Tickets :: [#14885] not responding mail server renders rest of Horde unusable

6.0.0-beta1

7/27/25

Summary	not responding mail server renders rest of Horde unusable
Queue	IMP
Queue Version	FRAMEWORK_5_2
Type	Enhancement
State	Rejected
Priority	1. Low
Owners
Requester	birnbacs (at) gmail (dot) com
Created	01/09/2019 (2391 days ago)
Due	08/01/2019 (2187 days ago)
Updated	01/09/2019 (2391 days ago)
Assigned
Resolved	01/09/2019 (2391 days ago)
Milestone
Patch	No

01/09/2019 10:44:16 PM	birnbacs (at) gmail (dot) com	Comment #9	Reply to this comment
The gentle request for a communication timeout in IMP is intended to enhance Horde performance in all setups with one or more Horde applications besides IMP. Can be configured in horde/imp/config/backends.local.php. See the comments horde/imp/config/backends.php, which we would have told you right away if asked on the mailinglist. I do apologize sincerely and formally. Again, go to the mailinglists if you need support to configure Horde. This is not the right place to ask.

01/09/2019 07:33:51 PM	build+horde (at) de-korte (dot) org	Comment #8	Reply to this comment
The gentle request for a communication timeout in IMP is intended to enhance Horde performance in all setups with one or more Horde applications besides IMP. Can be configured in horde/imp/config/backends.local.php. See the comments horde/imp/config/backends.php, which we would have told you right away if asked on the mailinglist. Again, go to the mailinglists if you need support to configure Horde. This is not the right place to ask.

01/09/2019 03:41:58 PM	birnbacs (at) gmail (dot) com	Comment #7	Reply to this comment
It is your server, you decide what authentication you configure. Make it so. Just to make sure everybody is on the same track: this is not about authentication. It's about communication. Between IMP and the mail server. Which may block other Horde apps.

01/09/2019 03:37:45 PM	birnbacs (at) gmail (dot) com	Comment #6	Reply to this comment
It is your server, you decide what authentication you configure. Make it so. Still not an enhancement request. Not questioning your decision but if this is no RFE what would be? The gentle request for a communication timeout in IMP is intended to enhance Horde performance in all setups with one or more Horde applications besides IMP.

01/09/2019 03:25:52 PM	build+horde (at) de-korte (dot) org	Comment #5	Reply to this comment
It is your server, you decide what authentication you configure. Make it so. Still not an enhancement request.

01/09/2019 02:37:53 PM	birnbacs (at) gmail (dot) com	Comment #4	Reply to this comment
If the authentication backend (in your case IMP of IMAP) is not available, it is impossible to authenticate a user and as such pretty much everything in unavailable. There is no fallback possible in such a situation. Horde authentication is done right against the SQL database, not against the mail server. User credentials are passed to the mail server to initiate an IMAP session; the mail server will check these against the same SQL server. This makes user administration easier and a Horde session can be created even if the mail server dies. In fact, SQL authentication should be the most reliable option. Should the SQL server die, Horde will be useless anyways. Looking at your enhancement request, you'll probably want to authenticate against another (for you more reliable) backend. See the Authentication tab in horde/admin/config/config.php?app=horde

01/09/2019 02:26:35 PM	Jan Schneider	State ⇒ Rejected

01/09/2019 02:16:21 PM	build+horde (at) de-korte (dot) org	Comment #3	Reply to this comment
If the authentication backend (in your case IMP of IMAP) is not available, it is impossible to authenticate a user and as such pretty much everything in unavailable. There is no fallback possible in such a situation. Looking at your enhancement request, you'll probably want to authenticate against another (for you more reliable) backend. See the Authentication tab in horde/admin/config/config.php?app=horde

01/09/2019 02:08:10 PM	build+horde (at) de-korte (dot) org	Comment #2	Reply to this comment
This is a support question, not a bug report. Please use the mailing lists to ask for support. http://www.horde.org/mail/ contains a list of all available mailing lists. Horde, LLC also offers paid support in the event that you wish to have your problem resolved by a Horde consultant. Email info@horde.org.

01/09/2019 01:52:25 PM	birnbacs (at) gmail (dot) com	Comment #1 Priority ⇒ 1. Low State ⇒ New Patch ⇒ No Milestone ⇒ Queue ⇒ IMP Due ⇒ 08/01/2019 Summary ⇒ not responding mail server renders rest of Horde unusable Type ⇒ Enhancement	Reply to this comment
Should a mail server not respond to IMP, all other Horde apps are slowed down extremely. In present case, IMP was configured to create an IMAP session to a local mail server using the Horde user credentials. The mail server was misconfigured and took ~30 seconds for a response. Virtually all page requests to Horde cause IMP to talk to the mail server first, so each click took hals a minute. Horde was rendered practically unusable and hard to administer through the console, too. More importantly, the same problem occurs if the mail server is down. Horde should permit the use of other apps if one app faces a problem. A configurable timeout for IMP could help retaining functionality if the mail server does not respond. An error page or a notification to an administrator would be nice - but probably too much to ask for.