[Dovecot] Feeature requests (server failure handeling)

[Andrew Hutchings]

On Monday 25 April 2005 09:44, Thomas Wouters wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 25, 2005 at 09:37:47AM +0300, Tomi Hakala wrote:
> > Andrew Hutchings wrote:
> > >2. Have a dead server response setup.  Freeserve/Wanadoo do this by
> > >setting a flag in their software which accepts all POP connections
> > > regards of user/pass and says there is no mail (users don't panic and
> > > flood the phones for a while then).  Not sure how you would do this
> > > with IMAP though.
> >
> > I'v been thinking the same thing. One issue that has crossed my mind is
> > that how POP3 clients work in case like this when user leaves his/hers
> > mail on the server.
>
> Depends on the client. Quite frequently, the pop-client will get confused
> the next time it connects and gets the real mailbox, and will download
> everything that was still on the server.
>
> Same thing may happen in the case of IMAP and 'disappearing' namespaces and
> subscriptions. I would personally not risk it, and instead have dovecot
> give a customized error message "ERR Sorry, due to an unforseen problem our
> mailservers are currently inaccessible. For more information, please see
> http://our-website.us.org/news/?item=115" or such :)

Ah, I see what you mean, didn't think of it like that.  In that case a custom 
error message may be the best move and would work well in a high load 
situation (stopping new connections).  Most pop clients tell you the server 
error message when one appears so it might work for that too.

Regards
Andrew

-- 
Andrew Hutchings (A-Wing)
Linux Guru - Netserve Consultants Ltd. - www.domaincity.co.uk
Admin - North Wales Linux User Group - www.nwlug.org.uk
Proprietor - A-Wing Internet Services - www.a-wing.co.uk
Random BOFH excuse: sounds like a Windows problem, try calling Microsoft 
support