stopping alpine to directly contact the backend store of imap conglomerate

[Erik Quaeghebeur]

Hi,

I have the problem that I connect to an imap server, which is a front end
of a number of different servers and one way or the other, alpine
sometimes wants to communicate with the actual backend server on which my
mailboxes are located. This results in an authentication error, because
the backend server does not handle authentication (or so I understand it).

The explanation of the imap infrastructure at my institute as given by
the helpdesk:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[...]. cyrus.<institute's domain> is the pool name that encompasses IMAP
mail store used at <Institute>. The conglomerate consists of a set of
frontend servers (cyrus-fe*.<institute's domain>), a master-update server,
(which together make the backend murder look like one single unit), and a
collection of backend mail stores (mail1 - mail11.<institute's domain> --
collectively known as the murder). As noted, your mailbox is physically
located on mail6, but you should always be connecting to
cyrus.<institute's domain> (the front end servers) to access it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

To be clear: in my configuration, I only mention cyrus.<institute's
domain>.

Any easy fix, or pointers to how I can get more info to better diagnose
and then solve the problem?

TIA,

Erik

[Mark Crispin]

Instead of talking to some first-level user services droid, talk to
someone at CMU who actually understands how a Cyrus Murder cluster works,
and what sort of IMAP referrals are generated by the Murder cluster.

Such a person will understand that Alpine is following the Murder
cluster's referrals, that Cyrus specifically programmed to issue those
referrals, and what is the actual cause of the problem that is bedeviling
you.

Such people exist at CMU, including the developers of Cyrus and the Murder
clustering technology.

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

[Erik Quaeghebeur]

> Instead of talking to some first-level user services droid, talk to someone
> at CMU who actually understands how a Cyrus Murder cluster works, and what
> sort of IMAP referrals are generated by the Murder cluster.
>
> Such a person will understand that Alpine is following the Murder cluster's
> referrals, that Cyrus specifically programmed to issue those referrals, and
> what is the actual cause of the problem that is bedeviling you.

Eventually, I got hold of somebody on the mailserver team. He solved the
problem: a nonworking saslauthd.

Erik