[Dovecot] inotify and network/cluster filesystems

[Timo Sirainen]

On 1.4.2011, at 10.52, Jan-Frode Myklebust wrote:

> I've notice the log notices about increasing
> /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_instances on my servers, and started
> wondering if inotify works for network/cluster filesystems..
> 
> I found this:
> 
> 	http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=311194
> 
> which says that there's no mechanism for one node to tell another node
> that a directory changed for GPFS.. And I would assume the same applies for
> NFS and other network filesystems. (Yes I know, we should use director
> to make users sticky to one host -- but we're not yet ready for that for
> lmtp).

Right. But it should still work if the modifications come from the same system. So it's better than nothing.

> So, are there any recommendations for what settings one should use for
> for filesystems where inotify woun't work ? Are there settings for
> disabling it (without recompiling)? 

Why not just keep it enabled? There shouldn't be any down side to it.

> And does mailbox_idle_check_interval happen in addition to inotify, so
> that clients will be notified even with a broken inotify ?

Yes.