IMPORTANT - cPanel 11 Upgrades

[WHSP-Mark M]

Greetings,

For all of our Virutal Private Server (VPS) clients are that are currently using cPanel has their hosting panel, please be advised that there is a new major release of cPanel currently out and if your systems were set to update automatically then are likely running this new version.

The new version of cPanel brings some interesting and long awaited changes to the cPanel environment. I will not go into the extensive details as they are available online at:

http://www.cpanel.net/products/cPanelandWHM/linux/cpanel11/index.html

The main concern for our clients using the new cPanel is those that are currently still running the old mail format called 'mbox'. To give a bit of history, roughly about a year and a half cPanel had introduced a new improved mail format which greatly enhances the security and functionality behind the scenes in the way the server handles the mail. The biggest chance to you the customer was that the NeoMail webmail program was no longer available and was removed from the system.  This mail format was changed on all of our shared servers a number of months ago as part of our routine upgrades.

We did not upgrade our VPS clients as you the client have full root access in which to do this. The bulk of our VPS clients have not made the switch and with cPanel 11 in the latest cPanel updates, the upgrade will need to happen now to avoid mail problems that will develop in the new future. The reason for this is that cPanel has stopped supporting the old mail format and as such cPanel 11 was not designed with this mail format in mind. Things will work for the most part however they WILL break and an upgrade would need to be forced to ensure continued mail functionality.

We understand that a lot of users would not feel comfortable with doing the upgrade to this new mail format themselves. If this is the case we will be offering to do the full backing up and upgrading of all accounts on a particular server (including the installation RoundCube webmail) for a one time fee of $40. If you are interested utilizing our services please launch a support request at http://support.webhsp.net and we will be happy to setup a scheduled time.

If you wish to undertake the upgrade yourself we view the next post after this as it will contain instructions on how to achieve this.

Thank You.
Mark,
WebHSP Support Team.

[WHSP-Mark M]

Once this upgrade is complete, the Neomail webmail program will no longer be available. Neomail is being discontinued due to the suspension of development by the Neomail development team. Since, the software is no longer being maintained and that poses a security risk long term.

*** IMPORTANT. All Neomail users, whom have address books stored within Neomail, are strongly urged to save a copy of any and all Neomail address books that they wish to keep, so they can be imported into the webmail program of your choice at a later time ***

To download the address book do the following:

1. Open an FTP client of your choosing (such as SmartFTP). Make sure the preferences is set to show hidden files (consult the help file of the program or launch a support request and we will be happy to help).
2. Connect to your account via FTP using your cPanel login and password.
3. Open the .neomail-emailaddress folder.
4. Open the the folder that contains your cPanel username
5. Download the file titled 'addressbook' to your computer.
6. Do this for each neomail- folder you have (you may wish to create a folder for each when downloading to avoid overwriting the same file)

Upgrade from mbox to maildir

Firstly we will need to make a backup directory and configure the system so it knows where to store the backups of the email accounts during the conversion.

• Log into your server via SSH with a program such as PUTTY. (Ensure you are using the root login/password)
  
• Type mkdir /root/backup
• Log into your WHM with the 'root' login and password.
• Select Backup > Configure Backup
• Scroll to bottom where you see "Backup Destination"
• In the box to the right type in  /root/backup/
  
  • Click Save
  
  Now the real work begins:
  
  
  • Bring up the PUTTY connection to your server again
  • Type the following into your shell /scripts/convert2maildir
  • Select 1) Backup all mail folders on this server
  
  The time this process takes will vary from 2 to 4 hours depending on the amount of email & mailboxes on the account. Allow the process to run fully.
  
  When the backup has completed do the following:
  
  • Once again type /scripts/convert2maildir in your PUTTY window
  • Select 3) - Start maildir conversion process
  • Allow the process to fully run (may take 4-8 depending on the amount of email boxes/accounts on the server)
    
  During the backups clients will be unable to log into their accounts and new email will be queued and then delivered when the server has finished converting. Due to the time it takes, you may wish to run this over night to reduce customer impact.
  
  If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to open a support ticket.