restoring from backup individual messages/folders

[Dave McMurtrie]

On Thu, 2 Jan 2003, Hein Roehrig wrote:

> I would be interested in what kind of services&strategies admins here
> offer to users regarding restoring accidentally deleted (&expunged)
> messages.
>
> In particular, while it is relatively safe to backup a running Cyrus
> and in the case of desaster reconstruct all mailboxes, stopping Cyrus
> for reconstructing a single mailbox seems unacceptable.

I'd prefer it if we only did disaster recovery restores here (if we delete
your data, we'll get if back -- if you delete it, tough rocks) but that's
not the case.

When a user requests a restore, we create (via IMAP protocol) a subfolder
in their INBOX and give it a separate quota root.  This subfolder will
contain their restored INBOX and all restored subfolders.  The mail files
are copied into the filesystem and then the restore folders are
reconstructed (which doesn't require us to stop cyrus).  The user is then
free to browse through their restore subfolders and copy any messages they
need.  After 14 days, their entire restore hierarchy is deleted.

Even though this whole process is automated, it's still a pain.

Thanks,

Dave
--
Dave McMurtrie, Systems Programmer
University of Pittsburgh
Computing Services and Systems Development,
Development Services -- UNIX and VMS Services
717P Cathedral of Learning
(412)-624-6413