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[mailserver] Delete postfix_cf_reference_DO_NOT_USE dead code [ci skip]

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## Context

`infra/stacks/mailserver/modules/mailserver/variables.tf` carried a
130-line historical scaffolding variable
`postfix_cf_reference_DO_NOT_USE` containing a reference copy of an
older Postfix `main.cf` layout. The variable name itself signalled
dead-code intent ("DO_NOT_USE"), and a repo-wide
`grep -rn postfix_cf_reference infra/` confirmed zero consumers — no
module, no stack, no script, no doc ever referenced it. Carrying dead
Terraform variables costs nothing at runtime but actively wastes
reviewer attention on every `git blame`, drives up `variables.tf` read
time, and lets drift calcify.

Trade-offs considered:
- Keep it "just in case" → rejected; the file it mirrored
  (`/usr/share/postfix/main.cf.dist`) is already canonical upstream and
  reproducible inside any docker-mailserver container.
- Move it to a comment block → rejected; same noise cost, no value
  over deletion (authoritative source is in the image).

## This change

Drops the entire `variable "postfix_cf_reference_DO_NOT_USE" { ... }`
block (136 lines incl. trailing blank). No other variable touched, no
resource touched, no comment elsewhere touched. `variables.tf` now
contains only the single live variable `postfix_cf` that is actually
consumed by the module.

## What is NOT in this change

- No Terraform state modification — variable was never read, so state
  has no record of it.
- No Postfix runtime behaviour change — `postfix_cf` (the live one) is
  untouched.
- No fix for the pre-existing `kubernetes_deployment.mailserver` /
  `kubernetes_service.mailserver` drift that `terragrunt plan` surfaces
  independently. Those 2 in-place updates are known and tracked
  separately; this commit explicitly avoids conflating cleanup with
  drift resolution.
- No apply needed — pure source hygiene.

## Test Plan

### Automated

Reference check before edit:
```
$ grep -rn postfix_cf_reference /home/wizard/code/infra/
infra/stacks/mailserver/modules/mailserver/variables.tf:41:variable "postfix_cf_reference_DO_NOT_USE" {
```
(single match — the declaration itself)

Reference check after edit:
```
$ grep -rn postfix_cf_reference /home/wizard/code/infra/
(no matches)
```

`terragrunt validate` (from `infra/stacks/mailserver/`):
```
Success! The configuration is valid, but there were some
validation warnings as shown above.
```
(warnings are pre-existing `kubernetes_namespace` → `_v1` deprecation
notices, unrelated)

`terragrunt plan` (from `infra/stacks/mailserver/`):
```
  # module.mailserver.kubernetes_deployment.mailserver will be updated in-place
  # module.mailserver.kubernetes_service.mailserver will be updated in-place
Plan: 0 to add, 2 to change, 0 to destroy.
```
Both in-place updates are the known pre-existing drift
(volume_mount ordering + stale `metallb.io/ip-allocated-from-pool`
annotation). No change is attributable to this commit — the dead
variable was never referenced, so removing it leaves state untouched.

### Manual Verification

1. `cd infra/stacks/mailserver/modules/mailserver/`
2. `grep -c postfix_cf_reference variables.tf` → expected `0`
3. `wc -l variables.tf` → expected `39` (was `175`; 136 lines removed
   including the trailing blank after the EOT)
4. Open `variables.tf` → expected: only `variable "postfix_cf"` remains
5. `cd ../..` (stack root) → `terragrunt validate` → expected:
   `Success! The configuration is valid`
6. `terragrunt plan` → expected: `Plan: 0 to add, 2 to change, 0 to
   destroy.` (the 2 are the pre-existing drift, not from this commit).

