Backing up of a group of users mailboxes

[Jorey Bump]

Ciprian Vizitiu wrote:

> If it's only a few users why not have them use the MUA? In Outlook one can
> create local (read: on the hdd) .pst files as exports of an IMAP folder. I
> think in Mozilla Thunderbird one can also "drag/drop" messages from IMAP to
> "Local Folders". Only catch is of course the fact that you'll have to use
> the same type of MUA to read the archives; Modern Outlook (2003 at least)
> can open Outlook 98 .pst files without any problems...

An alternative could be to set up an IMAP server that writes to mbox, 
and use imapsync or something similar to transfer the messages. Then all 
you need to do is copy the mbox files to the DVD. This way, you can 
store the DVDs as you wish, and read them using anything from simple 
command line mail tools to full blown MUAs (and even mount them to be 
readable by an mbox-based IMAP server, in case they ever need to be 
accessed remotely). There may even be a tool that will connect to Cyrus 
and download the messages into a corresponding mbox structure. The 
result is a nonproprietary set of files that is archive-friendly 
(future-proof, MUA independent, and highly compressable).