Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Rudi Ahlers]

Christopher Chan wrote:


I don't have a problem to solve, but I don't know which mail server 
to use either. But, like I said, ideally I'd like to use one of the 
groupware type mailserver (POP3, SMTP, IMAP, calendar, address book, 
etc)




What you want is a centralised and yet distributed user information 
database whether mysql, postgresql, ldap and centralised but yet 
distributed mail storage. Just about any MTA that can be installed on 
Centos will support the first be it qmail, sendmail, postfix or exim. 
IMAP/POP3 wise, dovecot or courier-imap can also support the first. 
The second is best to hide from the application layer by implementing 
it at the file system level with say GFS. Address book can be plain 
old ldap. Calendar...sorry that is even more integrating. You might 
want to try JES (Java Enterprise System) besides the others that you 
have mentioned. Thunderbird has calendar support. Oh, happy 
integrating and interface buliding/modifying for this lot.


If you are looking for a server solution for outlook, please just go 
and either get Exchange or go trouble the guys running OX and so on 
because Centos has zero solutions that support Outlook with all its 
features in force.

___



Thank you for your input. I can't justify exchange (and don't want MS) 
for 10 users. I do want IMAP though, and the calendar & address book 
would be nice. This IMO has nothing todo with CentOS though, but at the 
same time it shouldn't be limited to which Linux distro I'm using. As 
you have said I may need to look at file system clustering instead, but 
have never attempted it, so I don't know where to begin even. I know a 
lot of MTA's can support a central user DB, but that won't sync the 
emails. And this won't be a commercial installation either, it's for a 
for a project in a rural community about 700km's from me, so it's more a 
matter of if 1 server dies / crashes / packes up, and I can only get to 
it 5 days later, the mail server still works :)



--

Kind Regards
Rudi Ahlers
CEO, SoftDux

Web:   http://www.SoftDux.com
Check out my technical blog, http://blog.softdux.com for Linux or other 
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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Rudi Ahlers]

Karanbir Singh wrote:

Rudi Ahlers wrote:
  

I'm looking for a working HOWTO / Tutorial / sample setup of setting
up a clustered email server. I know I can setup a CentOS cluster with


I don't have a problem to solve, but I don't know which mail server to
use either. But, like I said, ideally I'd like to use one of the
groupware type mailserver (POP3, SMTP, IMAP, calendar, address book, etc)



Well, I am sure you have some reason to setup a cluster. Is it for
failover / redundancy ? or is it for higher performance ? or is it to
distribute load geographically ? distribute load by service ?

You need to first work out what you want to do. What setup and howto set
it up will depend on what you are trying to achieve ( = what problem you
are trying to solve ). However, keep in mind that anything more than
small to small medium setups for mail storage usually end at Cyrus.

- KB

PS: try trimming your replies to remove unneeded content
  

Hey Karanbir

I'm trying to achieve a simple fail over solution, for a small rural 
clinic, about 700KM's away, which we have sponsored, so there's no money 
involved and I can't afford / justify exchange (don't want to go the MS 
route in anycase), Zimbra or any of those.


For fail over on the webserver & samba, the heartbeat + rsync works 
well, but I don't know where to look for the email stuff. I don't need 
anything fancy, but a shared calendar & address book would be great. 
It's a 10 user network


--

Kind Regards
Rudi Ahlers
CEO, SoftDux

Web:   http://www.SoftDux.com
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RE: [CentOS] Centos Freezing

[John]

 
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of Robert Spangler
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 9:19 PM
To: CentOS mailing list
Subject: Re: [CentOS] Centos Freezing

On Thursday 15 May 2008 21:51, Karanbir Singh wrote:

>  Hi Robert,
>
>  Robert Spangler wrote:
>  > For some reason at different times Centos will freeze and not allow 
> me  > to do anything.  This doesn't happen while I'm working on the 
> system but  > after I have locked my session and then return.  It 
> could goes days  > without a lockup and then the next time I try to log in
it'll be frozen.
>  >
>  > I would like to know if anyone else has seen this or knows of a fix 
> or  > where I could start to look to find out if there is a process or  
> > something causing this.
>
>  Not me, have not had such an issue. make sure you are completely 
> yum-updated for a start.

Always.  Done nightly. :)

>  > I normally have the same programs running so I don't think it could 
> be  > caused by me starting and then leaving something new running.
>
>  I guess the reason why no one has replied to your post so far is that 
> its hard to work out or even think about such issues without some more
context.
> Do you have proprietary drivers installed for anything ? ndiswrapper 
> for wifi  ? grfx drivers for nvidia or ati ? Could there be a network
issue ?

Only thing I'm running that isn't in the repo's is the nVidia driver for my
Geforce FX550.

Oh, Thnx for the reply!!

Regards
Robert


Please try to update your nVidia Driver to the current level version and see
if that solves your problem. Make sure you are using the X config file that
is generated by the driver and do not add anything to it (as in options).
Some options if your mother board can not handle or support it, it will
freeze lockup etc.

Let me Know how it goes..

John Stanley

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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Christopher Chan]

Thank you for your input. I can't justify exchange (and don't want MS) 
for 10 users. I do want IMAP though, and the calendar & address book 
would be nice. This IMO has nothing todo with CentOS though, but at the 
same time it shouldn't be limited to which Linux distro I'm using. As 
you have said I may need to look at file system clustering instead, but 
have never attempted it, so I don't know where to begin even. I know a 
lot of MTA's can support a central user DB, but that won't sync the 
emails. And this won't be a commercial installation either, it's for a 
for a project in a rural community about 700km's from me, so it's more a 
matter of if 1 server dies / crashes / packes up, and I can only get to 
it 5 days later, the mail server still works :)





I don't know how cyrus does its clustering. You can check to see if it 
supports deliveries to all members of the cluster or whether it is only 
to a master.


No MTA out there cares about managing mail storage or making it 
available although some do provide pop/imap or both for a total 
solution. You can try dual deliveries. One to main box and another to 
the backup but there is simply no guarantee of the mail stores being 
kept in sync. If you can get GFS setup, that would be best but then that 
also involves a few boxes from what I understand...that is storage boxes 
and then combination smtp/imap boxes which will act as clients to the 
storage boxes. You could try installing opensolaris on the storage boxes 
such as the new Indiana release and use zfs to export the disk space as 
iscsi targets for GFS on the combination smtp/imap boxes. You could put 
smtp and imap on the same webserver/samba boxes too and put all your 
data on the opensolaris boxes...but I take it you already have those up 
and running.

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Re: [CentOS] Re: [CentOS-announce] Impact of the Debian OpenSSL vulnerability

[Ralph Angenendt]

Karanbir Singh wrote:
> Dag pointed out that Suse is also considering setting up a blacklist of
> this nature. I dont mind looking at something like this within CentOS if
> someone wants to make a case for it. Would it be better to just have
> some tool ( Daniel already brought that up! ) that could audit setups
> instead of running such a blacklist ?

The problem is that the tools I know only look for broken ssh keys
(dowkd.pl, ssh-vulnkey) and none of them address other problematic areas
like certificates, dnssec-keys (although Lutz Donnerhacke mailed all
people running zones with broken keys) and so on. 

