how to speed up connection to a imap server

how to speed up connection to a imap server

[Uwe Brauer]

Hello

It seems that the connection to my imap server gets slower and slower
(I have agentized the server). 

I have the following setting

(setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
      '(
	(nnimap "ucimap.ucm.es" (nnimap-stream network))))

Is there any way of speeding up the connection to that server, by
setting additional parameters depending on the character of this imap
server? Like setting the nnimap-server-port explicitly to 143  so
something like this.

thanks

Uwe Brauer 

Re: how to speed up connection to a imap server

[Tassilo Horn]

Uwe Brauer <oub@mat.ucm.es> writes:

Hi Uwe,

> It seems that the connection to my imap server gets slower and slower
> (I have agentized the server).
>
> I have the following setting
>
> (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
>       '(
> 	(nnimap "ucimap.ucm.es" (nnimap-stream network))))
>
> Is there any way of speeding up the connection to that server, by
> setting additional parameters depending on the character of this imap
> server? Like setting the nnimap-server-port explicitly to 143 so
> something like this.

I think you've already done that implicitly by setting nnimap-stream to
network and thus forbidding encrypted connections.  Is that really what
you want?  The overhead of encrytion (if there's any) won't make a
difference compared to the normal network latency.

The only thing that will speed up things quite a lot is to install a
local imap server and let gnus connect to it.  Syncing between
ucimap.ucm.es and the local server can be done with offlineimap [1], for
example.

Bye,
Tassilo
__________
[1] http://software.complete.org/software/projects/show/offlineimap

Re: how to speed up connection to a imap server

[Uwe Brauer]

>>>>> "Tassilo" == Tassilo Horn <tassilo@member.fsf.org> writes:

   > Uwe Brauer <oub@mat.ucm.es> writes:
   > Hi Uwe,


   > I think you've already done that implicitly by setting nnimap-stream to
   > network and thus forbidding encrypted connections.  Is that really what
   > you want?  The overhead of encrytion (if there's any) won't make a
   > difference compared to the normal network latency.


Well yes, the 993 port is dead slow :'(

   > The only thing that will speed up things quite a lot is to install a
   > local imap server and let gnus connect to it.  Syncing between
   > ucimap.ucm.es and the local server can be done with offlineimap [1], for
   > example.
That is an interesting idea. Have you done it? Which imap server do you
recommend?

Uwe 

Re: how to speed up connection to a imap server

[Tassilo Horn]

Uwe Brauer <oub@mat.ucm.es> writes:

Hi Uwe,

>    > The only thing that will speed up things quite a lot is to install a
>    > local imap server and let gnus connect to it.  Syncing between
>    > ucimap.ucm.es and the local server can be done with offlineimap [1], for
>    > example.
>
> That is an interesting idea.  Have you done it?

Yes.

> Which imap server do you recommend?

I use dovecot.  It's not too hard to configure and doesn't have a big
memory footprint.  And I use offlineimap to sync my two imap accounts
with the local dovecot server.

Several others on the list use the same setup, AFAICT.

Bye,
Tassilo

Re: how to speed up connection to a imap server

[Uwe Brauer]

>>>>> "Tassilo" == Tassilo Horn <tassilo@member.fsf.org> writes:


   > Yes.

   >> Which imap server do you recommend?

   > I use dovecot.  It's not too hard to configure and doesn't have a big
   > memory footprint.  And I use offlineimap to sync my two imap accounts
   > with the local dovecot server.

   > Several others on the list use the same setup, AFAICT.

Well the devecot server is also a debian/ubuntu pkg and so I installed
it.

Is it too much to ask you for your configuration files (without psswd
and other information). 
For devecot, offlineimap and gnus.
That would be a great help. I presume you run
offlineimap periodically via cron or something like this.
Maybe it would be a good idea to include such a configuration example
also in the gnus manual. 

regards

Uwe 

PS when using F runs `gnus-article-followup-with-original' it seems that
gnus only answers to the list but no cc to your from address, I just
wonder what is the reason for this.

Re: how to speed up connection to a imap server

[Tassilo Horn]

Uwe Brauer <oub@mat.ucm.es> writes:

Hi Uwe,

> Well the devecot server is also a debian/ubuntu pkg and so I installed
> it.

Here's the dovecot config file.  It ships with an example config which
describes all options, so I removed the comments here.

