[Dovecot] Newbie question: configuration for virtual users

[Rory Campbell-Lange]

Hi Tim

I'm very grateful for your advice.

On 21/07/04, Tim Southerwood (ts at doc.ic.ac.uk) wrote:
> I've not done this but dovecot should be capable of doing what you want.

Great stuff! I'll look into the configuration you suggest.
...

> I'll offer some out of band advice - if your users are fairly static, I
> would advise storing dovecot's user list and passwords in a flat file
> which can be auto-generated from Postgres regularly. It just makes it
> easier to take the database offline for maintenance without forcing
> everything to a halt. Live DB driven services are good for sites with
> high data turnover like portals or ISPs - giving an instant reposnse to
> things like a new user registering - but sometimes it's more trouble
> than it's worth.

Yes, I'm running a lot of services off Postgres, and been caught out by
an apt-get update once or twice!
...

> You have the choice of holding the plain passwd, a PLAIN-MD5, DIGEST-MD5
> or a crypt version in the database. However - choose wisely based on
> what the mail clients will support - there's a lot of variation.
> Sylpheed will do PLAIN or CRAM-MD5 only. You may find that despite the
> obvious issues, PLAIN is the best to use as everything can use it. Or if
> the user's already authenticate via some other mechanism, use that if
> dovecot supports it.

I'm mainly supporting OSX Mail and XP Outlook users. Are they OK at
supporting DIGEST-MD5 or crypt? Maybe I should use IMAPS and plain?

Sorry for the questions in response to your answers!

Many thanks,
Rory

-- 
Rory Campbell-Lange 
<rory at campbell-lange.net>
<www.campbell-lange.net>