If you take a look at  there are so many
applications which might have broken keys even on non-Debian systems
that I think offering a tool for just ssh keys might give people a wrong
sense of security, if they don't find broken ssh keys on their machines.

Ralph


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Re: [CentOS] Re: OOM condition with file-4.17-9.0.1.el5

[Ralph Angenendt]

John wrote:
> Some is always the first one running into a bug problem.
> 
> The purpose of my mail is sharing that I ran into a file util problem. If I 
> ran into, eventually some one else will to. And also how to quick and dirty 
> fix  the problem, if you can't wait for an official fix, provided by 
> upstream provider

But if nobody reports it upstream, there will be no fix, as there is no
problem. 

Ralph


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Re: [CentOS] CentOS-DS

[Ralph Angenendt]

Christopher Chan wrote:
> There is also Sun Directory Server which is completely free.

I have trouble locating the Sources.

Ralph


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Re: [CentOS] kernel-2.6.9-67.0.15.plus.c4.i586.rpm

[Akemi Yagi]

On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 5:45 PM, Barry Brimer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Are there plans to release kernel-2.6.9-67.0.15.plus.c4.i586.rpm ??
>
> Thanks,
> Barry

I am sure Mr. Hughes will add those missing kernels shortly.

Are you currently running the  2.6.9-67.0.xx i586 kernel ?  Multiple
people are reporting problems with the -67 i586 kernels.  If you are
not seeing any issue, could you add your note to:

http://bugs.centos.org/view.php?id=2823

and also to:

http://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=13870&forum=27

Thanks,

Akemi
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Re: [CentOS] CentOS-DS

[Neil Muller]

I think it's a java based app. You can download from 
http://www.sun.com/download/index.jsp?cat=Identity%20Management&tab=3&subcat=Directory%20Server

Neil




On 17/05/2008, at 8:41 PM, Ralph Angenendt wrote:


Christopher Chan wrote:

There is also Sun Directory Server which is completely free.


I have trouble locating the Sources.

Ralph
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[CentOS] CentOS-announce Digest, Vol 39, Issue 8

[centos-announce-request]

Send CentOS-announce mailing list submissions to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos-announce
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

You can reach the person managing the list at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of CentOS-announce digest..."


Today's Topics:

   1. CESA-2008:0270 Important CentOS 3 ia64 libvorbis  - security
  update (Pasi Pirhonen)
   2. CESA-2008:0270 Important CentOS 3 s390(x) libvorbis -
  security update (Pasi Pirhonen)
   3. CESA-2008:0270 Important CentOS 4 ia64 libvorbis  - security
  update (Pasi Pirhonen)
   4. CESA-2008:0270 Important CentOS 4 s390(x) libvorbis -
  security update (Pasi Pirhonen)


--

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 19:42:11 +0300
From: Pasi Pirhonen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [CentOS-announce] CESA-2008:0270 Important CentOS 3 ia64
libvorbis   - security update
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

CentOS Errata and Security Advisory 2008:0270

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2008-0270.html

The following updated files have been uploaded and are currently
syncing to the mirrors:

ia64:
updates/ia64/RPMS/libvorbis-1.0-10.el3.ia64.rpm
updates/ia64/RPMS/libvorbis-devel-1.0-10.el3.ia64.rpm


-- 
Pasi Pirhonen - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - http://pasi.pirhonen.eu/
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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 19:43:01 +0300
From: Pasi Pirhonen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [CentOS-announce] CESA-2008:0270 Important CentOS 3 s390(x)
libvorbis - security update
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

CentOS Errata and Security Advisory 2008:0270

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2008-0270.html

The following updated files have been uploaded and are currently
syncing to the mirrors:

s390:
updates/s390/RPMS/libvorbis-1.0-10.el3.s390.rpm
updates/s390/RPMS/libvorbis-devel-1.0-10.el3.s390.rpm

s390x:
updates/s390x/RPMS/libvorbis-1.0-10.el3.s390x.rpm
updates/s390x/RPMS/libvorbis-devel-1.0-10.el3.s390x.rpm


-- 
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Message: 3
Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 19:47:43 +0300
From: Pasi Pirhonen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [CentOS-announce] CESA-2008:0270 Important CentOS 4 ia64
libvorbis   - security update
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

CentOS Errata and Security Advisory 2008:0270

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2008-0270.html

The following updated files have been uploaded and are currently
syncing to the mirrors:

ia64:
updates/ia64/RPMS/libvorbis-1.1.0-3.c4.1.ia64.rpm
updates/ia64/RPMS/libvorbis-devel-1.1.0-3.c4.1.ia64.rpm


-- 
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Message: 4
Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 19:54:55 +0300
From: Pasi Pirhonen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [CentOS-announce] CESA-2008:0270 Important CentOS 4 s390(x)
libvorbis - security update
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

CentOS Errata and Security Advisory 2008:0270

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2008-0270.html

The following updated files have been uploaded and are currently
syncing to the mirrors:

s390:
updates/s390/RPMS/libvorbis-1.1.0-3.c4.1.s390.rpm
updates/s390/RPMS/libvorbis-devel-1.1.0-3.c4.1.s390.rpm

s390x:
updates/s390x/RPMS/libvorbis-1.1.0-3.c4.1.s390x.rpm
updates/s390x/RPMS/libvorbis-devel-1.1.0-3.c4.1.s390x.rpm


-- 
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Re: [CentOS] kernel-2.6.9-67.0.15.plus.c4.i586.rpm

[Johnny Hughes]

Barry Brimer wrote:

Are there plans to release kernel-2.6.9-67.0.15.plus.c4.i586.rpm ??

Thanks,
Barry


Barry,

Released ... there was a problem with one of the patches upstream added 
to the kernel and this failed on the i586 build the first time.  I did 
get a good build the second time after I fixed that patch.


Thanks,
Johnny Hughes



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Re: [CentOS] kernel-2.6.9-67.0.15.plus.c4.i586.rpm

[Barry Brimer]

Released ... there was a problem with one of the patches upstream added to 
the kernel and this failed on the i586 build the first time.  I did get a 
good build the second time after I fixed that patch.


