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On Tue, Dec 06, 2005 at 11:18:41PM +0800, Feizhou wrote:
> >>I would suggest otherwise. Your huge /var/spool/mail suggests that you
> >>plan to use the mbox format for storing mails. I suggest that you switch
> >>to maildir and therefore trash /var/spool/mail and allocate that lot to
> >>/home and use maildir to store your mails.
> >
> >As I stated before, one of the best things about maildir is that you
> >can use incremental backup procedures. So I second that idea, no
> >matter if you are keeping the maildirs on /home or /var/spool/mail.
>
> Keeping them under /home would seem the best. Everything is there. Need
> to delete? Bye bye /home/goner. But we have forgotten the 2k user part.
> It appears that this is best implemented using a virtual
> user/domain/whatever system.
I implemented that once using exim + Mysql + Courrier. Yes, it is MUCH
easier to maintain once you have it all up and running. Adding and
removing users (simply PHP webpage) was a nobrainer.
> >Is it really recomended (cost/benefit) to mix two different MTA's ?
> >I never tried that. I just start on the idea that it would simply
> >add too much complexity. Then again, I might be misinformed, and
> >the benefits be enough to make it worth. Care you elaborate a little
> >more on that one, please ?
>
> It is a case of trying to get the best from both MTAs. A qmail system
> requires almost zero maintenance. There have been cases of people who
> install qmail, some without help while others requiring some help, and
> then forgetting how to do it after a couple or a few years of not even
> touching it. The only reason for these ones to install qmail again was
> because of a server replacement. This is for those who do not have to
> deal with a lot of spam.
I find it a liability to just leave an e-mail server like that.
Putting asside the "qmail is 100% secure idea", which I really won't
debate, you have to agree that qmail needs a lot of 3rd party software
to work on an environment like that (vpopmail etc etc). And those
require maintenance, not to mention the database backend.
Performancewise, I consider (from the tests I ran for Conectiva back in
2000) qmail the second fastest non-commercial MTA. The fastests being
exim. Commercial solutions like S/MAIL will beat them all to the ground,
and S/MAIL is the basis of Exim just like QMail is the basis for Postfix.
Let me make it plain once again: I'm not recomending exim for his
e-mail server. Learning to get exim running "just right" is not
easy. Exim 4 is very complex these days, specially if you add ACL to the
mix. I used to edit sendmail.cf using VI (not vim), so I can recognize
complexity when I see it :) The old saying goes that you can only
consider yourself a network administrator if you ever edited sendmail.cf
by hand once. If you did it twice, you are not a network admnistrator, you
are a lunatic, and should be commited to a mental institution :)
Anyway, I think your solution, even tho it does have many merits, will
add unneeded complexity to Alain's setup.
Let me also mention that I do think a multiple server solution is
best, specially if you can, as you mentioned, separate incoming from
outgoing queues.
> qmail is simple, efficient and has a small footprint (...)
I won't argue about efficent and small footprint, specially the
later, but simple it isn't.
The most simple (as in straightforward) MTA I've seen so far is
postfix. And no, I never use it.
> maintenance free and
> comes with the best local delivery system available.
<flamewar invitation>
Procmail ? Sure it does. But so does every other MTA :)
</flamewar>
> postfix on the other hand has plenty of features or essential items
> builtin, is not too hard to configure and also has a very convenient way
> of handling the queue.
We agree on more than we disagree.
Postfix is all that. It is not the best solution, but it is the
one I recomend for non-experienced MTA admins.
> Both come from security experts and those self-same men have got into
> the mta side of things. Why not put them together? The irony of course
> is that both men probably hate each other to bits.
Hating DJB is more common than not :)
> Just telling postfix to send all incoming mails to the qmail queue
> should not be complex. Then you can manage the two on their own.
Despite the merits of qmail or the configuration you are proposing,
I don't think it is the best solution for this particular user
on this particular environment.
- --
Rodrigo Barbosa <rodrigob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
"Quid quid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur"
"Be excellent to each other ..." - Bill & Ted (Wyld Stallyns)
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