IMAP integration

Overview

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is a standard email protocol used by mail clients to retrieve messages from a mail server over a TCP/IP connection. It is widely adopted for managing and accessing email stored on remote servers.

This integration allows:

• Seamless backup of emails hosted on IMAP servers into a Kloset repository: Capture and store entire mailbox contents (including folders, metadata, and attachments) for long-term archival and audit purposes.

• Direct restoration of mailbox snapshots to IMAP servers: Restore previously backed-up snapshots directly to any compatible IMAP destination, maintaining folder structure and message integrity.

• Compatibility with legacy and modern email systems using IMAP: Ensures support for a wide range of mail providers and servers, including self-hosted and enterprise environments.

Installation

To install the IMAP integration, you can use the following command:

$ plakar pkg add imap

You can check if the installation was successful by running:

$ plakar pkg

Configuration

The configuration parameters are as follow:

• location: The URL of the IMAP server in the form imap://:.
• username: Username to login.
• password: Password for login.
• tls: TlS mode to use. Possible values are tls (the default), starttls and no-tls.
• tls_no_verify: If set to yes, the client will not verify the server certificate in tls mode.

Examples

# configure an IMAP source connector
$ plakar source add myIMAPsrc imap://imap.mydomain.com:143 \
    username=myuser     \
    password=mypassword \
    tls=starttls

# backup the mailbox
$ plakar backup @myIMAPsrc

# configure an IMAP destination connector
$ plakar destination add myIMAPdst imap://imap.alsomydomain.com:143 username=alsomyuser password=alsomypassword tls=starttls

# restore the snapshot to the destination
$ plakar restore -to @myIMAPdst <snapid>