[TriLUG] Imap software preferences

Ben Pitzer uncleben at mindspring.com
Mon Aug 5 08:17:59 EDT 2002


> > If memory serves me right, the Cyrus server may be faster, but it puts
> > all the mail in a database that's understood by only Cyrus.  Which means
> > that even on the IMAP server we have to use IMAP to get mail.
> 
> Yes.  And it's loads faster.  And more scalable.  The administration,
> from what I gather from our IS guys, is a breeze as well.  The downsides
> to Cyrus according to everyone I've ever talked about mail stuff is: can
> only access the mail via imap (not necessarily a horrible thing, though)
> and the setup is a little bit more complicated.

The setup is pretty complicated, and unless you are familiar with SASL
configuration, you might get kind of stuck. I know that I'm stuck with
it right now.
  
<SNIP>

> > Mailbox format, as supported by the vast majority of mail clients and UW
> > IMAP, is a single file per user.  Large mailboxes can take time to scan.
> > I think UW mmap()s the mailbox, which means they don't get swapped to
> > the swap partition.  In case anyone cares, UW IMAP also comes with a
> > pop server.
> 
> UW is a security nitemare and horrible in the performance area.  Having
> two or three people using big mailboxes via UW off of a server will
> definitely have a noticeable impact.  Also, if you go this route, you do
> *not* want to let people access their mail spools directly via NFS. 
> There's no real locking involved so mail can and will get lost.  

Cyrus does have a POP3 server: 
http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/cyrus-overview.html#pop3

Not sure how limited this is in comparison to Courier or UW's
implementation.
 
> > Any of them can be SSL'd though sslwrap.
> 
> Actually, all of them have built-in SSL support these days, so that's
> not really a concern.  

Cyrus does IMSP very well, actually.  I've used it with a former
employer.  I don't know if it uses it any better than Courier or UW, but
we had very little trouble getting the encrypted connections working.

The main reason for my company using Cyrus in the past was its support
for shared IMAP folders, as in folders that can be shared across
different accounts.  We used it for tech support inbox, and that is a
feature that I would use again in the same setting.  I'm actually
thinking of setting it up for an RR machine that I may be building in
the somewhat near future (sorry folks, it'll be on Solaris, but it's a
huge step just get them to let me build it to begin with).  In any
event, I've liked Cyrus in the past, and I'll probably use it again, but
I have no deep seated objections to Courier.  UW I'm a little more wary
of due to the security concerns that others have brought up recently. 
Last thing we want to do is make our members' mail available to the
general public.

Regards,
Ben Pitzer





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