
Mailbox Distribution
********************

Prior to Cyrus IMAP version 2.5.0, when creating a mailbox, should no
target partition have been specified, the mailbox is either created
on:

* the configured "defaultserver", or

* the server that is found to have the most free disk space, and

* the configured "defaultpartition", or

* the most fitting partition if "defaultpartition" is not
  configured.

New configuration options are available since Cyrus IMAP 2.5.0, that
allow more weighted and better balanced backend and partition
selection.


Partition Selection Mode
========================

Among the partitions, how the most fitting one is selected depends on
the configured selection mode, using the "partition_select_mode"
setting in imapd.conf(5).

-[ Available Selection Modes ]-


Example Scenario for Selection Modes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Suppose that the partitions configured are:

+-------------+-----------+----------+-------+
| Partition   | Total     | Free     | %     |
+=============+===========+==========+=======+
| "part1"     | 1000 GB   | 400 GB   | 40%   |
+-------------+-----------+----------+-------+
| "part2"     | 1000 GB   | 600 GB   | 60%   |
+-------------+-----------+----------+-------+
| "part3"     | 100 GB    | 30 GB    | 30%   |
+-------------+-----------+----------+-------+
| "part4"     | 100 GB    | 70 GB    | 70%   |
+-------------+-----------+----------+-------+

* **random**

  Choice is (pseudo-)random. Each partition has the same probability
  of being selected.

* **freespace-most**

  The partition which has the most absolute free space (counted in KiB
  units) is selected.

  In the example scenario, "part2" would be selected as most fitting,
  since 600 GB of free space is the biggest of all partitions.

* **freespace-percent-most**

  The partition which has the most relative free space (counted in
  percentiles) is selected.

  In the example scenario, "part4" would be selected as most fitting,
  since 70% of free space is the biggest of all partitions.

* **freespace-percent-weighted**

  For each partition, the percentage of free space is its weight. Then
  a weighted choice is performed to select one of those partitions.

  As such, the more free space the partition has, the higher its
  chances to be selected.

  In the example scenario, the weight of each partition would be:

  * 40 for "part1"

  * 60 for "part2"

  * 30 for "part3"

  * 70 for "part4"

  The sum of all weights being 200, the probability for each partition
  to be selected as most fitting is:

  * 20% for "part1"

  * 30% for "part2"

  * 15% for "part3"

  * 35% for "part4"

  Out of 20 (hypothetically empty) mailboxes to be created, chances
  are:

  * 4 are created on "part1"

  * 6 are created on "part2"

  * 3 are created on "part3"

  * 7 are created on "part4"

  Note: In "freespace-percent-weighted" mode, partitions percentage
    usages converge towards 100%. So if they have different usages,
    those differences will stay and only really diminish upon reaching
    100% of usage.You may also observe growing differences between
    partitions usage when those partitions do not have the same total
    disk space.

**freespace-percent-weighted-delta**

   As for "freespace-percent-weighted", a weight is associated to each
   partition. It is computed as follows:

      free - leastfree + 0.5

   Then a weighted choice is performed to select one of those
   partitions.

   As such, considering the percentages of usage, the more the
   partition is lagging behind the most used partition (which is the
   one with the lowest **percentage** of free space), the higher its
   chances are to be selected.

   Note: The added 0.5 in partitions weight causes the selection to
     get smoother the more partitions get close to each other.

   In the example scenario, the weight of each partition would be:

   * For "part1": 40 - 30 + 0.5 = 10.5

   * For "part2": 60 - 30 + 0.5 = 30.5

   * For "part3": 30 - 30 + 0.5 = 00.5

   * For "part4": 70 - 30 + 0.5 = 40.5

   The sum of all weights amounting to 82, the probability for each
   partition to be selected as most fitting would be:

   * For "part1": 12.8%

   * For "part2": 37.2%

   * For "part3": 00.6%

   * For "part4": 49.4%

   Note: In "freespace-percent-weighted-delta" mode, partitions
     percentage usages converge towards the most used one, after which
     partitions usages grow equally.


Special Cases
-------------


Q: What happens when two partitions are equal as most fitting?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suppose you are using the "freespace-most" selection mode, that two
(or more) partitions have the same free size, and that this freespace
happens to be the biggest one of all configured partitions.

In that case, only one of those partitions will be selected. You may
not know in advance which one will be: it depends of the order in
which configured partitions are stored in memory ("hashtable"). In
particular, it may not be the first one that appears listed in your
imapd.conf(5) configuration file.

Also note that since the selected partition will now have less free
space, it shall not be seen as most fitting next time.


Q: What happens when two partitions point to the same device?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suppose you are using the "freespace-most" or "freespace-percent-most"
selection mode, and that two (or more) partitions actually point to a
different directory on the same filesystem.

In that case, only one of those partitions will be checked, as if the
others were not configured. Cyrus IMAP uses the device id of the
partition hierarchy for this. You may not know in advance which one
will be: it depends of the order in which configured partitions are
stored in memory ("hashtable"). In particular, it may not be the first
one that appears listed in your imapd.conf(5) configuration file.


Excluding Partitions
--------------------

**partition_select_exclude**

   Partitions listed in the "partition_select_exclude" setting in
   imapd.conf(5) are permanently excluded from being selected.

   Listed partition's names are separated by spaces and/or commas.
   Only configured partition names (and not paths) are expected.

