Re: Exim + POP3 + quota problems
At 09:59 PM 03/19/2002 +0100, Emile van Bergen wrote: >Hi, > >On Tue, 19 Mar 2002, Loren Jordan wrote: > > > > > I would recommend going with something like qmail (I like it more than > > > > anything else I have used) or any other pop server that supports > > > > Maildir. > > > > > >Actually I have to deal with qmail on another machine, and I prefer > > >exim... and it supports Maildir delivery as well, so I think I'll just > > >try to switch to it. > > > > I hope exim works for you, everybody should use the best tool that they > > prefer to use. One of these days, I will try to make an exim mail server > > but I have too many qmail servers running without requiring attention, it's > > more trouble to switch now. > >Just out of curiosity, why would you want to switch away from qmail at >all in such circumstances? Well, actually I have no intention to switch... (yet?) I do want to become more educated in the ways of exim because its the stock default MTA for Debian and I might think that any new mail systems I build could/should use it. I might also be called upon to work on an exim based machine, knowledge can be a powerful paycheck enhancer. At this point in time, I don't know enough about exim to say that I do or don't want to switch everything to it. I don't have a problem with DJB's license requirements, and I use "unofficial" Debian packages to install qmail,djbdns,daemontools and these packages work just fine (keep djb's software running as it should) but installs some things outside of Debian's file system location requirements. I like the security reputation of this software and I understand qmail daemontools, and djbdns (after a lot of head + wall = loud banging noises) but now they seem simple to work with and never break. I know this can be said about other packages but hey, I picked my poison and it hasn't killed me yet... Just think, some people use sendmail on purpose, that just totally confuses me but oh well. Loren >Cheers, > >Emile. > >-- >E-Advies / Emile van Bergen | [EMAIL PROTECTED] >tel. +31 (0)70 3906153| http://www.e-advies.info > > >-- >To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Exim + POP3 + quota problems
At 11:21 PM 03/18/2002 +0100, Marcin Owsiany wrote: >On Mon, Mar 18, 2002 at 12:51:55PM -0500, Loren Jordan wrote: > > If you are able to re compile Qpopper, you can change the location of the > > .lock file as a compile option, just put it some where there is no > > quota checking. You will also need to adjust the configuration of your > MDA > > to watch for lock files in that new location. > >MDA or MTA, but also MUA... > > > I ran into this same problem > > a couple of years ago (when I worked at Qualcomm :). I was also > constantly > > having to repair the users mbox files because of corruptions in the > headers > > that would cause Qpopper to die. > >You mean when it didn't use right lockfiles? No, Qpopper or something else would cause minor glitches in the "^From: " header or the line before it would be missing (2 messages joined at the hip). If Qpopper would see an "un-escaped" From: header it would freak out and die. I was the only person reading mail locally on these servers... I used vi to fix these broken mbox files. I would touch the lock file manualy, vi the mbox file in question and then delete the lock file. > > There are a lot of compile time options that you can adjust and if you > just > > have to keep using it, do re-compile with the "server mode" enabled. I > > forget the exact name of that option but it keeps the users spool file > > copies to only 1 per session. This change alone brought the load on our > > mail servers down to less than 1.0. > >Right, but the manpage says I shouldn't use that mode if users also read >mail using MUAs. > > > I would recommend going with something like qmail (I like it more than > > anything else I have used) or any other pop server that supports > > Maildir. > >Actually I have to deal with qmail on another machine, and I prefer >exim... and it supports Maildir delivery as well, so I think I'll just >try to switch to it. I hope exim works for you, everybody should use the best tool that they prefer to use. One of these days, I will try to make an exim mail server but I have too many qmail servers running without requiring attention, it's more trouble to switch now. Loren >Marcin >-- >Marcin Owsiany <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://marcin.owsiany.pl/ >GnuPG: 1024D/60F41216 FE67 DA2D 0ACA FC5E 3F75 D6F6 3A0D 8AA0 60F4 1216 > > >-- >To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Exim + POP3 + quota problems
