make sure the AppleShare IP Mail Server is running. If the mail server is not running when you delete users for whom mail is enabled, the next time the mail server starts up, it will report that each deleted users’ mailbox does not have a matching entry and it will disable their mailboxes.
Note: It is always safe to throw away a mail database that is empty (as indicated by a zero in the “Number of Messages” field in the mail server Activity window). When you restart the mail server, it will create a mailbox for each user in the AppleShare IP Users & Groups Data File for which the Enable Mail radio button is selected.
• Mail Account Message Exporting and Message deletion for accounts and outgoing mail.
The AppleShareIP Mail Tool allows an administration to export mail for a given user account to a text file. The format of this text file follows standard unix mailbox conventions and is therefore compatible with a wide variety of MacOS and non-MacOS email packages.
The mail is exported exactly as it is stored in the AppleShareIP Mail database. All information is exported and no information is omitted, filtered or formatted. Many popular eMail package filter or hide the full content of internet standard messages. Therefore some mail messages may not exactly match what users have seen in their mail client software.
In addition to message exporting this feature also allows the administrator to delete selected messages for a given account. This feature can be used to delete outgoing mail as well as mail sitting in a user account. Outgoing mail accounts are listed by their host name in the account list pane in the export window. Deleteing mail from these account will cause mail to not get delivered to it destination. There will be no non-delivery report generated for mail deleted in this fashion. Please use this feature with care in order to avoid unnecessary message loss.
Tool Questions & Answers and Troubleshooting
Question: Can I use the AppleShare IP Mail Tool to backup an existing AppleShare IP Mail Database?
Answer: Yes, there should be no problem using the AppleShare IP Mail Tool to backup an AppleShare IP Mail Database. That is not really the tool's purpose and therefore we recommend that you use your normal backup software to perform regular backups.
Question: Can I AppleScript the AppleShare IP Mail Tool to compress the AppleShare IP Mail Database before making a backup with my normal backup software?
Answer: No. The AppleShare IP Mail Tool does not support AppleScript. We are evaluating adding AppleScript support to a future version.
Question: Can I run the AppleShare IP Mail Tool while the Mail Server is running?
Answer: No. The Mail Server must be shutdown for the AppleShare IP Mail Tool to function.
Question: I've noticed in the AppleShare IP Reassignment screen that some entries in the User's list are in italics, and I can't click on these users. Why is that?
Answer: The AppleShare IP Mail Tool only allows the selection of users that have no mail in their accounts, or are not enabled for Mail. Users who are enabled for mail and have 1 or more messages in their POP Mailboxes can not be the target for reassignment. These users are shown in italics in the list to indicate their non-selectable status.
Question: Can I Reassign disabled Mailboxes and continue to use AppleShare IP Mail 5.0?
Answer: No. The AppleShare IP Mail Tool only supports account reassignment for 5.0.1 & 5.0.2 Mail Databases. If you have to reassign account in a Mail 5.0 Database you will first need to "update" the Mail Database file using the AppleShare IP Mail Tool.
Question: Do I have to reassign all the disabled mailboxes in an AppleShare IP Mail Database?
Answer: No. The AppleShare IP Mail Tool supports the direct deletion of disabled mailboxes. This feature is useful for clearing out the mail of a user who's account record has been deleted from the Users & Groups Data File.
Question: Can I run the AppleShare IP Mail Tool on a machine other than the server it is normally used on?
Answer: Yes, but it is not recommended. While the AppleShare IP Mail Tool is reassigning accounts, or updating/scavenging/repairing an Mail Database it uses and updates user-mail information present in the Users & Groups Data File on the server. It is best if you use the tool on the machine with the same Users & Groups Data File as the database was originally used with.
Question: After running the AppleShare IP Mail Tool I've noticed that the resulting mail database file is much smaller than the original file. Does this mean I have lost mail?
Answer: No. In the normal day to day use of the mail server it can occasionally grow the mail database file to a large size to accommodate large messages and/or a large number of smaller messages. Over time this space is released and the mail server then reuses space inside the file. When running the AppleShare IP Mail Tool a new copy of all the information present in the original file is created. Many times the space requirements of this information are far less than the maximum file size represented by the old database.
