More 3.4 calendar woes

[Andy Kopciuch]

Hi Homer :

On Wednesday August 19 2015 22:56:42 Homer Dokes wrote:
> Hi Andy,
> 
> Thanks for the information.
> 
> I can tell you that, at least in this case, this was not a case of
> deletion or expunging.  The symptom of missing contacts and calendar
> events occurred simultaneously.  The user in this case, does not have
> the ability to delete the files from the respective folders in question
> here (contacts and calendar events), and in fact, they were still
> present in the folders, and not marked for deletion via the flag.  He
> obviously does have the ability to do this to actual email (message)
> files via any client he has but they were not affected in this case.
> 

Contacts and Calendar events _are_ in fact email messages.   They are stored 
in a specific IMAP folder with a specific xml attachment ... but they are still 
just messages in a folder underneath a user's INBOX.  This documentation has a 
full explanation of the resource folders :

https://kolab.org/chapter-2.-folder-requirements

Just because the message was in the folder on disk, does not mean it was not 
deleted and/or expunged.  When you delete a contact or calendar event ... it 
is just like deleting an email.   So imagine if somehow he accidentally 
removed, or another device inadvertently wipes out all contacts or the entire 
calendar?

Without checking what is in the expunged messages you'll never know now.   If 
this happens again you'll be able to check the expunged listing, and check the 
mail logs to see if you can find when/where/what removed them (it will be 
logged).

> You do bring up an interesting reference however.  This user, do many on
> this system, does use Outlook as their client on the pc (it never lost
> anything) and the iPhone.  Were you able to determine if the user of the
> iPhone had initiated the expunging of messages or if it occurred without
> initiation by the user?
> 

I'm not sure what the cause of the iPhone issues were.  I determined from the 
logs that the issue was not server related, as I could clearly see the imaps 
connection by the iphone and then the expunging of all the messages (older 
than 7 days to be precise.)  It was done by an external mail client (the 
phone).  Whether unintentional or not I do not know.  Another tech finished 
dealing with the ticket after I discussed it with him.

> I was not aware that messages and folders are expunged in 69 days.  This
> is good information to know.  Rest assured, we maintain daily backups of
> the entire email system which was most advantageous just a few weeks ago
> as their file server was hit by a ransomware attack which encrypted all
> files.  Fortunately we did not have to pay a ransom because we had daily
> backups.
> 

Messages are "expired" after 69 days of being expunged.   There is an 
explanation of this number somewhere in the documentation.   It has to do with 
backup cycle and possible holidays, plus one week, etc. etc.   It guarantees 
at least a full month is retained at any one point in time I believe.   You 
can configure it for whatever length you desire  in the /etc/cyrus.conf.   The 
default is 69 days.

> For clarification only, this issue did not affect email messages... only
> the users contacts and calendar events.
> 

See my above comments on this.


cheers,


Andy