[Dovecot] "starting" dovecot

My system never issues the "dovecot start" command. I do, however, run /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap on port 9xxx. I talk to the server through port 9xxx and through the preauth tunnel. Is this arrangement OK? Are there some things that will only work if "dovecot" is invoked?

Thanks,

-- Dave Abrahams BoostPro Computing Software Development Training http://www.boostpro.com Clang/LLVM/EDG Compilers C++ Boost