Thanks so much.  Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Barry
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RE: [CentOS] Centos Freezing

[B.J. McClure]

On Sat, 2008-05-17 at 06:02 -0400, John wrote:
>  -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
> Of Robert Spangler
> Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 9:19 PM
> To: CentOS mailing list
> Subject: Re: [CentOS] Centos Freezing
> 
> On Thursday 15 May 2008 21:51, Karanbir Singh wrote:
> 
> >  Hi Robert,
> >
> >  Robert Spangler wrote:
> >  > For some reason at different times Centos will freeze and not allow 
> > me  > to do anything.  This doesn't happen while I'm working on the 
> > system but  > after I have locked my session and then return.  It 
> > could goes days  > without a lockup and then the next time I try to log in
> it'll be frozen.
> >  >
> >  > I would like to know if anyone else has seen this or knows of a fix 
> > or  > where I could start to look to find out if there is a process or  
> > > something causing this.
> >
> >  Not me, have not had such an issue. make sure you are completely 
> > yum-updated for a start.
> 
> Always.  Done nightly. :)
> 
> >  > I normally have the same programs running so I don't think it could 
> > be  > caused by me starting and then leaving something new running.
> >
> >  I guess the reason why no one has replied to your post so far is that 
> > its hard to work out or even think about such issues without some more
> context.
> > Do you have proprietary drivers installed for anything ? ndiswrapper 
> > for wifi  ? grfx drivers for nvidia or ati ? Could there be a network
> issue ?
> 
> Only thing I'm running that isn't in the repo's is the nVidia driver for my
> Geforce FX550.
> 
> Oh, Thnx for the reply!!
> 
> Regards
> Robert
> 
> 
> Please try to update your nVidia Driver to the current level version and see
> if that solves your problem. Make sure you are using the X config file that
> is generated by the driver and do not add anything to it (as in options).
> Some options if your mother board can not handle or support it, it will
> freeze lockup etc.
> 
> Let me Know how it goes..
> 
> John Stanley

I had a similar situation on CentOS 4.x and on 5.0, different boxes.  In
both cases it was resolved by replacing a bad stick of RAM.  If the box
can be off line I would suggest a 24 hour run of memtest.  On my systems
it only occurred with the GUI running.

Cheers,
B.J.

CentOS 5.1, Linux 2.6.18-53.1.19.el5 athlon 07:28:37 up 21:02, 0 users,
load average: 0.30, 0.10, 0.02

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Re: [CentOS] OT: Top Posting

[William L. Maltby]

On Fri, 2008-05-16 at 20:55 -0400, Matt Shields wrote:
> 

> I think the thing that's annoying about top posting is explained with
> this example (grabbed from a Boston Linux & Unix Group signature).
> I'll have to admit when I'm not thinking about it, there have been a
> few times where I've top posted (bad habit from the corporate world),
> but if people would take 5 minutes to read a complete thread backwards
> with comments inserted in between other comments, it gets very
> confusing.  Bottom posting or posting in between comments makes sense.
> 
> 
> A: Yes.
> > Q: Are you sure?
> >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
> >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?
> 
> 

How did you get back on topic here? ;-)

Regardless, after wading through almost all of these posts and remaining
mum (in hopes that the futility of it all would eventually dawn on the
various contributors), I've been overwhelmed by an irrational desire to
address the underlying fundamentals of the "netiquette" for mailing
lists and forums.

Don't worry - I'll be very brief.

Snipping: origins were in bandwidth limitations (I was already
"seasoned" when 300 baud was blinding fast) of both the physical
infrastructure and users. For many, infrastructure limits are now
irrelevant, but for many, still relevant. SNIP PEOPLE!

Top posting vs. embedded or "bottom" posting: the human brain is a very
strong associative processor (my bad puns which you all have been spared
is proof positive of this). Context strongly assists that process.
Physical juxtaposition of related statements enhances context. All this
enhances comprehension, formulation of ideas and responses and
creativity.

It also helps the bandwidth issues of human brains by making "scanning"
faster, more comprehensible and less error prone (witness the number of
times folks say "I should have read the whole thing first").

EMBED YOUR REPLIES FOLKS!

Regardless of the above, common courtesy *demands* that one respect the
accepted standards of their hosts. This is especially so when they
provide great value for no recompense and expend their time and energy
in support of *you*, their guest.

To do less is to be extremely self-centered, selfish and inconsiderate.
You increase their time consumption and effort by doing things, to suit
yourself, that increase their burden.

The same standards you would use when being a guest at someone's home
should apply here or in any similar venue.

Going off topic again here.

I'm of the same mind as KS. I jumped into the forums for awhile trying
to help others out. It was just too time consuming. The constant "point
and click", manually looking and selecting threads, "the fly-by
postings" all conspired to make me question both the value of what I
tried to contribute and the trade off of my time and energy.

Contrarily, the mailing lists presents to me, allows fast scan and
selection and processing, and I take a lot less time and energy
garnering the benefits. This makes me more prone to contribute. I
throttle the urge so as to avoid adding "chaff".

Searching the lists is easy regardless of the age of the topic (ditto
for the forums when I'm doing a google).

Preferred mailer": who really cares? That's pure personal preference.
Opinions only help expose others to options and therefore have some
value. But we all know that topic is peripheral to the main topic.

'Nuff said. I'm now going to delete all the rest of the posts related to
this thread without reading them.

-- 
Bill

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[CentOS] Re: OOM condition with file-4.17-9.0.1.el5

[John]

"Filipe Brandenburger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
schreef in bericht 
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 8:30 AM, John 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> We just encountered several serious Out of Memory Problems caused by the
>> file 4.17-9.0.1.EL5 utility on our mail Gateway. CentOS 5.1 kept it self
>> alive by killing it parent process Amavisd-new. Manually restarting
>> Amavisd-new and flushing the mail queue caused same problem. Disabling 
>> file
>> for the moment, caused Amavisd-new to fail, and also defer all mail.
>
> I cannot understand it. On which situations would the "file" utility
> be causing OOM issues? "file" is not a daemon or something that is
> running all the time. And to generate an OOM situation, you have to
> exhaust all the memory on your machine.
>
> Could you give more details here?
>
> How much memory does the machine have?
> How much swap space does the machine have?
> Why do you believe "file" is the offending application?
> Who is using "file" on a regular basis?
> What types of files are being tested for type with the "file" utility?
> Can you produce a specific file which causes "file" to allocate a lot of 
> memory?
> Can you produce the output of "ps" or "top" which shows "file" using a
> lot of memory just before a crash?
>
> If you don't give us such details, it's really hard to believe that
> "file" is what is causing your issue. Please back your statement.
>
> Filipe

Ok, I will try.
The machine config
Machine is a HP DL360G3, 2gb Mem, 2Gb swap running CentOS5.1 x86

The purpose of and how file(1) is used.
The machine is our mail gateway, Running Postfix / Amavisd-new / Clamd  / 
Perl Spamassassin
Al incoming and outgoing mail is handed to Amavisd which extract the mail 
and ran it against for example file(1)
So every incoming / outgoing mail passes file(1), where file(1) is used to 
enforce mail policy (No exe, com, hta, pif etc is coming in, even if the 
extension is changed).

I cannot provide a example causing file(1) to consume all memory, because, I 
had to get the mail system running again. Now thinking, It had been wise to 
make a copy off the postfix deferred queue before starting the system again.

The kernel has logged the OOM condition and killed the parent Amavisd-new to 
keep itself alive.
I saved that part, and adding it here at the end of the mail

This is what happend just before in the maillog

May 16 13:16:56 gw-0001 amavis[6058]: (06058-01) FWD via SMTP: 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -> 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,BODY=8BITMIME 250 2.6.0 Ok, id=06058-01, from $
May 16 13:16:56 gw-0001 amavis[6059]: (06059-02-2) (!!)TROUBLE in 
check_mail: parts_decode_ext FAILED: file(1) utility (/usr/bin/file) error: 
run_command (open pipe): Can't fork at /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.8/i386-li$
May 16 13:16:56 gw-0001 amavis[6059]: (06059-02-2) (!)PRESERVING EVIDENCE in 
/var/amavis/tmp/amavis-20080516T131638-06059
May 16 13:16:56 gw-0001 amavis[6058]: (06058-01) Passed CLEAN, [backup-mx] 
[66.179.205.75] 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -> 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Message-ID: <1$
May 16 13:16:56 gw-0001 postfix/lmtp[7373]: 8196E1380A6: 
to=<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, relay=localhost[127.0.0.1]:10024, delay=12071, 
delays=12052/0.01/0.03/19, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (250 2.0.0 Ok:$

Maybe Amavisd-new saved the problem message,
This is the first entry where file failed. The saved message contains a 
normal html message. Nothing strange here.

