dovecot - Sep 2012 - Disconnect users for a distinct period of time?

Hi --

Today, I've learned who to disable incoming mail delivery to dovecot
(accepted by postfix), temporarily. Now, I would like to know if there is a way
to make a "doveadm kick -A" a permanent disconnect until one would
allow reconnects, again? This should be done *without* shutting down dovecot or
*extensive* re-configuration. A "doveadm block -u <joe> -m
'sorry: running maintenance, please, come back later'" alike
tool/funtionality would be ideal.

Background: I would like to avoid any modification of my user's maildirs by
a running dovecot server while modifying maildir formats, mdbox_rotate_size
setting, and alike, where I would need doveadm/dsnyc access to userdb. (I know
there a ways to achieve this without downtimes, and I have already done so.)

I just want to be sure that I haven't overseen such a tool/functionality in
the documentation. Did I or didn't I?

Thanks and regards,
Michael

* Michael Grimm <trashcan at odo.in-berlin.de>:
> Hi --
> 
> Today, I've learned who to disable incoming mail delivery to dovecot
(accepted by postfix), temporarily. Now, I would like to know if there is a way
to make a "doveadm kick -A" a permanent disconnect until one would
allow reconnects, again? This should be done *without* shutting down dovecot or
*extensive* re-configuration. A "doveadm block -u <joe> -m
'sorry: running maintenance, please, come back later'" alike
tool/funtionality would be ideal.
> 
> Background: I would like to avoid any modification of my user's
maildirs by a running dovecot server while modifying maildir formats,
mdbox_rotate_size setting, and alike, where I would need doveadm/dsnyc access to
userdb. (I know there a ways to achieve this without downtimes, and I have
already done so.)
I think this can be done with post-login scripting, where a script
checks if the user is allowed to login.
http://wiki.dovecot.org/PostLoginScripting

-- 
Ralf Hildebrandt
  Gesch?ftsbereich IT | Abteilung Netzwerk
  Charit? - Universit?tsmedizin Berlin
  Campus Benjamin Franklin
  Hindenburgdamm 30 | D-12203 Berlin
  Tel. +49 30 450 570 155 | Fax: +49 30 450 570 962
  ralf.hildebrandt at charite.de | http://www.charite.de

Quoting Michael Grimm <trashcan at odo.in-berlin.de>:
> Hi --
>
> Today, I've learned who to disable incoming mail delivery to dovecot  
> (accepted by postfix), temporarily. Now, I would like to know if  
> there is a way to make a "doveadm kick -A" a permanent disconnect
> until one would allow reconnects, again? This should be done  
> *without* shutting down dovecot or *extensive* re-configuration. A  
> "doveadm block -u <joe> -m 'sorry: running maintenance,
please, come
> back later'" alike tool/funtionality would be ideal.
What I've been doing so far, is I configure dovecot 2.1 with a deny-hosts
file (in auth-deny.conf.ext) and then I can append a name to that file
to block them, and remove them to allow them back in.  Since this file
is a simple text file with one username/address per line, it is very
easy to manage.

No idea if that would work for you, since your usage is for a different
reason than mine.

-- 
Eric Rostetter
The Department of Physics
The University of Texas at Austin

Go Longhorns!