[dev] LDAP preference storage with 2.3

[Jon Parise]

On Tue, Jan 16, 2001 at 11:26:50AM -0800, Rick Stevens wrote:

> > I think there may be a lot of interest on the list in doing the
> > same.  I know that I am and have just been putting it off.  While
> > we are on the subject, are you also going to ldap for your
> > pop/imap server?  Will you be using openldap-2.0.X?  I think I ask
> > too many questions:-)
> 
> Just wanted to ring in with a caveat:  I wouldn't recommend using
> LDAP for items that change a lot.  User names and passwords are one
> thing, session information, address lists and the like are another.

You raise a good point.

When I was developing the preferences subsystem (and I started with
the LDAP implementation), I made an distinct effort to keep the writes
to a minimum.  I think we've done a pretty good job in that respect,
and, for the most part, an IMP 2.3 user can go through a complete
usage session without writing to the preference storage server once.
It's only when they go and change their preferences does the LDAP
server, in this case, get hit, and then it's generally a bunch of
modifications (in the case of the "Options" screen).

I don't have any hard numbers for any of this, however.  If someone
has the chance to profile the system, the data would be quite useful
in making future improvements.
 
-- 
Jon Parise (jon@csh.rit.edu)  .  Rochester Inst. of Technology
http://www.csh.rit.edu/~jon/  :  Computer Science House Member