IMAP servers

Dovecot

If you are using the maildir format to store mailboxes, add the following line into Dovecot’s main config file (/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf):

mail_location = maildir:<path_to_mailboxes>/%h/.maildir

The .maildir part is the previous example must match the value of the MAILDIR_ROOT parameter. See admin application parameters.

If you are using the mbox format, add the following:

mail_location = mbox:<path_to_mailboxes>/%h/:INBOX=<path_to_mailboxes>/%h/Inbox

To make the authentication work, edit dovecot.conf and add the following content inside:

auth default {
  # ... stuff before

  passdb sql {
    # Path for SQL configuration file, see /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf for
    #  example
    args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf
  }

  userdb sql {
    # Path for SQL configuration file
    args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf
  }

  # ... stuff after
}

Make sure to activate only one backend (per type) inside your configuration (just comment the other ones).

For MySQL users, edit your /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf and modify following lines:

driver = mysql
connect = host=<mysqld socket> dbname=<database> user=<user> password=<password>
default_pass_scheme = CRYPT
password_query = SELECT email AS user, password FROM auth_user WHERE email='%u' and is_active=1
user_query = SELECT concat(dom.name, '/', mb.path) AS home, uid, gid FROM admin_mailbox mb INNER JOIN auth_user user ON mb.user_id=user.id INNER JOIN admin_domain dom ON mb.domain_id=dom.id WHERE mb.address='%n' AND dom.name='%d' AND user.is_active=1 AND dom.enabled=1

Enable quota support

Put the following lines inside the dovecot.conf file:

protocol imap {
  mail_plugins = quota imap_quota
}

Before continuing, you need to know which quota backend must be used (function of mailboxes format):

• mbox : backend=dirsize,
• maildir : backend=maildir.

If you use version prior to 1.1, add also the following configuration:

plugin {
  # 10 MB default quota limit
  quota = <backend>:storage=10240
}

For MySQL users, modify the above query inside dovecot-sql.conf as follow to activate per-user quotas:

user_query = SELECT concat(dom.name, '/', mb.path) AS home, uid, gid, concat('<backend>:storage=', mb.quota / 1024) AS quota FROM admin_mailbox mb INNER JOIN admin_domain dom ON mb.domain_id=dom.id WHERE mb.address='%n' AND dom.name='%d'

For version >= 1.1, put the following configuration inside the dovecot.conf file:

plugin {
  # Default 10M storage limit with an extra 5M limit when saving to Trash.
  quota = <backend>:User quota
  quota_rule = *:storage=10M
  quota_rule2 = Trash:storage=5M
}

For MySQL users, modify the above query inside dovecot-sql.conf to activate per-user quotas:

user_query = SELECT concat(dom.name, '/', mb.path) AS home, uid, gid, concat('*:storage=', mb.quota, 'M') AS quota_rule FROM admin_mailbox mb INNER JOIN admin_domain dom ON mb.domain_id=dom.id WHERE mb.address='%n' AND dom.name='%d'

Enable ManageSieve/Sieve support

Note

The following configuration example should work with versions 1.X. For versions >= 2, please refer to Dovecot’s wiki.

Edit the /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf file and make the following modifications:

• Add managesieve to the protocols variable:

  protocols = imap imaps managesieve

• Uncomment the managesieve section:

  protocol managesieve {
    # ...
  }

• Configure the lda protocol as follow:

  protocol lda {
    postmaster_address = postmaster@<your domain>
    mail_plugins = sieve # + your other plugins
    # ...
  }

• In the plugin section, uncomment the following content:

  plugin {
    # stuff before
  
    # Location of the active script. When ManageSieve is used this is actually
    # a symlink pointing to the active script in the sieve storage directory.
    sieve=~/.dovecot.sieve
  
    #
    # The path to the directory where the personal Sieve scripts are stored. For
    # ManageSieve this is where the uploaded scripts are stored.
    sieve_dir=~/sieve
  }

Restart Dovecot.

Note

If you’re using Postfix as MTA, you have to use Dovecot‘s local delivery agent otherwise your emails won’t get filtered. See Recommended: using Dovecot’s LDA to get information on how to activate it.