search an entire Cyrus IMAP server

[data]

Hi- I was wondering if there is a way for an admin to do a search on ALL the users mailboxes in Cyrus. I work for a company that wants to be able to audit all email for compliance purposes.

And if so, could it also be done on a backed up copy of the database?

Thanks.

[miasme]

ways i can think of doing this quickly, offhand:

a) Server Admin > Mail > Settings > General – copy all mail to…(a separate account)
then login to that account and do a search.
creating this account with an alternate mail store might be a good idea.
(alternate mail stores can be defined in SA > Mail > Settings > Advanced > Database)
with an alternate mail store, it would be similar to working on a backup copy.

b) cyradmin (or NKersten’s handy SirAdmin) give a separate account lrs (read) privs. to all mailboxes
with read only searching, it *should not* impact the user’s account.

c) similar to “a” or “b” but set up the separate account’s mail store to be a copy of the main mail store
i’d be wary of trusting a backup as an honest backup source if you use that instead of a copy.

d) command line options such as…
sudo grep -d recurse “search term” /path/to/imap/directory/ | more
can work on a backup or live copy. i’d probably only use it on a backup.

hth
:ps

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