[Dovecot] dovecot: 2011-11-04 16:58:01 Error: IMAP(<user>): FETCH for mailbox Trash UID 42022 got too little data: 90900 vs 1529791

[Stan Hoeppner]

On 11/4/2011 7:32 PM, Noah wrote:
> Hi there
> 
> I keep getting the following errors scrolling in my dovecot logs.  I am
> wondering how I can nail down what is creating that problem.
> 
> dovecot: 2011-11-04 16:58:01 Error: IMAP(<usr>): FETCH for mailbox Trash
> UID 42022 got too little data: 90900 vs 1529791

What version of Dovecot are you using?

> also I have a trash folder with over 100k messages in mbox format.  I am
> wondering if migrating to Maildir format would make it easier and
> quicker for dovecot to index my mail.

As I answered on the Postfix list, the solution to this is ditching
procmail for dovecot-lda so indexing of new messages is incremental upon
delivery, instead of megalithic when your MUA connects to the mailbox.
Switching to maildir in this case will simply trade on problem for
another.  Your memory consumption may go down, but your disk access will
skyrocket.

> I am getting these types of errors from time to time.
> 
> dovecot: 2011-10-30 20:32:58 Error: IMAP(<user>): Timeout while waiting
> for lock for transaction log file
> /home/<user>/mail/.imap/INBOX/dovecot.index.log

It would be really helpful if you would simply post a big dump of your
machine specs, software configuration, user base, mailbox sizes, total
mail storage space, concurrent user load, etc.  You've now posted a
total of 3 seemingly different problems on two mailing lists, related to
your Dovecot problems.

I get the feeling that there's a much larger overall problem here, say
something like hardware totally under powered for the workload you're
throwing at it, or something to that affect.  Or maybe just a really bad
system setup.

The more information you can provide, the more quickly and thoroughly we
can provide a solution or salient advice.

-- 
Stan