distributed mailing list? (Was Re: [SunRescue] Question...)

[Joshua D. Boyd]

On Fri, 25 May 2001, Paul Sladen wrote:

> On Fri, 25 May 2001, Dan Debertin wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, 25 May 2001, Joshua D. Boyd wrote:
> >
> > > Anyway, getting back to the topic of mail servers.  The problem with
> > > flat files is that they can be a pain.
> > 
> > And databases aren't? How many nights have _you_ spent isamchking tables
> > and manually fixing a database because somebody did a "UPDATE" without a
> > "WHERE" clause, and reverting to backup is not an option?
> 
> Hey -- how many times have you found yourself clearing up after somebody
> did a `rm -r' without a directory.    =-)
  
Never.  I'm a programmer, not an Admin.  And on the few boxes that I
influence, rm is aliased rm -i, which helps because now people have to
consiously add a -f, and on suns, it still drills you about every file.

> > The difference between databases and flatfiles is that with a database,
> > generally when they break, the whole thing breaks. Mail is especially bad
> > for this, as it's the first thing users notice. We could drop all of our
> > outbound DS3s, randomly kill httpds, power down RADIUS servers, but if
> > people can't get their mail, _that_'s when the phones really start to ring
> > :/.
> 
> Yeah the issue of mail connectivity is a interesting one we have too!

Well, we originally were discussing writing a distributed list server,
which isn't as critical.  Other than ease of programmer use, I see no
reason to use SQL server side for normal mail delivery (no, client side is
a different issue).  And there are too many good server side mail
programs out there for a programmer to justify writing there own if they
are the type of person who would use SQL on a mail server.

--
Joshua Boyd