Question: After running the tool, some of my users received duplicates of some messages that they had already downloaded and deleted. Is this expected?
Answer: Yes. Depending on when, where, and how bad the damage is to an AppleShare IP Mail Database it is sometimes difficult for the tool to determine if the message was actually deleted by the user. In cases like this the ASIP Mail Tool errors on the side of caution, and will post a copy of a message with an ambiguous deletion state. This can lead to message duplicates for mail that users have already received. We apologize for these messages, but felt that option was better than risking the loss of mail that wasn't actually deleted by the user.
Question: The AppleShareIP Mail Tool makes a copy of my users and groups file. Why is this?
Answer: The AppleShareIP Mail Database tool needs to modify the fingerprints of users inside the Users & Groups datafile while performing: verification, compression, or an upgrade of an existing AppleShare IP Mail Database. After the AppleShare IP Mail Tool updates the fingerprints, the old AppleShare IP Mail database file will no longer matche the updated user fingerprints. Therefore as a safety measure the AppleShare IP Mail Tool makes a copy of the User & Groups data before any modifications are performed. This gives an AppleShare IP Administrator the option to revert to an old AppleShare IP Mail Database file (if necessary) and still use the old Mail Database file, rather than the newly created AppleShare IP Mail database.
Question: I pressed the cancel button during a Mail Database compression operation. Does this mean I have to restore the Users & Groups data file in order to use my pre-existing AppleShare IP Mail database file?
Answer: No. The last step in the verification the AppleShare IP Mail Tool performs is the update of the fingerprints in the current Users & Groups data file. And while the tool is updating the fingerprints the "cancel" button is disabled. This operation is normally so fast that unless your Users & Groups file has thounds users it will be virtually instant (and even then it only takes a few seconds). During a verification the old Mail Database is moved into a backup folder for safe keeping. This folder is also where the Users & Groups file copy is placed. If the Users & Groups file copy is absent from this folder, then the existing mail database file is usable with out the need to restore a Users & Groups file.
Question: What is the worst that can happen if I don't restore the Users & Groups datafile; but after running the AppleShare IP Mail Tool I choose to re-use the old mail database rather than the new mail database?
Answer: Good question. First issue: NO mail will be lost as a result of using an old AppleShare IP Mail database after running the tool. If you choose to re-use an older AppleShare IP Mail database after running the AppleShare IP Mail Tool (instead of using the new database file). When the AppleShare IP Mail server is run for the first time, it will most likely disable all mailboxes found in the old mail database (since the old mailboxes don't match the current fingerprints in the Users & Groups file). This then requires that you quit the Mail Server, run the AppleShare IP Mail tool and reassign the disabled mailboxes. After reassigning the mailboxes, launching the AppleShare IP Mail server will work fine, and all users will have access to all of their mail.
Question: Whew! That previous two answers sound complicated. How do I avoid all this?
Answer: The above situation is only applicable if you've run the AppleShare IP Mail Tool, created a New AppleShare IP Mail Database (as the result of a compress, verify, or upgrade function); and after running the tool you wish to continue using the old AppleShare IP Mail database file. The universal rule is that when using an older copy of an AppleShare IP Mail database you have to also restore the Users & Groups file, otherwise you risk disabling mailboxes when you launch AppleShare IP Mail Server.
Question: I've run the AppleShare IP Mail Tool and selected export mail. When I'm using the tool not everyone's mail account is listed. I know that I've enabled mail for 20 users, but only 5 mail accounts show up in the window. Why is this?
Answer: The AppleShare IP Mail Tool only list mailboxes that currently exist. If a user has never logged on or has an empty mail box the AppleShare IP Mail server will sometimes delete that mailbox in order to conserve disk space. Therefore it is possible to have a user enabled for mail, but not see their entry in the mailbox list when exporting mail to a text file. This is because there is no mail to export for that user. No mail has been lost, the mail server is simply optimizing disk utilization. All mailboxes that contain (or once contained) mail are listed, and therefore this list allows the network administrator access to all messages in the system. However it is possible for a user to have mail enable, and not be shown in this list due to the absence of any mail associated with them. If there is a question as if a user is enable or disabled for mail we recomend you either attempt to log on as that user, or use the Users & Groups browser to inspect the user's current mail status.