A bit later in the maillog:
ay 16 13:17:59 gw-0001 postfix/smtpd[7385]: connect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
May 16 13:18:02 gw-0001 amavis[5639]: (!)Net::Server: 2008/05/16-13:18:02 
Bad fork [Cannot allocate memory]\n  at line 168 in file 
/usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.8.8/Net/Server/PreForkSimple.pm
May 16 13:18:02 gw-0001 amavis[5639]: Net::Server: 2008/05/16-13:18:02 
Server closing!

This combined with the Kernel logging at the end, and after repeatable 
restarting Amavisd-new and flushing the postfix queue, it ran dead in the 
same problem, I started to believe that there may be a problem in file(1). 
After checking with yum list file, I concluded that there were no CentOS 
updates for file.

The easied way to get a newer version of file was to rebuild the SRPM of 
FC9's file-4.23-05 on CentOS 5. It compiled without problems and after 
installing, starting Amavisd-new and flushing the queue al deferred mail was 
delivered without any problems.

For me, the problem was solved, and I had enough proof for my self to say, I 
assume file(1) was the problem. I agree, this is not enough for some 
developers to be convinced, and the problem file is easily found. But I 
believe the problem file should be somewhere in my Amavisd-new directory. 
But at this moment I don't have a test system to test the complete directory 
against file(1)

I hope I provide some of the information you wanted to see.

Regards,
John


May 16 13:17:53 gw-0001 kernel: cmasasd invoked oom-killer: 
gfp_mask=0x201d2, order=0, oomkilladj=0
May 16 13:17:53 gw-0001 kernel:  [] out_of_memory+

RE: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Rajeev R. Veedu]

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Christopher Chan
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2008 2:02 PM
To: centos@centos.org
Subject: Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?


> Thank you for your input. I can't justify exchange (and don't want MS) 
> for 10 users. I do want IMAP though, and the calendar & address book 
> would be nice. This IMO has nothing todo with CentOS though, but at the 
> same time it shouldn't be limited to which Linux distro I'm using. As 
> you have said I may need to look at file system clustering instead, but 
> have never attempted it, so I don't know where to begin even. I know a 
> lot of MTA's can support a central user DB, but that won't sync the 
> emails. And this won't be a commercial installation either, it's for a 
> for a project in a rural community about 700km's from me, so it's more a 
> matter of if 1 server dies / crashes / packes up, and I can only get to 
> it 5 days later, the mail server still works :)
> 
> 


If you are looking exchange like functionality use POSTPATH. It comes with 
almost all features in exchange except the webmail. We are using it for the 
last 5 months, and look good so far. It can do load balance and clustering. You 
can download a 12 user version form www.postpath.com


Thanks

Rajeev




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[CentOS] Re: OOM condition with file-4.17-9.0.1.el5

[John]

Hello Filip,

I forgot the word NOT in this part of my message.

> For me, the problem was solved, and I had enough proof for my self to say, 
> I assume file(1) was the problem. I agree, this is not enough for some 
> developers to be convinced, and the problem file is NOT easily found. But 
> I believe the problem file should be somewhere in my Amavisd-new 
> directory. But at this moment I don't have a test system to test the 
> complete directory against file(1)


John


"John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> schreef 
in bericht news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> "Filipe Brandenburger" 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> schreef in bericht 
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 8:30 AM, John 
>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>> We just encountered several serious Out of Memory Problems caused by the
>>> file 4.17-9.0.1.EL5 utility on our mail Gateway. CentOS 5.1 kept it self
>>> alive by killing it parent process Amavisd-new. Manually restarting
>>> Amavisd-new and flushing the mail queue caused same problem. Disabling 
>>> file
>>> for the moment, caused Amavisd-new to fail, and also defer all mail.
>>
>> I cannot understand it. On which situations would the "file" utility
>> be causing OOM issues? "file" is not a daemon or something that is
>> running all the time. And to generate an OOM situation, you have to
>> exhaust all the memory on your machine.
>>
>> Could you give more details here?
>>
>> How much memory does the machine have?
>> How much swap space does the machine have?
>> Why do you believe "file" is the offending application?
>> Who is using "file" on a regular basis?
>> What types of files are being tested for type with the "file" utility?
>> Can you produce a specific file which causes "file" to allocate a lot of 
>> memory?
>> Can you produce the output of "ps" or "top" which shows "file" using a
>> lot of memory just before a crash?
>>
>> If you don't give us such details, it's really hard to believe that
>> "file" is what is causing your issue. Please back your statement.
>>
>> Filipe
>
> Ok, I will try.
> The machine config
> Machine is a HP DL360G3, 2gb Mem, 2Gb swap running CentOS5.1 x86
>
> The purpose of and how file(1) is used.
> The machine is our mail gateway, Running Postfix / Amavisd-new / Clamd  / 
> Perl Spamassassin
> Al incoming and outgoing mail is handed to Amavisd which extract the mail 
> and ran it against for example file(1)
> So every incoming / outgoing mail passes file(1), where file(1) is used to 
> enforce mail policy (No exe, com, hta, pif etc is coming in, even if the 
> extension is changed).
>
> I cannot provide a example causing file(1) to consume all memory, because, 
> I had to get the mail system running again. Now thinking, It had been wise 
> to make a copy off the postfix deferred queue before starting the system 
> again.
>
> The kernel has logged the OOM condition and killed the parent Amavisd-new 
> to keep itself alive.
> I saved that part, and adding it here at the end of the mail
>
> This is what happend just before in the maillog
>
> May 16 13:16:56 gw-0001 amavis[6058]: (06058-01) FWD via SMTP: 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
>  -> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,BODY=8BITMIME 250 2.6.0 Ok, 
> id=06058-01, from $
> May 16 13:16:56 gw-0001 amavis[6059]: (06059-02-2) (!!)TROUBLE in 
> check_mail: parts_decode_ext FAILED: file(1) utility (/usr/bin/file) 
> error: run_command (open pipe): Can't fork at 
> /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.8/i386-li$
> May 16 13:16:56 gw-0001 amavis[6059]: (06059-02-2) (!)PRESERVING EVIDENCE 
> in /var/amavis/tmp/amavis-20080516T131638-06059
> May 16 13:16:56 gw-0001 amavis[6058]: (06058-01) Passed CLEAN, [backup-mx] 
> [66.179.205.75] 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
>  -> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Message-ID: <1$
> May 16 13:16:56 gw-0001 postfix/lmtp[7373]: 8196E1380A6: 
> to=<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 
> relay=localhost[127.0.0.1]:10024, delay=12071, delays=12052/0.01/0.03/19, 
> dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (250 2.0.0 Ok:$
>
> Maybe Amavisd-new saved the problem message,
> This is the first entry where file failed. The saved message contains a 
> normal html message. Nothing strange here.
>
> A bit later in the maillog:
> ay 16 13:17:59 gw-0001 postfix/smtpd[7385]: connect from 
> localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
> May 16 13:18:02 gw-0001 amavis[5639]: (!)Net::Server: 2008/05/16-13:18:02 
> Bad fork [Cannot allocate memory]\n  at line 168 in file 
> /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.8.8/Net/Server/PreForkSimple.pm
> May 16 13:18:02 gw-0001 amavis[5639]: Net::Server: 2008/05/16-13:18:02 
> Server closing!
>
> This combined with the Kernel logging at the end, and after repeatable 
> restarting Amavisd-new and flushing the postfix queue, it ran dead in the 
> same problem, I started to believe that there may be a problem in file(1). 
> After checking with yum list file, I concluded that there were no CentOS 
> updates for file.
>
> The easied way to get a newer version of file was to rebuild the SRPM of 
> FC9's file-4.23-05 on CentOS 5. It compiled without problems and after 
> installing, sta

