feat!: introduce configurable system limits to reject new address creation and limit imap/smtp connections.

The default values are geared towards minimal-requirements server.
If you have a big server, you will need to set chatmail.ini parameters.

chatmaild/pyproject.toml

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ version = "0.3"
 dependencies = [
   "iniconfig",
   "filelock",
+  "psutil",
   "requests",
   "crypt-r >= 3.13.1 ; python_version >= '3.13'",
 ]

chatmaild/src/chatmaild/config.py

@@ -75,6 +75,16 @@ class Config:
         self.privacy_pdo = params.pop("privacy_pdo", None)
         self.privacy_supervisor = params.pop("privacy_supervisor", None)
 
+        self.max_load_1m = float(params.pop("max_load_1m", 5))
+        self.min_available_memory_mb = parse_size_mb(
+            params.pop("min_available_memory", "200M")
+        )
+        self.min_free_disk_space_mb = parse_size_mb(
+            params.pop("min_free_disk_space", "1G")
+        )
+        self.max_imap_connections = int(params.pop("max_imap_connections", 10000))
+        self.max_smtp_connections = int(params.pop("max_smtp_connections", 1000))
+
         # TLS certificate management.
         # If tls_external_cert_and_key is set, use externally managed certs.
         # Otherwise derived from the domain name:

chatmaild/src/chatmaild/doveauth.py

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ except ImportError:
 from .config import Config, read_config
 from .dictproxy import DictProxy
 from .migrate_db import migrate_from_db_to_maildir
+from .syslimits import has_sufficient_resources
 
 NOCREATE_FILE = "/etc/chatmail-nocreate"
 VALID_LOCALPART_RE = re.compile(r"^[a-z0-9._-]+$")
@@ -147,6 +148,8 @@ class AuthDictProxy(DictProxy):
             return userdata
         if not is_allowed_to_create(self.config, addr, cleartext_password):
             return
+        if not has_sufficient_resources(self.config):
+            return
 
         lock = filelock.FileLock(str(user.password_path) + ".lock", timeout=5)
         with lock:

chatmaild/src/chatmaild/ini/chatmail.ini.f

@@ -42,6 +42,33 @@ mail_domain = {mail_domain}
 # minimum length a password must have
 #password_min_length = 9
 
+#
+# System resource limits
+#
+
+# The following three limits refuse creation of new addresses
+# while existing addresses keep working.
+# Rejections are logged by the doveauth service.
+
+# Maximum 1-minute load average, as reported by "uptime";
+# it counts processes waiting for disk I/O as well as for CPU.
+#max_load_1m = 5
+
+# Minimum memory available without swapping.
+#min_available_memory = 200M
+
+# Minimum free disk space on the file system holding the mailboxes.
+#min_free_disk_space = 1G
+
+# Maximum number of concurrent IMAP connections
+# (the Dovecot imap process limit).
+#max_imap_connections = 10000
+
+# Maximum number of concurrent SMTP connections
+# on each of the submission and smtps ports (the Postfix process limit).
+# A single client IP may use up to a fifth of this.
+#max_smtp_connections = 1000
+
 # Use externally managed TLS certificates instead of built-in acmetool.
 # Paths refer to files on the deployment server (not the build machine).
 # Both files must already exist before running cmdeploy.

chatmaild/src/chatmaild/syslimits.py

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+"""Detect whether the system is at its limits."""
+
+import logging
+
+import psutil
+
+MB = 1024 * 1024
+
+
+def read_value(getter):
+    try:
+        return getter()
+    except Exception as e:
+        logging.warning("ignoring unreadable system limit: %s", e)
+        return None
+
+
+def has_sufficient_resources(config):
+    """Return False if load, memory or disk exceeds a configured limit."""
+    load = read_value(lambda: psutil.getloadavg()[0])
+    mem = read_value(lambda: psutil.virtual_memory().available // MB)
+    disk = read_value(lambda: psutil.disk_usage(str(config.mailboxes_dir)).free // MB)
+    if load is not None and load > config.max_load_1m:
+        msg = f"load avg {load:.2f} > {config.max_load_1m:.2f}"
+    elif mem is not None and mem < config.min_available_memory_mb:
+        msg = f"available memory {mem}MB < {config.min_available_memory_mb}MB"
+    elif disk is not None and disk < config.min_free_disk_space_mb:
+        msg = f"free disk {disk}MB < {config.min_free_disk_space_mb}MB"
+    else:
+        return True
+    logging.warning("registration rejected: %s", msg)
+    return False

