[Dovecot] mailbox size limit

[Hugo Monteiro]

Bazy wrote:
> Nikolay Shopik wrote:
>   
>> On 17.11.2007 16:54, Bazy wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi guys,
>>>
>>> I was wondering... my Inbox is 1.3GB large, my mailbox size limit is 6GB
>>> (6442450941). Other users have 500+ MB in their Inbox.
>>>
>>> I have about 27GB of mail. I'm running dovecot 1.0.7 now under Fedora 7
>>> with postfix. I have no trouble at all, everything is working perfect.
>>>
>>> I use ext3 as my file system, and I store mail in maildir format.
>>>
>>> Will I have any inode, file system, issues?
>>> Is anyone storing more then 27GB in maildir format on only one ext3
>>> partition?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Here is my dovecot -n output:
>>>
>>> # 1.0.7: /etc/dovecot.conf
>>> log_path: /var/log/dovecot.log
>>> log_timestamp: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S
>>> protocols: imap imaps pop3
>>> ssl_cert_file: /etc/postfix/smtpd.cert
>>> ssl_key_file: /etc/postfix/smtpd.key
>>> login_dir: /var/run/dovecot/login
>>> login_executable(default): /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap-login
>>> login_executable(imap): /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap-login
>>> login_executable(pop3): /usr/libexec/dovecot/pop3-login
>>> login_max_processes_count: 512
>>> mail_location: maildir:/home/vmail/%d/%n/
>>> mail_executable(default): /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap
>>> mail_executable(imap): /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap
>>> mail_executable(pop3): /usr/libexec/dovecot/pop3
>>> mail_plugins(default): quota imap_quota
>>> mail_plugins(imap): quota imap_quota
>>> mail_plugins(pop3): quota
>>> mail_plugin_dir(default): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap
>>> mail_plugin_dir(imap): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap
>>> mail_plugin_dir(pop3): /usr/lib/dovecot/pop3
>>> imap_client_workarounds(default): outlook-idle delay-newmail
>>> imap_client_workarounds(imap): outlook-idle delay-newmail
>>> imap_client_workarounds(pop3): outlook-idle
>>> pop3_client_workarounds(default):
>>> pop3_client_workarounds(imap):
>>> pop3_client_workarounds(pop3): outlook-no-nuls oe-ns-eoh
>>> auth default:
>>>   mechanisms: plain login
>>>   passdb:
>>>     driver: sql
>>>     args: /etc/dovecot-sql.conf
>>>   userdb:
>>>     driver: sql
>>>     args: /etc/dovecot-userdb-sql.conf
>>>   socket:
>>>     type: listen
>>>     client:
>>>       path: /var/spool/postfix/private/auth
>>>       mode: 432
>>>       user: postfix
>>>       group: postfix
>>> plugin:
>>>   quota: maildir:storage=102400
>>>
>>>
>>> [root:pts/0][~]# cat /etc/dovecot-sql.conf
>>> driver = mysql
>>> connect = host=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock user=mail_admin
>>> password=XXXXXXXX dbname=mail
>>> default_pass_scheme = CRYPT
>>> password_query = SELECT password FROM users WHERE
>>> CONCAT(SUBSTRING_INDEX(email,'@',1)) = '%n' AND
>>> CONCAT(SUBSTRING_INDEX(email,'@',-1)) = '%d';
>>>
>>>
>>> [root:pts/0][~]# cat /etc/dovecot-userdb-sql.conf
>>> driver = mysql
>>> connect = host=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock user=mail_admin
>>> password=XXXXXXXX dbname=mail
>>> user_query = SELECT CONCAT(('/home/vmail/'),
>>> SUBSTRING_INDEX(email,'@',-1),'/',SUBSTRING_INDEX(email,'@',1),'/') as
>>> home, 5000 as uid, 5000 as gid, CONCAT('maildir:storage=',
>>> floor(quota/1024)) as quota FROM users WHERE email = '%u';
>>>   
>>>       
>> Hi,
>>
>> What kind issues you thinking about? I'm storing currently about 40Gb of
>> mails. You mean, run out of number inodes on your partition?
>>     
>
> Yes, that's what I meant. Run out of inodes on that partition.
>
>   

An excerpt from wikipedias ext3 definition:

"The maximum number of inodes (and hence the maximum number of files and 
directories) is set when the file system is created. If /V/ is the 
volume size in bytes, then the default number of inodes is given by 
/V//2^13 (or the number of blocks, whichever is less), and the minimum 
by /V//2^23 . The default was deemed sufficient for most applications."

You can read the rest here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext3

In my case, i have a 1.2TB filesystem which is currently holding 312GB 
of mail. According to the values present earlier, i can have up to 
1268272861184/8192 (1.2TB/2^13) files/dirs. The magic number in my case 
is 154818464.

As i said, currently i have 312GB of used space on a single filesystem, 
which holds aprox 16000 user maildirs. The total number of files+folders 
on that filesystem is 7106571, which represents only 4.59% of the 
maximum possible number of files/folders. The current occupancy rate is 
28%. Using this ratio as sample, i'd say that i'm pretty much safe ... 
as i'm sure you'll be.

Regards,

Hugo Monteiro.

-- 
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Hugo Monteiro
Email	 : hugo.monteiro at fct.unl.pt
Telefone : +351 212948300 Ext.15307

Centro de Informática
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da
		   Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Quinta da Torre   2829-516 Caparica   Portugal
Telefone: +351 212948596   Fax: +351 212948548
www.ci.fct.unl.pt	      apoio at fct.unl.pt

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