Re: [CentOS] Re: [CentOS-announce] Impact of the Debian OpenSSL vulnerability

[Daniel de Kok]

On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 12:25 PM, Ralph Angenendt
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> If you take a look at  there are so many
> applications which might have broken keys even on non-Debian systems
> that I think offering a tool for just ssh keys might give people a wrong
> sense of security, if they don't find broken ssh keys on their machines.

People often mistake tools for facts. Just like rootkit detection
utilities, people should realize that key detection is just a tool to
assist with finding obvious compromises. I think it is ok, to provide
one of these detection tools through the -extras repository, as long
as it is made clear in the documentation what it detects, what it does
not detect, and whether there is a chance of having false-positives.

Wrt. fingerprint-based blocking in OpenSSH:

- What does our upstream think about this?
- What do the OpenSSH developers think about this?

I think a general scheme for blocking certain public keys might be
useful, even outside this specific case. But I am not sure it is a
good idea to make/use vendor-specific extensions.

Take care,
Daniel
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[CentOS] ndiswrapper and 4K stacks problem (system freezes)

[Timothy Kesten]

Hi Folks,

I'm trying tio install WLAN - USB - Stick Netgear WG111v3.

ndiswrapper -i wg111v3 

works.

I can see ndiswrapper -l

wg111v3: driver installed
device (0846:4260) present

But after modprobe ndiswrapper the system freezes.

Troublshooting on ndiswrapper-sites says:

It's a problem of "kernel is using 4K stacks (CONFIG_4KSTACKS)"

Solution: recompile the kernel.

That's no good solution. 
Is there a knowing "CentOS-like" solution for this problem?

Thx
Timothy



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Re: [CentOS] ndiswrapper and 4K stacks problem (system freezes)

[Akemi Yagi]

On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 6:35 AM, Timothy Kesten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> I'm trying tio install WLAN - USB - Stick Netgear WG111v3.
>
> ndiswrapper -i wg111v3
>
> works.
>
> I can see ndiswrapper -l
>
>wg111v3: driver installed
>device (0846:4260) present
>
> But after modprobe ndiswrapper the system freezes.
>
> Troublshooting on ndiswrapper-sites says:
>
> It's a problem of "kernel is using 4K stacks (CONFIG_4KSTACKS)"
>
> Solution: recompile the kernel.
>
> That's no good solution.
> Is there a knowing "CentOS-like" solution for this problem?

Need more info here...

What is your kernel version, arch?  uname -mr ?
How did you install ndiswrapper?

Akemi
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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[David G. Mackay]

On Sat, 2008-05-17 at 10:30 +0200, Rudi Ahlers wrote:
> Thank you for your input. I can't justify exchange (and don't want MS) 
> for 10 users. I do want IMAP though, and the calendar & address book 
> would be nice. This IMO has nothing todo with CentOS though, but at the 
> same time it shouldn't be limited to which Linux distro I'm using. As 
> you have said I may need to look at file system clustering instead, but 
> have never attempted it, so I don't know where to begin even. I know a 
> lot of MTA's can support a central user DB, but that won't sync the 
> emails. And this won't be a commercial installation either, it's for a 
> for a project in a rural community about 700km's from me, so it's more a 
> matter of if 1 server dies / crashes / packes up, and I can only get to 
> it 5 days later, the mail server still works :)

You might take a look at SquirrelMail.  It integrates well with cyrus
imap.

Dave


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[CentOS] xen kernel showing only one processor on SMP machine

[gen2]

Hi there,

I'm running an ibm xseries 345/dual Xeon 2.66GHz, 2.6.18-53.1.14.el5xen 
#1 SMP, and cat /proc/cpuinfo shows me only one processor. Apparently 
something strange happening with ACPI. What am I doing wrong? Thank you!



Selected bits from dmesg:
-
Using ACPI (MADT) for SMP configuration information
SMP alternatives: switching to UP code
ACPI: Core revision 20060707
CPU 1 irqstacks, hard=c0728000 soft=c0708000
CPU 2 irqstacks, hard=c0729000 soft=c0709000
CPU 3 irqstacks, hard=c072a000 soft=c070a000
ENABLING IO-APIC IRQs
SMP alternatives: switching to SMP code
Initializing CPU#1
Initializing CPU#2
Brought up 4 CPUs

ACPI Exception (acpi_processor-0681): AE_NOT_FOUND, Processor Device is 
not present [20060707]

ACPI: Getting cpuindex for acpiid 0x3
ACPI Exception (acpi_processor-0681): AE_NOT_FOUND, Processor Device is 
not present [20060707]

ACPI: Getting cpuindex for acpiid 0x1
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Re: [CentOS] Centos Freezing

[Robert Spangler]

On Saturday 17 May 2008 08:12, B.J. McClure wrote:

>  I had a similar situation on CentOS 4.x and on 5.0, different boxes.  In
>  both cases it was resolved by replacing a bad stick of RAM.  If the box
>  can be off line I would suggest a 24 hour run of memtest.  On my systems
>  it only occurred with the GUI running.

Thnx.  Yes, the box can be off-line for testing and I will try this.


-- 

Regards
Robert

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Re: [CentOS] Centos Freezing

[Karanbir Singh]

Robert Spangler wrote:

On Saturday 17 May 2008 08:12, B.J. McClure wrote:


 I had a similar situation on CentOS 4.x and on 5.0, different boxes.  In
 both cases it was resolved by replacing a bad stick of RAM.  If the box
 can be off line I would suggest a 24 hour run of memtest.  On my systems
 it only occurred with the GUI running.


Thnx.  Yes, the box can be off-line for testing and I will try this.