chatmaild/src/chatmaild/tests/plugin.py

@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ def make_config(tmp_path):
         basedir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
         overrides = settings.copy() if settings else {}
         overrides["mailboxes_dir"] = str(basedir)
+        # permissive resource limits so tests never depend on host load/memory/disk
+        overrides.setdefault("max_load_1m", "99999")
+        overrides.setdefault("min_available_memory", "0")
+        overrides.setdefault("min_free_disk_space", "0")
         write_initial_config(inipath, mail_domain, overrides=overrides)
         return read_config(inipath)
 

chatmaild/src/chatmaild/tests/test_config.py

@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ def test_read_config_basic_using_defaults(tmp_path, maildomain):
     assert example_config.username_min_length == 9
     assert example_config.username_max_length == 9
     assert example_config.password_min_length == 9
+    assert example_config.max_imap_connections == 10000
+    assert example_config.max_smtp_connections == 1000
     assert example_config._unused_keys == []
 
 

chatmaild/src/chatmaild/tests/test_doveauth.py

@@ -202,3 +202,17 @@ def test_50_concurrent_lookups_different_accounts(gencreds, dictproxy):
         res = results.get()
         if res is not None:
             pytest.fail(f"concurrent lookup failed\n{res}")
+
+
+def test_insufficient_resources_block_creation_not_existing_logins(
+    dictproxy, gencreds, monkeypatch
+):
+    addr, password = gencreds()
+    assert dictproxy.lookup_passdb(addr, password)
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        chatmaild.doveauth, "has_sufficient_resources", lambda config: False
+    )
+    newaddr, newpassword = gencreds()
+    assert not dictproxy.lookup_passdb(newaddr, newpassword)
+    assert dictproxy.lookup_passdb(addr, password)

chatmaild/src/chatmaild/tests/test_syslimits.py

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+import shutil
+
+import psutil
+
+from chatmaild.syslimits import has_sufficient_resources
+
+PERMISSIVE = {
+    "max_load_1m": "99999",
+    "min_available_memory": "0",
+    "min_free_disk_space": "0",
+}
+
+
+def test_rejects_constrained_system(make_config, caplog):
+    assert has_sufficient_resources(make_config("chat.example.org", PERMISSIVE))
+    for settings in (
+        {"max_load_1m": "-1.0"},
+        {"min_available_memory": "99999999G"},
+        {"min_free_disk_space": "99999999G"},
+    ):
+        config = make_config("chat.example.org", PERMISSIVE | settings)
+        caplog.clear()
+        assert not has_sufficient_resources(config), settings
+        assert "registration rejected" in caplog.text
+
+
+def test_unreadable_disk_does_not_reject(make_config, caplog):
+    config = make_config(
+        "chat.example.org", PERMISSIVE | {"min_free_disk_space": "99999999G"}
+    )
+    shutil.rmtree(config.mailboxes_dir)
+    assert has_sufficient_resources(config)
+    assert "ignoring" in caplog.text
+
+
+def test_one_unreadable_value_keeps_other_checks(make_config, monkeypatch, caplog):
+    def raise_error(*args):
+        raise psutil.Error("dud")
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(psutil, "getloadavg", raise_error)
+    config = make_config(
+        "chat.example.org", PERMISSIVE | {"min_free_disk_space": "99999999G"}
+    )
+    assert not has_sufficient_resources(config)
+    assert "ignoring" in caplog.text