Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 12:10:23 -0400 From: Ron Wilhoite <ronw@bals.org> To: Greg Groth <ggroth@gregs-garage.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: IMAP server alternatives Message-ID: <44B3CD6F.2030704@bals.org> In-Reply-To: <44B3C140.5040907@gregs-garage.com> References: <44B3A7AA.1050600@enternet.hu> <005e01c6a4ef$e8696c80$0a0aa8c0@rivendell> <44B3B441.3020408@locolomo.org> <44B3B5AD.1080308@scii.nl> <44B3C140.5040907@gregs-garage.com>
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On 7/11/2006 11:18 AM, Greg Groth wrote: > On 7/11/2006 9:29 AM, albi wrote: >> Erik Norgaard wrote: >> > > I would like to ask a couple more in depth questions pertaining to this > conversation. We recently switched from POP3 & Outlook Express to IMAP > using IMAP-UW & Thunderbird. Personally I have had no issues with > IMAP-UW, but the users in our office have had issues with the mbox > format itself. Specifically they cannot store messages & subfolders > within a folder (referring to the Thunderbird definition of a folder). > In mbox, since a given folder is not a directory, but a file, you cannot > place a subfolder within that file. Outlook Express' POP3 > implementation did not have this behavior. Right or wrong, my users > have requested that I attempt to restore this functionality in IMAP. Am > I correct in assuming that if I switch to a mdir format server, it will > operate in the manner they are requesting? I do this with Thunderbird and Dovecot using maildir for IMAP users. > > My next question is in regards to scalability, not so much in the way of > users, but in the amount of mail they store. Currently we have about 20 > email accounts, and for the most part the users keep their email to a > reasonable amount. However I do have 5 users that insist they save > everything, and do not clean out their InBoxes. Currently they retain > email going back 5 years, and have mail folders in excess of a couple of > gigs apiece. Since one of these people is the owner, I have little > chance of changing this policy. However they are asking that I attempt > to increase the response time of the IMAP server, which can be somewhat > slow for them - especially through SquirrelMail. Would the mdir format > help in this situation as well? I saw a dramatic improvement in speed with both Thunderbird and Squirrelmail after switching from mbox to maildir. > > Last question, how difficult is it to back up the mdir format? > Currently I cron a tar job, nightly, to backup the mboxes to another > server to allow for tape backups (the tape unit on the server in > question doesn't want to play nice with FreeBSD), and have had no > difficulty in accomplishing this. Can I accomplish the same style of > backups when moving to mdir? I rsync both mbox and maildir message stores with no problem. Tar should copy your maildir folders with no problem. You might be slightly surprised when you realize each message is a separate file with maildir. > > I'm in the middle of setting up a server to try out various IMAP servers > to test which would provide the best response for our specific needs > (low number of users - high volume of saved email), and would appreciate > any opinions on the matter as it would probably save considerable time > picking the right software to begin with. > Dovecot was simple to install (from ports), has sensible defaults, lets me seamlessly support POP and IMAP users (about 100), with inboxes (/var/mail/username) still in mbox format, but all other folders in maildir format for IMAP users. Dovecot's developer, Timo Sirainen, is active and extremely helpful on the mailing list. Ron Wilhoite
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