2 issues about mail and quota's

[hires]

Hello all,

I have a server full of clients but I seem to run into the same issues every time again. The first issue is that accounts reach their quota all the time. I have checked the mailbox sizes and if they are set to a specific amount, I always ask the users if there is a specific reason for that; otherwize: I advise them to set it back to unlimited. After that I check what is the most data within the account: 9 of 10 times it still is the mail that is in the 'new' folder of the mail folder on the server. A lot of clients tell me that they are not using the setting in there mail program to same mail on the server. I have checked this setting with about half of the clients and sometimes indeed the setting is not set to save mail on the server. I am wandering why the mail folder is still collecting all that mail which was already contained by the user.

The second issue is that when the account is running full and reaches the quota (and the cause of it is the big mailbox on the server again..) then the user receives instantly the complete list of mails which is on the server on that moment. One client received 7000 mails at one time. I have to say: it seems like it goes two ways: 1. the account reached the quota, and 2. the mailbox folder 'new' is hugh. I cannot get it clear what is the cause of this.

This doens't seem to happen with all the clients! The setting is that the account is not 'locked' when an account reaches the max. quota, but some of the clients don't seem to have any problem (they not calling me) and the others will experience that all the mail in the 'new' and 'cur' folder is coming in.

The main issue is that I cannot understand while this all is happening. Could someone help meout in how some settings are involved in this issue or what the cause might be?

Thanks in advance.

 

[nobaloney]

Are you writing that even when users do not select save email on server or similar on their local mail client, that the server is saving the mail?

Are you using Dovecot/Maildir?

Does the mailbox ever actually empty, and then fill again? Or does it always retain all old messages?

Are users with the problem using the catchall setting?

Jeff

 

[hires]

Hi,

Yes, in some cases the settings on the client computers were active: the setting of 'saving mail on the server' but in other cases the setting was off. THe client tells me in taht case that he is using one computer and when we check that setting, it is off.

I use Dovecot, yes; here's my complete setup:
Apache 2.2.14
DirectAdmin 1.34.5
Exim 4.71
MySQL 5.1.42
Named 9.3.6
ProFTPd 1.3.2c
sshd
dovecot 1.2.9

Not all customers have this problem. So some have, some don't. I didn't check yet if the mailboxes are emptied, but I hear customers saying that day get their mail on a daily basis. When I check the 'new' folder, yes, it's empty, but the 'cur' folder is growing. And that, is with a lot of clients.

I know that Apple's Thunderbird has the option 'save mail on the server' on as default. But MS Outlook doesn't as far as I know, so I was wandering why so many customers are reporting this issue. It's the main issue I get messages from.

Catch all... I must check this more often. But I had a few cases where catch all was off, so in those cases that wasn't the cause.

 

[nobaloney]

I've never had the problem, so I can't comment further. Others have posted previously on how to write scripts to empty mailboxes after time; you may want to look into that.

Have you checked Dovecot configurations to determine if there's a setting that leaves mail on the server as a default?

You might also want to make sure there aren't any connection interruptions during mail delivery; while this is a long shot, Dovecot may not delete messages if the download was interrupted because it cannot be sure what was received and what wasn't.

Otherwise all we can do is wait to see if anyone else posts that they have the problem. If no one else reports the problem, and google doesn't find you answers, then you must presume it's something going on with your server.

Jeff

 

[hires]

Thanks for the input Jeff.
I might have to check with my customers better if they use one or more pc's where this specific 'save on the server' setting is active. Also Apple computers use this settings as default, so maybe I have al lot of apple customers.

If anyone still can say anything about this, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.