Posts tagged Thunderbird
KDE – Kmail
Dec 10th
I like kmail. It is the default mail client for KDE desktops. I have used Thunderbird for a long time now, but kmail is equivalent. So is evolution, which I use as well. Ultimately they all do the same thing; they are mail clients. Each one has comparable features, although they all look slightly different. I tend to use Thunderbird, but have grown an affinity for kmail. In particular, when Using Gnome I use Thunderbird, and when using KDE I use kmail.
Your Server – The Boot Process
Dec 9th
You want to isolate all your server features into background process. You don’t want any server features to be dependent on graphical or client side applications. I previously had my mail server dependent on the client side filtering capabilities of Thunderbird. This was a no no because it required me to maintain a desktop session. This was not optimal because during the day the desktop session was swapped to the hard drive and this caused substantial system lag when coming back to use the desktop. Now with VBoxTool, the web server is automatically booted with the host system, and all functions on the server are consolidated to background processes; there is no more dependency on client side filtering. The MythTV server also boots with the host, and the first screen the host encounters is the GDM login. Now the system is secure. Passwords are required to enter the system as a user.
Swap Lag – Time to Retreive Data
Oct 25th
I have a virtual machine, a MythTV server, and an email server running on my computer at home. The compiz desktop environment will lag substantially when I get home from work. I conclude that this is because during the day the desktop interface is not being use therefore it is thrown to the swap. There are several things that can be done to alleviate this lag.
1) The easiest thing to do is turn the swap off completely. This is done with a simple command:
sudo swapoff -a
2) I can logout of the desktop session to the GDM window.
Then after logging in the desktop session will be new in memory and will be responsive accordingly. The problem with this is that I need Thunderbird for its mail filtering capabilities. I can do mail filtering server level with Sieve, but I cannot get it to work right. I don’t know why it wont work, but to get around the problem, and achieve the same functionality, I use Thunderbird which is a graphical application. TO use Thunderbird I need the Gnome desktop fully loaded. EOS (End of Story).
3) To help with the situation you can renice running processes to help you desktop environment get better priority with the processor. Overall I wish I could get Sieve working, then I could just logout of the desktop session when I am done using it. The server would just run in the background using a “nohup” command, but im stuck with needing Thunderbird’s mail filtering. So for now I’ve turned the swap off to maintain system responsiveness. This is working ok because of the 8 gigs the system has. I will try to get Sieve working again.
Ubuntu – Debian Spamassassin Integrate into Sendmail
Jul 24th
Ive had a mail server for a long time. Ive always used the built in Spamassasin that Thunderbird uses. I recently got a blackberry and was receiving the spam even though Thunderbird was successfully filtering the spam to the Junk folder. This is because the MTA, Dovecot in my instance, was transferring the mail to Thunderbird and the Blackberry at the same time leaving the mail unfiltered on the Blackberry. To resolve this I required server side spam labeling and filtering. First the mails needed to be labeled as spam. Spamassasin does this nicely. Install Spamassasin using:
sudo apt-get install spamassassin spamass-milter
Then in your sendmail.mc config file add:
# spamassassin settings INPUT_MAIL_FILTER(`spamassassin',`S=local:/var/run/spamass/spamass.sock, F=,T=S:4m;R:4m;E:10m')dnl
Now your going to configure Spamassassin to label spam mails as such. Open the config file with:
sudo nano /etc/mail/spamassassin/local.cf
Remove the pound # sign to uncomment:
rewrite_header Subject *****SPAM***** required_score 5.0 use_bayes 1 bayes_auto_learn 1
Make sure you build the sendmail.cf file. Restart sendmail. Now you have to train Spamassassin. In Thunderbird you have to sort all known spam to a particular folder. Place 200 or so spam messages in the Junk folder completely without any good emails. Then run:
sa-learn --showdots --mbox --spam mail/Junk
The above snipped is run from your users root directory. You can cd to the mail directory and run:
sa-learn --showdots --mbox --spam Junk
Then place known good emails in a particular directory and run:
sa-learn --showdots --mbox --ham mail/temp
Run this every once in a while to increase the accuracy of your spam filter. I have excellent spam detection after only a couple of days of training.
