Hi.
We're evaluating/purchasing an F230, and are slowly getting all of our i's dotted and t's crossed in setting it up.
In our environment, the sendmail.cf files on our Unix boxes hand everything over to the main file/mail server in our group, which is a DEC Alpha running Digital Unix. The workstations mount its "/usr/spool/mail" as "/usr/spool/mail" or "/usr/mail", as you would expect. With this configuration, we've had very few file locking problems, presuming that life is easier if the sendmail daemon that actually manipulates mail files runs on the same box on which the files sit.
Now, we're debating about moving everyone's mail folders to the F230, which means that sendmail on our Alpha will be making regular use of NFS file locking.
Has anyone tried this? How frequently (if ever) do you run into problems?
Thanks & hope this isn't a FAQ...
Don Glascock
(ps, I'm new to the list -- is there an archive for this mailing list? I didn't see one on ftp.mathworks.com, and Majordomo says there are no "toasters"-related files. Thanks, again! :-)
+--- In our lifetime, "Don Glascock" glascock.donald@mayo.edu wrote: | | Now, we're debating about moving everyone's mail folders to the | F230, which means that sendmail on our Alpha will be making regular | use of NFS file locking. | | Has anyone tried this? How frequently (if ever) do you run into | problems? |
It all depends on how many users you have, what the mail volume is for your site, how many machines mount the mail spool, etc.
If you just have 1 machine, it should be able to do locking (it keeps track of it's own locks...). If you have multiple machines, then you may run into problems.
There are a few different ways of getting around locking problems with mail spools, some involve replacing your local delivery agent.
Hope this helps.
Alexei
+--- In our lifetime, "Don Glascock" glascock.donald@mayo.edu wrote: | | Now, we're debating about moving everyone's mail folders to the | F230, which means that sendmail on our Alpha will be making regular | use of NFS file locking. | | Has anyone tried this? How frequently (if ever) do you run into | problems? |
It all depends on how many users you have, what the mail volume is for your site, how many machines mount the mail spool, etc.
If you just have 1 machine, it should be able to do locking (it keeps track of it's own locks...). If you have multiple machines, then you may run into problems.
There are a few different ways of getting around locking problems with mail spools, some involve replacing your local delivery agent.
At 3Com, I'm using an F540 for about 292 users. My mailhub is an Ultra1-200Mhz running 2.5.1 with sendmail 8.8.8 and uses procmail as it's local delivery agent, delivering email to ~/.mailbox. Been working like a champ for about the past year.
To get around any locking issues, I compiled procmail to use ~/.mailbox.lock (as well as all the UNIX mail readers we support). I've been very pleased with the results too.
procmail seemed a better solution for us because:
1. could deliever to ~/.mailbox 2. didn't have to really rely on NFS locking 3. (spam) filtering
- mz
-- matthew zeier -- mrz@3com.com -- 3Com EWD Engineering -- 408/764-8420 ...................................................................... "Y el mundo se mueve, mas rapido y mejor." - Fey
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Alexei Rodriguez -
Don Glascock -
matthew zeier