In case anyone is interested, I've been using a very minimal xorg.conf 
with my nvidia machines for a while and letting the system just work the 
specifics out at startup time. Here is the config I use :


http://www.karan.org/blog/index.php/2007/11/01

- KB
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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Karanbir Singh]

Rudi Ahlers wrote:
For fail over on the webserver & samba, the heartbeat + rsync works 
well, but I don't know where to look for the email stuff. I don't need 
anything fancy, but a shared calendar & address book would be great. 
It's a 10 user network


email is essentially an on-disk setup, so just setup any software you 
want ( I recommend roundcube over squirrelmail as a nice web interface - 
basic, but usable ).


Just put the email storage on the drbd mounted drive and you should be ok.

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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Karanbir Singh]

David G. Mackay wrote:

You might take a look at SquirrelMail.  It integrates well with cyrus
imap.


I've started liking roundcube a bit more than squirrelmail. but 
roundcube is very basic. SquirrelMail has a *LOT* of plugins and can be 
made to do almost anything these days. And the community around 
squirrelmail is much larger than roundcube.


Another candidate is Horde+IMP ( which Johnny maintains in the centos 
repos )


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Re: [CentOS] CentOS-DS

[Karanbir Singh]

Neil Muller wrote:
I think it's a java based app. You can download from 
http://www.sun.com/download/index.jsp?cat=Identity%20Management&tab=3&subcat=Directory%20Server 



does it work with openjdk as yet ?

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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[John R Pierce]

Karanbir Singh wrote:
email is essentially an on-disk setup, so just setup any software you 
want ( I recommend roundcube over squirrelmail as a nice web interface 
- basic, but usable ).


Just put the email storage on the drbd mounted drive and you should be 
ok.




drbd is asynchronous replication, isn't it?so if the active 'master' 
fails just as its written and acknowledged an incoming message, that 
message could be lost if the replication hasn't completed by the time of 
failure ?



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Re: [CentOS] ext3 errors (md device related?)

[Les Mikesell]

Les Mikesell wrote:


Back to this problem again.  I did a new mkfs.ext3 and ran more than 
a week before hitting this again:


Mar 14 04:12:29 linbackup1 kernel: md3: rw=0, want=14439505280, 
limit=1465143808
Mar 14 04:12:29 linbackup1 kernel: EXT3-fs error (device md3): 
ext3_readdir: directory #34079247 contains a hole at offset 0

Mar 14 04:12:29 linbackup1 kernel: Aborting journal on device md3.
Mar 14 04:12:29 linbackup1 kernel: md3: rw=0, want=5260961472, 
limit=1465143808
Mar 14 04:12:29 linbackup1 kernel: EXT3-fs error (device md3): 
ext3_readdir: directory #34079247 contains a hole at offset 4096


I don't see any hardware related errors, and the rest of the 
filesystems all seem fine, although this is the one that is busy.


Is your memory ECC? If not then a memory problem can fly under the radar.


dmidecode says single-bit ECC


Just to clear up this old thread, the problem did turn out to be memory 
but it took most of a day's run of memtest86 to find it and even then it 
only reported soft errors.  After replacing the RAM everything has been 
fine for several weeks.


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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Karanbir Singh]

John R Pierce wrote:
drbd is asynchronous replication, isn't it?so if the active 'master' 
fails just as its written and acknowledged an incoming message, that 
message could be lost if the replication hasn't completed by the time of 
failure ?


I believe you can run DRBD so primary writes dont return till the 
secondary write also completes. No idea how that impacts performance :D



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Re: [CentOS] Centos Freezing

[Anne Wilson]

On Saturday 17 May 2008 19:19:40 Karanbir Singh wrote:
> Robert Spangler wrote:
> > On Saturday 17 May 2008 08:12, B.J. McClure wrote:
> >>  I had a similar situation on CentOS 4.x and on 5.0, different boxes. 
> >> In both cases it was resolved by replacing a bad stick of RAM.  If the
> >> box can be off line I would suggest a 24 hour run of memtest.  On my
> >> systems it only occurred with the GUI running.
> >
> > Thnx.  Yes, the box can be off-line for testing and I will try this.
>
> In case anyone is interested, I've been using a very minimal xorg.conf
> with my nvidia machines for a while and letting the system just work the
> specifics out at s'artup time. Here is the config I use :
>
> http://www.karan.org/blog/index.php/2007/11/01
>
I'm getting a 404 on that, Karanbir

Anne


signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
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Re: [CentOS] Centos Freezing

[Karanbir Singh]

Anne Wilson wrote:

http://www.karan.org/blog/index.php/2007/11/01


I'm getting a 404 on that, Karanbir


oops, needs a trailing / . try this :

http://www.karan.org/blog/index.php/2007/11/01/

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Re: [CentOS] Re: OOM condition with file-4.17-9.0.1.el5

[MHR]

On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 5:36 AM, John <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Ok, I will try.
> The machine config
> Machine is a HP DL360G3, 2gb Mem, 2Gb swap running CentOS5.1 x86
>

This might not have anything to do with your problem, but I have found
that busy systems usually do better with a swap size that is around
double the size of physical memory.

Just a thought.

mhr
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Re: [CentOS] Re: OOM condition with file-4.17-9.0.1.el5

[Rudi Ahlers]

MHR wrote:

On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 5:36 AM, John <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
  

Ok, I will try.
The machine config
Machine is a HP DL360G3, 2gb Mem, 2Gb swap running CentOS5.1 x86




This might not have anything to do with your problem, but I have found
that busy systems usually do better with a swap size that is around
double the size of physical memory.

Just a thought.

mhr
___
  
2x swap has been a recommended setup a long time, not just on busy 
systems :)


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Check out my technical blog, http://blog.softdux.com for Linux or other 
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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Rudi Ahlers]

John R Pierce wrote:

Karanbir Singh wrote:
email is essentially an on-disk setup, so just setup any software you 
want ( I recommend roundcube over squirrelmail as a nice web 
interface - basic, but usable ).


Just put the email storage on the drbd mounted drive and you should 
be ok.




drbd is asynchronous replication, isn't it?so if the active 
'master' fails just as its written and acknowledged an incoming 
message, that message could be lost if the replication hasn't 
completed by the time of failure ?



___
Well, that's one of the problems I foresee, but also the fact that each 
email has a unique message ID, so I don't know if the backup server will 
pickup the changed messages ID's or not? I have been thinking of running 
a MySQL backed mail server, but have a feeling it will have a heavy 
impact on performance


--

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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Rudi Ahlers]

Karanbir Singh wrote:

David G. Mackay wrote:

You might take a look at SquirrelMail.  It integrates well with cyrus
imap.


I've started liking roundcube a bit more than squirrelmail. but 
roundcube is very basic. SquirrelMail has a *LOT* of plugins and can 
be made to do almost anything these days. And the community around 
squirrelmail is much larger than roundcube.


Another candidate is Horde+IMP ( which Johnny maintains in the centos 
repos )


Sorry guys, I want to stick with a SMTP / IMAP / POP3 server, not 
webmail. I'll be using Horde for webmail as well though


--

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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[John R Pierce]

Rudi Ahlers wrote:
Sorry guys, I want to stick with a SMTP / IMAP / POP3 server, not 
webmail. I'll be using Horde for webmail as well though






there are two general classes of clustered systems, high availability, 
and high performance.


HA clusters are usually active/standby, and might use stuff like 
heartbeat, drbd, etc.


