-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 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 at suespammers.org> "Quid quid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur" "Be excellent to each other ..." - Bill & Ted (Wyld Stallyns) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFDlbI3pdyWzQ5b5ckRAm2pAJ47ouedmbnQgecQJ7dRnAj1V9I5xQCgk4DJ ZGtlhErSd5puntLM6rgADQk= =H+vf -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----