<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META content="OPENWEBMAIL" name=GENERATOR>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
Michael,
<br />
<br />With regards the the prefix on mailman, let me throw this into the mix as I do something similar for all of our hosting accounts...
<br />
<br />Right now, I manually assign a prefix to each hosting account. That prefix is used on all user names created under that specific account, very similar to what you are using with the random number. When an email address is created, the user name is created with the prefix and then an email alias is used with the actual name desired for the email address.
<br />
<br />Example:
<br />
<br />The hosting account www.mydomain.com I manually assign the prefix: myd
<br />The email address of support@mydomain.com has the user name of myd-support and the email alias of support
<br />The email address of support@mydomain.com has the user name of myd-news and the email alias of news
<br />
<br />The hosting account www.example.com I manually assign the prefix: exa
<br />The email address of support@example.com has the user name of exa-support and the email alias of support
<br />The email address of support@example.com has the user name of exa-news and the email alias of news
<br />
<br />Right now, I explain to the hosting customer that they MUST use this prefix in front of any accounts they create. If it happened automatically, it would make life a little easier. Having a field in the initial setup of the hosting account called "Prefix" would be a simple way for this to happen automatically. Mailman could also use this as well to make sure there were no duplicates. Also, since the prefix is entered at the time of the hosting account setup, it can be checked to be sure there are no other sites using that prefix. The admin would simply choose a different prefix for www.mydomain.com and customer.mydomain.com, so there would be no conflict.
<br />
<br />Just my opinion but giving the admin the ability to choose their own prefix is much nicer than a random number. Keeping a unique prefix for the entire hosting account keeps things simple and lets you sort information easily per account.
<br />
<br />
<br />Dan Porter
<br />Twin Wolf Technology Group
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /><font size="2">
<br />
<br /><b>---------- Original Message
-----------</b>
<br />
From: Michael Stauber <mstauber@blueonyx.it>
<br />
To: BlueOnyx General Mailing List <blueonyx@mail.blueonyx.it>
<br />
Sent: Wed, 4 May 2011 17:41:55 +0200
<br />
Subject: [BlueOnyx:07218] Re: Can't delete virtual sites since mailman
<br />
<br />> Hi David,
<br />>
<br />>
> Now, regarding the automatic prefixing of the list names: I actually think
<br />>
> the first-come first-served approach would be preferable over the random
<br />>
> number prefix. I think that someone trying to use 'news@mydomain.com' as
<br />>
> the list name (and finding 'news' already in use) would rather accept a
<br />>
> suggestion to use 'mydomain-news@mydomain.com' over being forced to accept
<br />>
> '284-news@mydomain.com' without a choice. I'd think most list creators
<br />>
> would rather take a second or third try at coming up with a unique list
<br />>
> name than having to accept a random number prefix.
<br />>
>
<br />>
> It's a lot like registering a domain name: I think most people would like
<br />>
> to creatively come up with their own unique variation rather than accept a
<br />>
> random number prefix. If I try to register 'mydomain.com' and it's already
<br />>
> taken, I don't want the registrar to randomly assign '8372-mydomain.com'
<br />>
> as my domain. I want to spend some time coming up with a unique
<br />>
> alternative.
<br />>
<br />>
Sure, that's a good suggestion and I'm thinking about implementing them, as
<br />>
I'm not entirely happy with the arbitrary prefix to mailman aliasses either.
<br />>
<br />>
Part of the problem there is the "conflict avoidance". Lets say we
forego the
<br />>
prefix entirely and someone creates a mailing list named "support". In
that
<br />>
case we need a check to see if there is already a list named "support"
with a
<br />>
conflicting alias. But we also would need to check if there is another
<br />>
"regular" email-alias or even a mailbox named "support"
anywhere on the box.
<br />>
<br />>
Those checks require a bit of extra coding. Also, on boxes with many accounts
<br />>
these checks may take a while to go through, as a lot of CODB database fields
<br />>
need to be checked. But I'll look into it.
<br />>
<br />>
The idea of using parts of the site name as prefix is also a nice. But say you
<br />>
have a site named" <a target="_blank" href="http://www.domain.com/">www.domain.com</a>" and another one named
<br />>
"customer.domain.com". In that case using just the name part of the
FQDN may
<br />>
not be enough.
<br />>
<br />>
So the best approach is proably to get a fully working check going to see if
<br />>
an unprefixed mailing list alias is possible, or if that name would cause
<br />>
issues with already existing mailbox names, aliasses or list names.
<br />>
<br />>
--
<br />>
With best regards
<br />>
<br />>
Michael Stauber
<br />>
_______________________________________________
<br />>
Blueonyx mailing list
<br />>
Blueonyx@mail.blueonyx.it
<br />>
<a target="_blank" href="http://mail.blueonyx.it/mailman/listinfo/blueonyx">http://mail.blueonyx.it/mailman/listinfo/blueonyx</a>
<br /><b>------- End of Original Message
-------</b>
<br />
</font>
</BODY>
</HTML>