HP clusters are either load balanced, or active/active...  Things that 
demand ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) like 
databases, mail servers are very complex to cluster this way on a 
active/active (aka multimaster) environment while maintaining the 
integrity and a reasonable performance.  just implementing load 
balancing does not by itself provide any redundancy in case of component 
failure.   A simple load balancing scenario for a mail server might be 
having one server to handle all internet mail incoming and outgoing, 
while another server handles local users reading their mail (eg, pop or 
imap)


its best to define your requirements and expectations before diving into 
these waters, as clusters can be far more complex and intricate to 
configure and administrate than discrete systems.


re: mail servers specifically, there are two seperate classes of storage 
that would need replication...  One is the mail spools and queues as 
used by the MTA (postfix, sendmail, etc), and the other are the user 
mail folder(s) as used by the local delivery agent (procmail or 
whattever), and read by the mail client (pop, imap).


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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Karanbir Singh]

Rudi Ahlers wrote:
Well, that's one of the problems I foresee, but also the fact that each 
email has a unique message ID, so I don't know if the backup server will 
pickup the changed messages ID's or not? I have been thinking of running 
a MySQL backed mail server, but have a feeling it will have a heavy 
impact on performance


umm. message-ID's are added at mail origin time ( or the first time they 
come in contact with a non brain dead mta ).


me thinks you need to read up a bit on what email is and how it works. 
the RFC's are a good place to start ( and mostly readable ).


--
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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Jure Pečar]

On Sat, 17 May 2008 20:09:50 +0100
Karanbir Singh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> I believe you can run DRBD so primary writes dont return till the 
> secondary write also completes. No idea how that impacts performance :D

Default mode of drbd operation is synchronous as you mention and its
performance is purely dependant of underlying block device. Having a gig of
battery backed write cache on each side helps :)
Asynchronous mode of operation is actually a special case for drbd and is
primarily meant for geographically distributed setups that replicate data
over wan.

But as the opening poster said he has a small number of users, drbd with
standard sata disks should be fast enough.


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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Les Mikesell]

Rudi Ahlers wrote:



You might take a look at SquirrelMail.  It integrates well with cyrus
imap.


I've started liking roundcube a bit more than squirrelmail. but 
roundcube is very basic. SquirrelMail has a *LOT* of plugins and can 
be made to do almost anything these days. And the community around 
squirrelmail is much larger than roundcube.


Another candidate is Horde+IMP ( which Johnny maintains in the centos 
repos )


Sorry guys, I want to stick with a SMTP / IMAP / POP3 server, not 
webmail. I'll be using Horde for webmail as well though


Webmail normally just uses the underlying smtp/imap access to the 
underlying server anyway.  If you want something that comes up running 
with samba, web/ftp services and email with optional web interface you 
might like SME server (http://www.contribs.org) which has Centos 
packages plus a simple web administration interface.  I'm not sure if it 
can be set up with drbd/failover but I've always had pretty good luck 
running software RAID on swappable disks that can be moved to a 
different chassis in the event of a motherboard or power supply failure.


--
  Les Mikesell
   [EMAIL PROTECTED]


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Re: [CentOS] Re: [CentOS-announce] Impact of the Debian OpenSSL vulnerability

[Karanbir Singh]

Daniel de Kok wrote:

- What does our upstream think about this?
- What do the OpenSSH developers think about this?


Someone is going to need to ask those questions of the people...

--
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[CentOS] Fedora IRC

[James Bunnell]

There is a IRC channel in the Freenode network for #fedora-newmexico
users, if interested.

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Re: [CentOS] CentOS-DS

[Neil Muller]

On 18/05/2008, at 4:25 AM, Karanbir Singh wrote:


Neil Muller wrote:

I think it's a java based app. You can download from 
http://www.sun.com/download/index.jsp?cat=Identity%20Management&tab=3&subcat=Directory%20Server


does it work with openjdk as yet ?


I've only installed it on Solaris but I did find this thread http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5145475&messageID=9539925 
 which implies that it does install on RHEL and so probably also  
Centos. Don't know about openjdk.


Neil




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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Christopher Chan]

re: mail servers specifically, there are two seperate classes of storage 
that would need replication...  One is the mail spools and queues as 
used by the MTA (postfix, sendmail, etc), and the other are the user 
mail folder(s) as used by the local delivery agent (procmail or 
whattever), and read by the mail client (pop, imap).


No, mail spools/queues do not need replication. Stuff in the queue are 
usually deleted in a second and such dynamic change is not worth 
replicating. If you do put the queue on a distributed filesystem, in 
most cases you cannot have more than one instance running save for sendmail.


The only thing that the MTA needs is the user information database and 
that is what needs replicating both for the MTA and the pop/imap server 
software, not the queues.


Then the mail store, including configuration files for the local 
delivery agent in use, needs replication.

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Re: [CentOS] CentOS-DS

[Christopher Chan]

Neil Muller wrote:


On 18/05/2008, at 4:25 AM, Karanbir Singh wrote:


Neil Muller wrote:
I think it's a java based app. You can download from 
http://www.sun.com/download/index.jsp?cat=Identity%20Management&tab=3&subcat=Directory%20Server 



does it work with openjdk as yet ?


I've only installed it on Solaris but I did find this thread 
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5145475&messageID=9539925 which 
implies that it does install on RHEL and so probably also Centos. Don't 
know about openjdk.




You can get rpms for RHEL4/5 so it should not be a problem for Centos 4/5.
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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Rudi Ahlers]

Les Mikesell wrote:

Rudi Ahlers wrote:



You might take a look at SquirrelMail.  It integrates well with cyrus
imap.


I've started liking roundcube a bit more than squirrelmail. but 
roundcube is very basic. SquirrelMail has a *LOT* of plugins and can 
be made to do almost anything these days. And the community around 
squirrelmail is much larger than roundcube.


Another candidate is Horde+IMP ( which Johnny maintains in the 
centos repos )


Sorry guys, I want to stick with a SMTP / IMAP / POP3 server, not 
webmail. I'll be using Horde for webmail as well though


Webmail normally just uses the underlying smtp/imap access to the 
underlying server anyway.  If you want something that comes up running 
with samba, web/ftp services and email with optional web interface you 
might like SME server (http://www.contribs.org) which has Centos 
packages plus a simple web administration interface.  I'm not sure if 
it can be set up with drbd/failover but I've always had pretty good 
luck running software RAID on swappable disks that can be moved to a 
different chassis in the event of a motherboard or power supply failure.


We do use SME 7.3 already, and they have done a great job in getting all 
the common network services (SQL, Apache, FTP, Samba, POP3, SMTP, IMAP, 
VPN, etc) working out-of-the-box, but it doesn't support fail-over / 
clustering, and it's very "proprietary" - a lot of things can't just be 
changed the way a standard Linux server can be, without affecting the 
upgrades.


