Jerry put forth on 7/2/2010 11:59 AM:
I don't speak for Noel; however, that is precisely what I was referring to. There are numerous tools available to monitor system functions, mail systems, etc. The concept of having to review potentially thousands of pages of data every day is to maintain a mail system is unfathomable.
I never stated such Jerry. You both took offense to my "real admin" quip and then starting trying to tear down the details with your defensive fire. Why you both took offense to what I said is beyond me. My statement was directed at no one. Not you, not Noel. Now, here above, you are taking what I stated as far out of context into left field into absurdity as you can. I made a generic statement about keeping an eye on one's logs, and you took literally have of the statement, out of context, and painted why whole argument with it. I never proposed what you state above. Go back my original text. It was intended to be _generic_ so people wouldn't argue over whose logging/alerting/notification tools are better.
If the senior mail system maintainer is discovering huge numbers of messages stuck in queue on a virtually daily basis it would indicate that something is not configured correctly. Yes, things do go wrong. However, if they are going wrong as a routine event then something else is the root cause. Usually, discovering the source of that problem is no more difficult than looking into a mirror.
Again, you pull out an extreme scenario in order to add more ridicule. I never mentioned such a scenario. Did you even read my follow on posts? It seems you did not, as I laid out a specific scenario at a specific type of organization.
People tend to exaggerate the difficulty of their job to justify its or their existence.
Would you care to elaborate as to why you assume I fall into this category?
There is really only one truly difficult job and that is a highway flag man. I know it to be true because after observing thousands of them in my time, no one can do it correctly.
Sigh... losing maturity by the paragraph.
Now, before Stan gets his knickers in a knot, I am not implying that the job of maintaining a system is not essential. Obviously it is. However, it is not rocket science or brain surgery. Yes, it takes training and dedication. The problem is that way too many individuals develop rotator cuff problems from patting them selves on the back for doing a routine job. Or to put it in the vernacular, "Get over yourself."
Both you and Noel stated this so I can only assume you've actually dealt with such people, and are sickened to the point of vomiting by their mere existence. I am not one of those people, and I've never met one. I'm sure they exist somewhere, but not in large enough numbers to built your argument around them. Or, you just make the same argument as an insult, which seems to be the case here.
In any case, I am out of here. This thread has nothing to do with Dovecot, Thunderbird or virtual mailboxes (thanks to whoever hijacked the tread and changed the subject.)
At least we can agree on a couple of things, this being one of them. And before I get blamed for the thread subject change, I didn't do it.
And btw, the twisted panties are in your pants and Noel's. I didn't start this foaming at the mouth exchange. It was the two of you. I merely defended my position, which is a correct position, and then you two kept firing shots.
-- Stan