   With the following configuration in imapd.conf(5), "parta" and
   "partb" would be permanently excluded from being selected:

      partition-part1: /path/to/part1
      partition-part2: /path/to/part2
      partition-part3: /path/to/part3
      partition-part4: /path/to/part4
      partition-parta: /path/to/parta
      partition-partb: /path/to/partb

      partition_mode_exclude: parta partb

**partition_select_soft_usage_limit**

   When using a selection mode other than "random", partitions are
   automatically excluded if their usage percentage is beyond the
   "partition_select_soft_usage_limit" integer setting.

   If all partitions are beyond the configured value, this feature is
   automatically deactivated. A partition is thus selected as if the
   setting was not configured.

   In the example scenario, setting "partition_mode_soft_usage_limit"
   to "50" would exclude partitions "part1" and "part3" since their
   disk usages are 60% and 70% respectively.

   But setting the option to "20" would have no immediate effect on
   the selection of a partition, since the usage of all partitions is
   beyond 20%.

Important: **Exclusion is not absolute**Partitions are only excluded
  when creating a new user mailbox according to the configured
  selection mode.If you explicitly specify an excluded partition, the
  mailbox will be created on that partition.Mailboxes previously
  created on such partitions are of course still accessible, and
  subfolders are by default still created on the same partition as the
  parent folder.


Partition's Usage Information Reset
-----------------------------------

By default, partition's usage information is retrieved only once --
when the service first initializes.

If you tend to use the same service instance for a long lapse of time
and performs a large amount of mailbox creations, it may be useful to
configure the "partition_select_usage_reinit" setting so that each
partition's usage information is refreshed after the configured number
of creation requests.

Note: This only concerns selection modes other than *random`*.


Backend Selection Mode (Cyrus IMAP Murder)
==========================================

Upon creating a user mailbox, if the target server is not given as
extra parameter, the mailbox is created on either;

* the configured "defaultserver" backend

* the most fitting backend (partition) among the servers listed in
  the "serverlist" setting, if "defaultserver" is not configured.

-[ Related Settings ]-

* "serverlist_select_mode"

* "serverlist_select_usage_reinit"

* "serverlist_select_soft_usage_limit"


Available Selection Modes on Frontend
-------------------------------------

**random**

   The selection is (pseudo-)random. Each backend has the same
   probability of being selected.


Example Scenario for Selection Modes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Suppose that the partitions configured are:

+-----------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-------+
| Backend   | Partition   | Total     | Free      | %     |
+===========+=============+===========+===========+=======+
| "be1"     |             | 2000 GB   | 1000 GB   | 50%   |
+-----------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-------+
|           | "part1"     | 1000 GB   | 500 GB    | 50%   |
+-----------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-------+
|           | "part2"     | 1000 GB   | 500 GB    | 50%   |
+-----------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-------+
| "be2"     |             | 2000 GB   | 900 GB    | 45%   |
+-----------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-------+
|           | "part1"     | 1000 GB   | 200 GB    | 20%   |
+-----------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-------+
|           | "part2"     | 1000 GB   | 700 GB    | 70%   |
+-----------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-------+
| "be3"     |             | 200 GB    | 110 GB    | 55%   |
+-----------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-------+
|           | "part1"     | 100 GB    | 30 GB     | 30%   |
+-----------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-------+
|           | "part2"     | 100 GB    | 80 GB     | 80%   |
+-----------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-------+

**freespace-most**

   The backend which has the most absolute free space (counted in KiB
   units) is selected.

   Note: The considered free space is the sum of the free space on
     all available partitions on the backend.

   In the example scenario, "be1" would be selected as most fitting,
   since 1000 GB of free space is the most of all backends.

**freespace-percent-most**

   On each backend, only the partition with the most percentage of
   free space is considered. The selected backend is the one whose
   partition has the highest percentage of free space.

   In the example scenario, "be3" would be selected as most fitting,
   since it has a partition with 80% of free space which is the
   highest of all backends.

**freespace-percent-weighted**

   On each backend, only the partition with the most percentage of
   free space is considered: this is the backend weight. Then a
   weighted choice is performed to select one of the backends.

   In the example scenario, the weight of each backend would be:

   * 50 for "be1"

   * 70 for "be2"

   * 80 for "be3"

   The sum of all weights being 200, the probability for each backend
   to be selected as most fitting would be:

   * 25% for "be1"

   * 35% for "be2"

   * 40% for "be3"

**freespace-percent-weighted-delta**

   On each backend, only the partition with the most percentage of
   free space is considered.

   Like with "freespace-percent-weighted", a weight is associated to
   each backend. It is computed as follows:

      free - leastfree + 0.5

   Then a weighted choice is performed to select one of the backends.

   In the example scenario, the weight of each backend would be:

   * For "be1": 50 - 50 + 0.5 = 0.5

   * For "be2": 70 - 50 + 0.5 = 20.5

   * For "be3": 80 - 50 + 0.5 = 30.5

   Then the probability for each backend to be selected as most
   fitting would be:

   * 1.0% for "be1"

   * 39.8% for "be2"

   * 59.2% for "be3"


Excluding Backends
------------------

When using a selection mode other than "random", backends are
automatically excluded if their considered usage percentage is beyond
the "serverlist_select_soft_usage_limit" integer setting.


Backend's Usage Information Reset
---------------------------------

By default backends usage data are retrieved only once upon service
initialization.

Note: This only concerns selection modes other than "random".

If you tend to use the same service instance for a long lapse of time
and performs a large amounts of mailbox creations, it may be useful to
configure the "serverlist_select_usage_reinit" so that the backend's
disk usage information is refreshed after the configured number of
creation requests.

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