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I have a small number of mail users (abut 100) and some have comparatively large (10Gb+) mail boxes. I'm running Ubuntu using postfix and dovecot Maildir format.

I could just keep adding storage, but perhaps a cheaper way is to extract attachments older and larger than a threshold, and put these in a place for user download (eg S3) before auto deletion? Not sure how to do that exactly though.

What do others do?

I also thought of compressing mail over a certain age, but I'm not sure if that would free up much space.

TommyPeanuts
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Unlimited mailbox sizes require an unlimited budget

Since hardly anybody gets that, even the free e-mail providers that gave unlimited storage stopped doing that AFAIK, you need set set some (more or less hidden) limits.

The traditional solution: mailbox quota.

That caps the amount of storage your mail users can consume and puts a cap on your costs.

That effectively makes the mailbox owner responsible for cleaning up their own mailbox and staying below their assigned quota or they won't receive e-mail anymore. That solves your technical problem.

If and when there is a a business need to extend the quota, then the business should understand that extending storage comes with a price-tag.

Setting a low limit on allowed attachment sizes reduces the growth rate of mailbox sizes. That does require a suitable collaboration alternative and a change in the methods people collaborate, but your mail server won't overflow with the 22 revisions of the power point presentation your colleagues sent back and forth.

diya
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