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How to Enable and Disable the Dovecot Mail Log Plugin

Valid for versions 104 through the latest version

Version:

104

Last modified: February 19, 2024

Overview

This document explains how to enable and disable the Dovecot mail log plugin. The additional entries to the /var/log/maillog log file can help you to diagnose issues with mail delivery.

The plugin will add the following entries to the log file:

  • Setting and removing the \Deleted flag
  • Expunging (includes autoexpunge)
  • Copying mails to another mailbox
  • Mailbox creations
  • Mailbox deletions
  • Mailbox renames
  • Any flag changes
  • Saves
Important:
  • The additional log entries will increase the size of the log files and cause the system to archive them more frequently.
  • The system now the /var/cpanel/templates/dovecot/ directory.

Enable the Dovecot mail log plugin

To enable the Dovecot mail log plugin, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to your server via SSH as the root user.

  2. Run the following command to determine if a local template file already exists:

    stat /var/cpanel/templates/dovecot/main.default
    • If a template file does not exist, run the following command: 
      cp -v /var/cpanel/templates/dovecot/main.{default,local}

  3. Create the /root/dovecot.patch file and add the following code to it: 

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    --- main.default	2022-05-04 18:43:43.231310505 +0000
+++ main.local	2022-08-05 05:00:33.996931597 +0000
@@ -669,7 +669,7 @@
 [%- ELSE %]
   #mail_plugins = acl quota imap_quota
 [%- END %]
-  mail_plugins = $mail_plugins zlib imap_zlib quota_clone virtual [% IF xaps_topic %]imap_xaps[% END %] [% IF fts_support %]fts fts_solr[% END %]
+  mail_plugins = $mail_plugins mail_log notify zlib imap_zlib quota_clone virtual [% IF xaps_topic %]imap_xaps[% END %] [% IF fts_support %]fts fts_solr[% END %]
   #mail_plugin_dir = /usr/lib/dovecot/imap


@@ -1251,10 +1251,10 @@
 # mail_log plugin provides more event logging for mail processes.
 plugin {
   # Events to log. Also available: flag_change append
-  #mail_log_events = delete undelete expunge copy mailbox_delete mailbox_rename
+  mail_log_events = delete undelete expunge copy mailbox_delete mailbox_rename
   # Available fields: uid, box, msgid, from, subject, size, vsize, flags
   # size and vsize are available only for expunge and copy events.
-  #mail_log_fields = uid box msgid size
+  mail_log_fields = uid box msgid size
 }

  4. Run the following commands: 

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    patch -p1 /var/cpanel/templates/dovecot/main.local < /root/dovecot.patch
/scripts/builddovecotconf && /scripts/restartsrv_dovecot

To view the log file, run the following command:

tail -fn0 /var/log/maillog

Disable the Dovecot mail log plugin

To disable the Dovecot mail log plugin, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to your server via SSH as the root user.
  2. Run the following commands: 
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    mv -vi /var/cpanel/templates/dovecot/main.local{,.bak}
/scripts/builddovecotconf && /scripts/restartsrv_dovecot

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