--

Kind Regards
Rudi Ahlers
CEO, SoftDux

Web:   http://www.SoftDux.com
Check out my technical blog, http://blog.softdux.com for Linux or other 
technical stuff, or visit http://www.WebHostingTalk.co.za for Web Hosting stuff

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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Rudi Ahlers]

Karanbir Singh wrote:

Rudi Ahlers wrote:
Well, that's one of the problems I foresee, but also the fact that 
each email has a unique message ID, so I don't know if the backup 
server will pickup the changed messages ID's or not? I have been 
thinking of running a MySQL backed mail server, but have a feeling it 
will have a heavy impact on performance


umm. message-ID's are added at mail origin time ( or the first time 
they come in contact with a non brain dead mta ).


me thinks you need to read up a bit on what email is and how it works. 
the RFC's are a good place to start ( and mostly readable ).


I'm referring to the way qmail stores emails (if each email is a 
different file). AFAIK, this is a known problem with clustered mails 
servers.


--

Kind Regards
Rudi Ahlers
CEO, SoftDux

Web:   http://www.SoftDux.com
Check out my technical blog, http://blog.softdux.com for Linux or other 
technical stuff, or visit http://www.WebHostingTalk.co.za for Web Hosting stuff

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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Rudi Ahlers]

John R Pierce wrote:

Rudi Ahlers wrote:
Sorry guys, I want to stick with a SMTP / IMAP / POP3 server, not 
webmail. I'll be using Horde for webmail as well though






there are two general classes of clustered systems, high availability, 
and high performance.


HA clusters are usually active/standby, and might use stuff like 
heartbeat, drbd, etc.


HP clusters are either load balanced, or active/active...  Things that 
demand ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) like 
databases, mail servers are very complex to cluster this way on a 
active/active (aka multimaster) environment while maintaining the 
integrity and a reasonable performance.  just implementing load 
balancing does not by itself provide any redundancy in case of 
component failure.   A simple load balancing scenario for a mail 
server might be having one server to handle all internet mail incoming 
and outgoing, while another server handles local users reading their 
mail (eg, pop or imap)


its best to define your requirements and expectations before diving 
into these waters, as clusters can be far more complex and intricate 
to configure and administrate than discrete systems.


re: mail servers specifically, there are two seperate classes of 
storage that would need replication...  One is the mail spools and 
queues as used by the MTA (postfix, sendmail, etc), and the other are 
the user mail folder(s) as used by the local delivery agent (procmail 
or whattever), and read by the mail client (pop, imap).


___

Ok, I see where you're going, and a bit of clarification is needed :)

I need a simple failover type cluster, where any 1 of the 2 machines 
currently in the "cluster" can handle anything. The client (a small 
rural clinic) is 700KM's away, and they do have frequent power failures, 
so bad that even the UPS' lifespan has shorten. This is a donated 
project, so funds (and hence equipment / reliable equipment) is limited. 
We currently have 2servers with Dual Core PIV + 2GB RAM + 2x 160GB HDD's 
each. The HDD's is setup on RAID1, and the two servers replicate MySQL 
on an active/active (Master - Master) replication. The intranet site & 
file server data is being replicated via rsync. This all works well, but 
I need a mail server.


The main server will store all the emails (like an exchange server 
does), the users will use IMAP (so, a) it's backed up & b) they can 
always access their email from any workstation) & SMTP, with the ability 
to use POP3 from home / on the road. It would be nice to have a shared 
calendar & address book as well, so something like phpgroupware / open 
exchange / etc would be nice.


But, I don't need load balancing, just high availability

--

Kind Regards
Rudi Ahlers
CEO, SoftDux

Web:   http://www.SoftDux.com
Check out my technical blog, http://blog.softdux.com for Linux or other 
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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[John R Pierce]

Christopher Chan wrote:


re: mail servers specifically, there are two seperate classes of 
storage that would need replication...  One is the mail spools and 
queues as used by the MTA (postfix, sendmail, etc), and the other are 
the user mail folder(s) as used by the local delivery agent (procmail 
or whattever), and read by the mail client (pop, imap).


No, mail spools/queues do not need replication. Stuff in the queue are 
usually deleted in a second and such dynamic change is not worth 
replicating. If you do put the queue on a distributed filesystem, in 
most cases you cannot have more than one instance running save for 
sendmail.




outbound mail can sit in queues retrying for hours negotiating their way 
into the greylists of the likes of Yahoo.I guess if you don't mind 
the possibility of messages getting lost around a server failure event, 
then its no big deal, for sure.



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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Rudi Ahlers]

John R Pierce wrote:

Christopher Chan wrote:


re: mail servers specifically, there are two seperate classes of 
storage that would need replication...  One is the mail spools and 
queues as used by the MTA (postfix, sendmail, etc), and the other 
are the user mail folder(s) as used by the local delivery agent 
(procmail or whattever), and read by the mail client (pop, imap).


No, mail spools/queues do not need replication. Stuff in the queue 
are usually deleted in a second and such dynamic change is not worth 
replicating. If you do put the queue on a distributed filesystem, in 
most cases you cannot have more than one instance running save for 
sendmail.




outbound mail can sit in queues retrying for hours negotiating their 
way into the greylists of the likes of Yahoo.I guess if you don't 
mind the possibility of messages getting lost around a server failure 
event, then its no big deal, for sure.



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No, I'm not concerned about outbound mail. Chances are if the server's 
HDD has crashed, the email will either still be on the user's PC, or on 
the 2nd server. Or if it's not the HDD, then the email will be sent once 
the server is back online again.


I'm concerned about mail storage, since the server & USB HDD is the only 
backups. The users PC's isn't being backed up, everything on the LAN 
resides on the two servers, and one of the two servers backup to a USB 
HDD every night


--

Kind Regards
Rudi Ahlers
CEO, SoftDux

Web:   http://www.SoftDux.com
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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Christopher Chan]

Rudi Ahlers wrote:

Karanbir Singh wrote:

Rudi Ahlers wrote:
Well, that's one of the problems I foresee, but also the fact that 
each email has a unique message ID, so I don't know if the backup 
server will pickup the changed messages ID's or not? I have been 
thinking of running a MySQL backed mail server, but have a feeling it 
will have a heavy impact on performance



I'm referring to the way qmail stores emails (if each email is a 
different file). AFAIK, this is a known problem with clustered mails 
servers.




Maildir is in use by almost all MTAs available on Unix/Linux or can be 
supported by available LDA's such as procmail/maildrop. Keeping the mail 
store in sync with the backup server whether by rsync or instantly by 
using a distributed filesystem will solve whatever problem you are 
thinking of in this respect.

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Re: [CentOS] clustered mail server?

[Christopher Chan]

No, mail spools/queues do not need replication. Stuff in the queue are 
usually deleted in a second and such dynamic change is not worth 
replicating. If you do put the queue on a distributed filesystem, in 
most cases you cannot have more than one instance running save for 
sendmail.




outbound mail can sit in queues retrying for hours negotiating their way 
into the greylists of the likes of Yahoo.I guess if you don't mind 
the possibility of messages getting lost around a server failure event, 
then its no big deal, for sure.




That only leaves putting the queue on a distributed filesystem. 
Replication will not be a complete solution to that and qmail queues 
cannot be replicated.


Then there is the question of whether to leave a message in the queue 
for more than 4 hours given the expectation of email to be more or less 
instantaneous.

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