Outlook locks mail server when moving personal to IMAP folders 1

[jlockley]

Using outlook to move from Pop to IMAP, set up in squirrelmail on Dovecot on Ubuntu. While it seems to be possible to move mail item by item, more than one message at a time or several in succession lock the server (squirrel/Dovecot/Ubuntu?).
Rebooting the server makes a message or two possible before the next lock. It's getting tedious. Any insights? If not it's going to be more tedious.

I already looked at Squirrelmail documentation which suggests there is no IMAP connection, which obviously there is, as one message (of a couple of thousand) at a time gets through.

Once locked the server drops the connection with the error (verbatum): Cannot move the items. This IMAP command cannot be sent to the server before the connection was terminated.

(Yeah, it's chronologically confusing, but you get the drift.)

 

[smah]

Squirrelmail is only a web interface to the imap server, so it's unrelated unless I'm misunderstand the question.

Do you have 2 'accounts' in Outlook - 1 for the pop server & 1 for the imap server? Are both mail servers (pop & imap) on the same Ubuntu box and what servers are they? (I've never used Ubuntu for mail, so I have no idea what the defualt mail servers are).

 

[jlockley]

Ah, smah. Just knowing you are there makes me feel better.

No, there is one IMAP account to which messages from an existing POP3 account were imported to move them from an existing mail account. Since we want them available to a group (business) we have them on squirrelmail on Dovecot/ubuntu on a dedicated server partition.

This is not just an Outlook issue, I suspect. It locks from the server (web mail) side and the (Unix) system on the server needs a soft reboot for messages to be accessed either by web mail or a desktop based client. Outlook must also be closed and restarted (so it is not letting go.)

Furthermore: It is possible to transfer a single mid sized message to the IMAP folder before it times out. A second message will cause the blockage. It is possible to send a small message, then another, or two smaller messages at once (but apparently n ot three).

Transferring a file with an attachment or a folder over 50mb gets dicey, and the server either times out or disconnects. I am trying to figure out how to get to the log now. So far Linux has not been my thing. Looks like that's got to change.



Rarely does the transfer graphic show (the flying folder). When it does, it is already too late and the folder don't fly. Neither does much else at this time.

 

[jlockley]

oops..make that kb. I have been able to upload about 20 messages up to 50KB in succession. Of course with a couple of thousand to go.......

 

[smah]

Well, I'm still not clear on where these messages are moving from and to and by what method, but I'd suspect a configuration problem with dovecot. Since there seems to be no dovecot forum here, the linux forum would probably be suitable. Are you moving them from some other imap server to the dovecot imap server by using outlook? Or ar you moving from one mailbox to another on the same dovecot imap server by using outlook? I'm trying to clearly distinguish between the client applications (outlook & squirrelmail) and the server (dovecot).

A couple of thing things to start with - unless configured otherwise, dovecot uses the standard linux syslog facility. So, you should find your logs in /var/log/mail* Next, if dovecot is hung, you shouldnt' need to restart the machine, just restart the dovecot server with the command /etc/init.d/dovecot restart. Hopefully the logs will help to figure out what's going on.

 

[jlockley]

That's great. I think you are right, but part of the issue seems to be that Outlook is not letting go.

I downloaded all messages from the Godaddy POP3 acct to Outlook (actually to Thunderbird, then migrated them to outlook, as I thought we would be using an Exchange server. Obviously not), so they are in the personal folders. From there I have moved the first batch to the IMAP server via drag and drop.

We are on slicehost which I like despite a steep learning curve. Thanks for the pointers.

Happy Halloween.

 

[smah]

You might also want to experiment with a shorter timeout period for Outlook. This setting is found in the advanced tab of your outlook account settings.

 

[jlockley]

Great idea. thanks!