On Mon, Mar 18, 2002 at 12:51:55PM -0500, Loren Jordan wrote: > If you are able to re compile Qpopper, you can change the location of the > .lock file as a compile option, just put it some where there is no > quota checking. You will also need to adjust the configuration of your MDA > to watch for lock files in that new location. MDA or MTA, but also MUA... > I ran into this same problem > a couple of years ago (when I worked at Qualcomm :). I was also constantly > having to repair the users mbox files because of corruptions in the headers > that would cause Qpopper to die. You mean when it didn't use right lockfiles? > There are a lot of compile time options that you can adjust and if you just > have to keep using it, do re-compile with the "server mode" enabled. I > forget the exact name of that option but it keeps the users spool file > copies to only 1 per session. This change alone brought the load on our > mail servers down to less than 1.0. Right, but the manpage says I shouldn't use that mode if users also read mail using MUAs. > I would recommend going with something like qmail (I like it more than > anything else I have used) or any other pop server that supports > Maildir. Actually I have to deal with qmail on another machine, and I prefer exim... and it supports Maildir delivery as well, so I think I'll just try to switch to it. Marcin -- Marcin Owsiany <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://marcin.owsiany.pl/ GnuPG: 1024D/60F41216 FE67 DA2D 0ACA FC5E 3F75 D6F6 3A0D 8AA0 60F4 1216 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Exim + POP3 + quota problems
Hello, If you are able to re compile Qpopper, you can change the location of the .lock file as a compile option, just put it some where there is no quota checking. You will also need to adjust the configuration of your MDA to watch for lock files in that new location. I ran into this same problem a couple of years ago (when I worked at Qualcomm :). I was also constantly having to repair the users mbox files because of corruptions in the headers that would cause Qpopper to die. There are a lot of compile time options that you can adjust and if you just have to keep using it, do re-compile with the "server mode" enabled. I forget the exact name of that option but it keeps the users spool file copies to only 1 per session. This change alone brought the load on our mail servers down to less than 1.0. I would recommend going with something like qmail (I like it more than anything else I have used) or any other pop server that supports Maildir. The only mail servers I didn't have to work on (fixing) have been those using Maildir. Hope this helps, Loren At 10:11 PM 03/17/2002 -0600, Rich Puhek wrote: >Marcin Owsiany wrote: > > > > Hi! > > > > Here's my setup: > > > > - a potato box (sounds cool, doesn't it? :-) > > - exim delivers mail to /var/mail/ > > - qpopper is my POP3 server > > - there is a user quota for /var partition > > - /var/spool/pop is a symlink to /usr/local/pop > > - there is no user quota for /usr/local partition > > - all users use POP3 to fetch their mail > > - also, a few users do read mail via local MUAs, > >so disabling locking in qpopper is not possible > > > > The problem is that from time to time the following thing > > happens: > > - the size of a user's mailbox in blocks becomes equal to the user's > >quota on /var > > - because the user may not use any more blocks on that partition, > >qpopper is unable to create a lockfile (/var/mail/.lock) > >and exits with > >-ERR maillock: cannot lock '/var/mail/foo': 1 > > - because of that the user is unable to fetch her mail > > > > How do you guys cope with that problem? The only solution I could come > > up with is switching to Maildir delivery, but might be painful... > > Maybe there's some solution I've overlooked? > > > >Argh... yes, use Maildir, have procmail deliver locally, drop qpopper >for courierpop, qmail's pop server, or any of the other Mailbox-aware >servers. You'll have a lot less trouble in the long run IMHO. The >changeover isn't really that painful either. > >Been a while since I dealt with qpopper, but wasn't the lock actually >/var/spool/pop/.pop (the temporary copy of the user's mailbox)? > >If that's correct, mount /var/spool on a different partition from >/var/mail, and only enable quotas on /var/mail. If you've got any load >on the server, you'll want /var/spool, /var/log, and /var/mail on >seperate drives for performance anyhow. > > > >-- > >_ > >Rich Puhek >ETN Systems Inc. >_ > > >-- >To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Loren Jordan Network Security Admin National White Collar Crime Center Internet Fraud Complaint Center Phone (304)363-4312 Ext 2011 http://www.nw3c.org http://www.ifccfbi.gov mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Exim + POP3 + quota problems
