ibiblio services/changes announcement list

[Don Sizemore <dls AT metalab.unc.edu>]

Executive Summary:
-----------------

1) All folks using mail.ibiblio.org for their e-mail should make sure 
their login accounts aren't locked.

2) Spamassasin users should clean their user_prefs per Nic pioch's 
instructions (below, section 2).

3) All spamassasin users should be aware of the "spamassassin --lint"
command to check for config errors after every change to user_prefs
to help keep our spamd logs clean.


Full Text:
----------

  Hi ibiblio-announce,

  Since we've enabled network-based SpamAssassin checks on our mail 
server, we have enjoyed much more accurate spam assassination. 
Unfortunately the addition of the network check traffic, along with the 
additional NFS overhead (most mail is now going straight into spam folders 
instead of local inboxes) has translated into the mail server's network 
connection nearing saturation at peak times.  In short, as you may have 
noticed, mail has been slow.

  We're preparing to transition our e-mail service onto newer, beefier 
hardware, which will give us more inbox storage among other things, but 
will *not* address the throughput issue.  As such, we are launching a 
three-pronged attack to reduce the network load on our mail server as it 
deals with an ever-increasing deluge of spam.  We'll need your help.

1) Locked Accounts:
   ---------------
Many accounts that have long been locked on login.ibiblio.org are still 
accepting mail, and storing it.  In February we will begin removing these 
accounts' entries from the mail server (NOT the stored e-mail), so that 
any account which has been locked on login.ibiblio.org will return a 'user 
unknown' error.

WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU:

If you use ibiblio for your e-mail or if your ibiblio e-mail is forwarded 
to another account, please take a moment to be sure your account is not 
locked by simply logging in to login.ibiblio.org.  If you get a message 
that the account has been locked, drop a note to help AT ibiblio.org and 
we'll unlock it.  If you need help logging in, please first check 
http://www.ibiblio.org/faq/?sid=2#1 or mail help AT ibiblio.org

Note that we're not actually deleting the e-mail (or your files) but only 
the line in our mail server's list of users.  This means an easy fix if we 
remove your entry by mistake.

2) Spam Assassin configuration:
   ---------------------------

If you have set up spam assassin in the past, you may have customized it 
to suit your needs.  Our resident mail master Nic Pioch recommends:

SA on ibiblio.org should run fine with a totally empty

  ~/.spamassassin/user_prefs

and I'd actually recommend disabling all possible "tweaks" you may have 
had to add in the past to compensate SA's ineffectiveness from the times 
where network tests were skipped...

Just keep your personal "whitelist_from" rules, and adjust your spam
tolerance as appropriate, for instance

required_score 3
score RCVD_IN_BL_SPAMCOP_NET 3


WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU:

Please do take a moment to examine your SpamAssassin preference file, and 
remove any customizations that you might possibly live without.  Be sure 
to keep a backup copy, just in case.  The network checks have turned our 
mail server into an effective assassination station, and custom rules 
serve to drive up the system load, and in some cases generate errors:

3) ~/.spamassassin/user_prefs Errors
   -----------------------------------
We're seeing many and varied error messages out of spamd in our mail log. 
We will be addressing these on a case-by-case basis, first attempting to 
contact the user in question, then by simply commenting out the offending 
lines if necessary.  These errors drive up the system load at least and 
can hang for long periods waiting on I/O at worst.

To check your SpamAssassin configuration, log in to login.ibiblio.org and:

  $ spamassassin --lint


  I hope this message doesn't come across as heavy-handed, as we are 
undertaking all of this in an effort to provide improved, more responsive 
mail service to our contributor community.

  If you're worried about your entry on the mail server, take a moment to 
log in to login.ibiblio.org and make sure that your account isn't locked.

  If you haven't set up Spam Assassin on your ibiblio account but would 
like to, please see http://www.ibiblio.org/spam/safirsttime.html

  If you have any other questions or concerns, please drop a note to 
help AT ibiblio.org.

  thank you,                                    919.962.5646 w
  donald sizemore, ii                           919.260.4915 c
  ibiblio.org n stoof                           919.962.8071 f