,----[ /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf ]
| version_ignore=yes
| first_valid_uid = 1
| log_path = /var/log/dovecot.log
| ssl_cert_file = /etc/ssl/dovecot/server.pem
| ssl_key_file = /etc/ssl/dovecot/server.key
| mail_location = maildir:/var/spool/mail/%u
| maildir_copy_with_hardlinks = yes
| 
| protocol imap {
|   listen = 127.0.0.1:143
|   ssl_listen = 127.0.0.1:943
| }
|   
| auth default {
|   mechanisms = plain
|   # defines users/passwords
|   passdb passwd-file {
|     args = /etc/dovecot/passwd
|   }
| 
|   userdb static {
|     args = uid=mail gid=mail home=/var/spool/mail/%u
|   }
| }
`----

I named the users according the foreign IMAP accounts, one user per
account.

,----[ /etc/dovecot/passwd ]
| fastmail:{PLAIN}MY_PASSWORD
| uni:{PLAIN}MY_OTHER_PASSWORD
`----

And this is the ~/.offlineimaprc:

,----[ ~/.offlineimaprc ]
| [general]
| accounts = Fastmail, Uni
| ui = Noninteractive.Basic
| maxsyncaccounts = 1
| 
| [Account Fastmail]
| localrepository = FastmailLocal
| remoterepository = FastmailRemote
| quick = 0
| 
| [Repository FastmailLocal]
| type = IMAP
| ssl = no
| remotehost = localhost
| remoteuser = fastmail
| remotepass = MY_PASSWORD
| maxconnections = 2
| 
| [Repository FastmailRemote]
| type = IMAP
| ssl =yes
| remotehost = mail.messagingengine.com
| remoteuser = thorn@fastmail.fm
| remotepass = FOREIGN_PASSWORD
| maxconnections = 2
| 
| [Account Uni]
| localrepository = UniLocal
| remoterepository = UniRemote
| 
| [Repository UniLocal]
| type = IMAP
| ssl = no
| remotehost = localhost
| remoteuser = uni
| remotepass = MY_OTHER_PASSWORD
| maxconnections = 2
| 
| [Repository UniRemote]
| type = IMAP
| ssl =yes
| remotehost = mail.uni-koblenz.de
| remoteuser = horn
| remotepass = OTHER_FOREIGN_PASSWORD
| maxconnections = 2
| # Don't sync shared folders
| folderfilter = lambda foldername: not re.search('Shared Folders', foldername)
`----

In Gnus I connect to the local server twice with different
users/passwords:

,----[ ~/.gnus.el ]
| (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
| 	     '(nnimap "Fastmail"
| 		      (nnimap-address "localhost")
| 		      (nnimap-stream network)
| 		      (nnimap-authenticator login)))
| 
| (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
| 	     '(nnimap "Uni"
| 		      (nnimap-address "localhost")
| 		      (nnimap-stream network)
| 		      (nnimap-authenticator login)))
`----

The usernames/passwords are in my ~/.authinfo:

,----[ ~/.authinfo ]
| machine Fastmail login fastmail password MY_PASSWORD force yes
| machine Uni login uni password MY_OTHER_PASSWORD force yes
`----


> Is it too much to ask you for your configuration files (without psswd
> and other information).

Done. ;-)

> I presume you run offlineimap periodically via cron or something like
> this.

Yes, I use cron.  But offlineimap can run forever, checking for mail
every X minutes, too.  Whatever you like best.  I prefer cron so that I
can log the output and add some timestamps and stuff.

> Maybe it would be a good idea to include such a configuration example
> also in the gnus manual.

Why not.  Feel free to format the configs in TexInfo and send a patch.

Bye,
Tassilo
-- 
When Chuck Norris wants an egg, he cracks open a chicken. 

Re: how to speed up connection to a imap server

[Uwe Brauer]

>>>>> "Tassilo" == Tassilo Horn <tassilo@member.fsf.org> writes:

   > Uwe Brauer <oub@mat.ucm.es> writes:
   > Hi Uwe,

   >> Well the devecot server is also a debian/ubuntu pkg and so I installed
   >> it.


   >> Is it too much to ask you for your configuration files (without psswd
   >> and other information).

   > Done. ;-)
thanks very much, I will test this soon.

   >> Maybe it would be a good idea to include such a configuration example
   >> also in the gnus manual.

   > Why not.  Feel free to format the configs in TexInfo and send a patch.

Right I will try that.

regards

Uwe