On Sun, Mar 17, 2002 at 10:11:27PM -0600, Rich Puhek wrote: > Marcin Owsiany wrote: > > - exim delivers mail to /var/mail/ > > - qpopper is my POP3 server > > - /var/spool/pop is a symlink to /usr/local/pop > > - there is no user quota for /usr/local partition > Been a while since I dealt with qpopper, but wasn't the lock actually > /var/spool/pop/.pop (the temporary copy of the user's mailbox)? /var/spool/pop/.pop is one thing (it's called temporary maildrop by qpopper) - it's where qpopper moves mail for the time of POP3 session. /var/mail/.lock is another thing. I think it's usually just a few bytes large (probably contains the pid of the locking process), and it's the actual lock file (needed to prevent mbox corruption). Marcin -- Marcin Owsiany <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://marcin.owsiany.pl/ GnuPG: 1024D/60F41216 FE67 DA2D 0ACA FC5E 3F75 D6F6 3A0D 8AA0 60F4 1216 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Exim + POP3 + quota problems
Marcin Owsiany wrote: > > Hi! > > Here's my setup: > > - a potato box (sounds cool, doesn't it? :-) > - exim delivers mail to /var/mail/ > - qpopper is my POP3 server > - there is a user quota for /var partition > - /var/spool/pop is a symlink to /usr/local/pop > - there is no user quota for /usr/local partition > - all users use POP3 to fetch their mail > - also, a few users do read mail via local MUAs, >so disabling locking in qpopper is not possible > > The problem is that from time to time the following thing > happens: > - the size of a user's mailbox in blocks becomes equal to the user's >quota on /var > - because the user may not use any more blocks on that partition, >qpopper is unable to create a lockfile (/var/mail/.lock) >and exits with >-ERR maillock: cannot lock '/var/mail/foo': 1 > - because of that the user is unable to fetch her mail > > How do you guys cope with that problem? The only solution I could come > up with is switching to Maildir delivery, but might be painful... > Maybe there's some solution I've overlooked? > Argh... yes, use Maildir, have procmail deliver locally, drop qpopper for courierpop, qmail's pop server, or any of the other Mailbox-aware servers. You'll have a lot less trouble in the long run IMHO. The changeover isn't really that painful either. Been a while since I dealt with qpopper, but wasn't the lock actually /var/spool/pop/.pop (the temporary copy of the user's mailbox)? If that's correct, mount /var/spool on a different partition from /var/mail, and only enable quotas on /var/mail. If you've got any load on the server, you'll want /var/spool, /var/log, and /var/mail on seperate drives for performance anyhow. -- _ Rich Puhek ETN Systems Inc. _ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Exim + POP3 + quota problems
Hi! Here's my setup: - a potato box (sounds cool, doesn't it? :-) - exim delivers mail to /var/mail/ - qpopper is my POP3 server - there is a user quota for /var partition - /var/spool/pop is a symlink to /usr/local/pop - there is no user quota for /usr/local partition - all users use POP3 to fetch their mail - also, a few users do read mail via local MUAs, so disabling locking in qpopper is not possible The problem is that from time to time the following thing happens: - the size of a user's mailbox in blocks becomes equal to the user's quota on /var - because the user may not use any more blocks on that partition, qpopper is unable to create a lockfile (/var/mail/.lock) and exits with -ERR maillock: cannot lock '/var/mail/foo': 1 - because of that the user is unable to fetch her mail How do you guys cope with that problem? The only solution I could come up with is switching to Maildir delivery, but might be painful... Maybe there's some solution I've overlooked? Marcin -- Marcin Owsiany <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://marcin.owsiany.pl/ GnuPG: 1024D/60F41216 FE67 DA2D 0ACA FC5E 3F75 D6F6 3A0D 8AA0 60F4 1216 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
