Cyrus IMAP and MySQL mailboxes (Building load-balancing cluster)

[Amos]

On 11/22/06, Sarah Walters <s.walters at its.uq.edu.au> wrote:
> takes us right back to the "MySQL" angle on this conversation! While
> I wouldn't want to see the actual mail stored in MySQL, you could
> make an argument for storing the mailboxes database in that way.

I seem to recall that's what they do with Zimbra. Not only something
like the mailboxes.db in MySQL, but also the Cyrus cache files within
each folder, and the squat index. I believe they now also leverage
this for fast cross-folder searching. However, like Cyrus, the
messages remain as individual files in the filesystem.

> There are lighter-weight solutions that would carry all the needed
> functionality so you wouldn't need MySQL. Of course, then you need
> a cluster for the database server too!

I believe BerkelyDB now supports clustering, but I suspect that would
cause some to shudder at the thought of such a thing. ;-)

We also have had good experience with a PostgreSQL cluster that we use
in conjunction with our RADIUS servers.

Amos