1. Terminology
To save space below, we'll use the following working names for the different pieces of hardware involved:
Main is the machine hosting most services.
Dynamic is the machine hosting member dynamic web sites and other services where we run arbitrary code written by members.
Shell is the "most anything goes" shell server.
2. Daemons shared by members
2.1. DNS
2.1.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
- Running djbdns on Main
2.1.2. Questions to be resolved
- How do we arrange redundant DNS infrastructure?
2.1.3. References to how we do things now
DnsConfiguration, DomainRegistration
2.2. FTP
2.2.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
- Run an FTP daemon on Main
- Only allow encrypted authentication methods
- Only allow users on a white-list to use FTP; they should be using SCP if possible
2.2.2. References to how we do things now
FtpConfiguration, FileTransfer
2.3. HTTP
2.3.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
- Using Apache 2
- Running all official/administrative HCoop web sites on Main
- Running all member dynamic web sites on Dynamic
2.3.2. Questions to be resolved
- Do we completely separate adminstrative web sites from the rest, or do we allow any member static web site to be served by Main?
2.3.3. References to how we do things now
UserWebsites, DynamicWebSites, VirtualHostConfiguration
2.4. IMAP/POP
2.4.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
- Running the primary IMAP/POP daemons on Main
- Running both SSL and normal versions, where the normal versions can only be used over the local network
2.4.2. Questions to be resolved
- Do we keep using Courier IMAP or do we switch to something like Cyrus?
2.4.3. References to how we do things now
UsingEmail, EmailConfiguration
2.5. Jabber
2.5.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
- Run the same thing we're running now, on Main
2.5.2. References to how we do things now
2.6. Mailing lists
2.6.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
- Using the Mailman software
- Running the daemon on Main
2.6.2. Questions to be resolved
- How/where do we store mailing list data so that it is appropriately charged towards a member's storage quota?
2.6.3. References to how we do things now
2.7. Relational database servers
2.7.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
- Running PostgreSQL and MySQL servers on Main
2.7.2. Questions to be resolved
- Are we satisfied with the latest versions from Debian stable, or do we want to do something special?
- Do remote PostgreSQL authentication (from Dynamic, etc.) via the ident method?
2.7.3. References to how we do things now
2.8. SMTP
2.8.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
- Using Exim 4
- Running the primary SMTP daemon on Main
2.8.2. Questions to be resolved
- Run secondary MX on Dynamic or elsewhere?
2.8.3. References to how we do things now
UsingEmail, EmailConfiguration
2.9. Spam detection
2.9.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
Running the SpamAssassin spamd daemon on Main
- Running it via the spamc client on all mail to opted-in addresses, but leaving filtering based on the added headers up to the individual recipients
- Keeping a shared Bayes filtering database that can be trained by members by depositing misclassified messages into shared folders
2.9.2. References to how we do things now
UsingEmail, SpamAssassin, FeedingSpamAssassin, SpamAssassinAdmin
2.10. SSH
2.10.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
- Use the standard SSH daemon in Debian
- Run it on all of our servers, with varying access permissions based on the shared user list
2.10.2. References to how we do things now
3. Services run on top of these daemons
3.1. Domtool
Everyone's favorite spiffy system for letting legions of users manage the same daemons securely.
AdamChlipala says:
- I would like to rewrite this completely, for reasons including: From a software engineering perspective, the implementation is not so nice. There is no support for configuring multiple machines from the same configuration file source. Scalability with the increasing amount of configuration is not so hot. The current configuration scheme encourages copying-and-pasting, which makes it hard to make sweeping changes to our suggested configuration base.
3.1.1. References to how we do things now
3.2. Portal
3.2.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
- Keep doing the same as now, running on Main
3.2.2. References to how we do things now
[https://members.hcoop.net/ The portal]
3.3. Web e-mail client
3.3.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
Keep using SquirrelMail, running on Main
3.3.2. References to how we do things now
[http://mail.hcoop.net/ SquirrelMail]
3.4. Webmin/Usermin
3.4.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
- Keep doing the same as now, running on Main
3.4.2. References to how we do things now
[https://members.hcoop.net/usermin/ Usermin]
3.5. Wiki
3.5.1. Decisions that we've agreed on
Keep the current MoinMoin wiki, starting from the same data, run on Main
3.5.2. References to how we do things now
[http://wiki.hcoop.net/ This wiki]