mod_inbox

Module Description

Inbox is an experimental feature implemented as a few separate modules. It is described in detail as our Open XMPP Extension. To use it, enable mod_inbox in the config file.

Options

modules.mod_inbox.backend

• Syntax: string, one of "rdbms", "rdbms_async"
• Default: "rdbms"
• Example: backend = "rdbms_async"

Only RDBMS storage is supported, but rdbms means flushes to DB are synchronous with each message, while rdbms_async is instead asynchronous.

Regular rdbms has worse performance characteristics, but it has better consistency properties, as events aren't lost nor reordered. rdbms_async processes events asynchronously and potentially unloading a lot of aggregation from the DB. Like the case of the asynchronous workers for MAM, it is the preferred method, with the risk messages being lost on an ungraceful shutdown.

modules.mod_inbox.async_writer.pool_size

• Syntax: non-negative integer
• Default: 2 * erlang:system_info(schedulers_online)
• Example: modules.mod_inbox.async_writer.pool_size = 32

Number of workers in the pool. More than the number of available schedulers is recommended, to minimise lock contention on the message queues, and more than the number of DB workers, to fully utilise the DB capacity. How much more than these two parameters is then a good fine-tuning for specific deployments.

modules.mod_inbox.boxes

• Syntax: array of strings.
• Default: []
• Example: ["classified", "spam"]

A list of supported inbox boxes by the server. This can be used by clients to classify their inbox entries in any way that fits the end-user. The strings provided here will be used verbatim in the IQ query as described in Inbox – Filtering and Ordering.

Note

inbox, archive, and bin are reserved box names and are always enabled, therefore they don't need to –and must not– be specified in this section. all has a special meaning in the box query and therefore is also not allowed as a box name.

If the asynchronous backend is configured, automatic removals become moves to the bin box, also called "Trash bin". This is to ensure eventual consistency. Then the bin can be emptied, either on a user request, with the mongooseimctl inbox command, through the GraphQL API, or through the REST API.

modules.mod_inbox.bin_ttl

• Syntax: non-negative integer, expressed in days.
• Default: 30
• Example: modules.mod_inbox.bin_ttl = 7

How old entries in the bin can be before the automatic bin cleaner collects them. A value of 7 would mean that entries that have been in the bin for more than 7 days will be cleaned on the next bin collection.

modules.mod_inbox.bin_clean_after

• Syntax: non-negative integer, expressed in hours
• Default: 1
• Example: modules.mod_inbox.bin_clean_after = 24

How often the automatic garbage collection runs over the bin.

modules.mod_inbox.delete_domain_limit

• Syntax: non-negative integer or the string "infinity"
• Default: "infinity"
• Example: modules.mod_inbox.delete_domain_limit = 10000

Domain deletion can be an expensive operation, as it requires to delete potentially many thousands of records from the DB. By default, the delete operation deletes everything in a transaction, but it might be desired, to handle timeouts and table locks more gracefully, to delete the records in batches. This limit establishes the size of the batch.

Note

Not supported by MSSQL.

modules.mod_inbox.reset_markers

• Syntax: array of strings, out of "displayed", "received", "acknowledged"
• Default: ["displayed"]
• Example: reset_markers = ["received"]

List of chat markers that when sent, will reset the unread message counter for a conversation. This works when Chat Markers are enabled on the client side. Setting as empty list (not recommended) means that no chat marker can decrease the counter value.

modules.mod_inbox.groupchat

• Syntax: array of strings
• Default: ["muclight"]
• Example: groupchat = ["muclight"]

The list indicating which groupchats will be included in inbox. Possible values are muclight Multi-User Chat Light or muc Multi-User Chat.

modules.mod_inbox.aff_changes

• Syntax: boolean
• Default: true
• Example: aff_changes = true

Use this option when muclight is enabled. Indicates if MUC Light affiliation change messages should be included in the conversation inbox. Only changes that affect the user directly will be stored in their inbox.

modules.mod_inbox.remove_on_kicked

• Syntax: boolean
• Default: true
• Example: remove_on_kicked = true

Use this option when muclight is enabled. If true, the inbox conversation is removed for a user when they are removed from the groupchat.

modules.mod_inbox.iqdisc.type

• Syntax: string, one of "one_queue", "no_queue", "queues", "parallel"
• Default: "no_queue"

Strategy to handle incoming stanzas. For details, please refer to IQ processing policies.

modules.mod_inbox.max_result_limit

• Syntax: the string "infinity" or a positive integer
• Default: "infinity"
• Example: modules.mod_inbox.max_result_limit = 100

This option sets the maximum size of returned results when quering inbox. It works in the same manner as setting a limit in iq stanza. The special value infinity means no limit.

Note about supported RDBMS

mod_inbox executes upsert queries, which have different syntax in every supported RDBMS. Inbox currently supports the following DBs:

• MySQL via native driver
• PgSQL via native driver
• MSSQL via ODBC driver

Legacy MUC support

Inbox comes with support for the legacy MUC as well. It stores all groupchat messages sent to room in each sender's and recipient's inboxes and private messages. Currently it is not possible to configure it to store system messages like subject or affiliation change.

Example configuration

[modules.mod_inbox]
  backend = "rdbms_async"
  reset_markers = ["displayed"]
  aff_changes = true
  remove_on_kicked = true
  groupchat = ["muclight"]