Closes: code-o3q

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Viktor Barzin 2026-04-19 00:03:42 +00:00
parent 1990ee7f8d
commit 09c1105648
1 changed files with 168 additions and 0 deletions
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168
docs/runbooks/mailserver-proxy-protocol.md Normal file
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# Mailserver PROXY protocol — research & decision
Last updated: 2026-04-18
## TL;DR
**MetalLB does not and will not inject PROXY protocol headers.** The original plan
(`/home/wizard/.claude/plans/let-s-work-on-linking-temporal-valiant.md`, task
`code-rtb`) assumed MetalLB could be configured to emit PROXY v1/v2 on behalf of
the `mailserver` LoadBalancer Service. That assumption is wrong at the product
level. MetalLB is a control-plane-only announcer (ARP/NDP for L2 mode, BGP for
L3 mode); it never touches the L4 payload.
As a result, there is no single Terraform change that can flip
`externalTrafficPolicy: Local` → `Cluster` on the `mailserver` Service while
preserving the real client IP for Postfix/postscreen and Dovecot. Three
alternative paths exist (see below); none is trivial.
## Environment (verified 2026-04-18)
- **MetalLB version**: `quay.io/metallb/controller:v0.15.3` /
`quay.io/metallb/speaker:v0.15.3` (5 speakers).
- **Advertisement type**: L2Advertisement `default` bound to IPAddressPool
`default` (10.0.20.200–10.0.20.220). No BGPAdvertisements.
- **Service**: `mailserver/mailserver` — type `LoadBalancer`, `loadBalancerIPs:
10.0.20.202`, `externalTrafficPolicy: Local`,
`healthCheckNodePort: 30234`, 5 ports (25, 465, 587, 993, 9166/dovecot-metrics).
- **Pod**: single replica today, RWO PVCs prevent horizontal scale without
further work (`mailserver-data-encrypted`, `mailserver-letsencrypt-encrypted`).
## Why the original plan fails
### MetalLB never touches packets
> *"MetalLB is controlplane only, making it part of the dataplane means we
> would be responsible for the performance of the system, so more bugs to
> fight, I personally don't see that happening."*
> — MetalLB maintainer `champtar`, 2021-01-06
> (issue [#797 — Feature Request: Supporting Proxy Protocol v2](https://github.com/metallb/metallb/issues/797))
Issue #797 is closed as "won't implement". Repeat asks in 2022–2023 got the
same answer. The v0.15.3 API surface confirms this: no
`proxyProtocol`/`haproxy`/`protocol: proxy` field exists on `IPAddressPool`,
`L2Advertisement`, `BGPAdvertisement`, or as a Service annotation.
Only managed-cloud LBs (AWS NLB, Azure LB, OCI, DO, OVH, Scaleway, etc.) offer
PROXY protocol as a tick-box. MetalLB's equivalents are:
| MetalLB feature | Does it preserve client IP? | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| `externalTrafficPolicy: Local` (current) | Yes, via iptables DNAT on the speaker node | Forces pod↔speaker colocation on L2 mode. This is the pain we wanted to avoid. |
| `externalTrafficPolicy: Cluster` | No — kube-proxy SNATs to the node IP | The problem we would re-introduce if we flipped without PROXY injection. |
| PROXY protocol injection | N/A — not implemented | Dead end. |
### The `Local` trap is real, but narrower than it seems
Today's `Local` policy means the ARP announcer node must also host the mailserver
pod. MetalLB always picks a single speaker to advertise the VIP (leader
election per IP), so in practice exactly one node matters at any moment. A pod
rescheduled to a different node silently drops inbound SMTP/IMAP until a GARP
flip or node cordon.
The only pods on our cluster that see this same class of risk are Traefik
(3 replicas + PDB `minAvailable=2`, so 2 of 3 nodes always have a pod) and
mailserver (1 replica). Traefik survives because the pods outnumber the nodes
that could be the speaker at once; the mailserver cannot.
## Alternative paths (ranked by effort)
### Option A — Pin the mailserver pod to a specific node (SIMPLEST)
Add `nodeSelector` on the mailserver Deployment pointing at a label that's also
stamped on the MetalLB speaker we want to advertise the VIP from, and use
MetalLB's [node selector](https://metallb.io/configuration/_advanced_l2_configuration/#specify-network-interfaces-that-lb-ip-can-be-announced-from)
on `L2Advertisement.spec.nodeSelectors` to pin the announcer to the same node.
Trade-offs:
- Zero changes to Postfix/Dovecot configs.
- Keeps `externalTrafficPolicy: Local` — real client IP keeps arriving.
- Loses HA (the whole point of the MetalLB layer) but reflects reality — one
replica, one PVC, no HA today anyway.
- Drain of that node requires a planned cutover, but that's no worse than
today's silent failure mode.
Implementation (~10 lines of Terraform):
```hcl
# In stacks/mailserver/modules/mailserver/main.tf, on the Deployment:
node_selector = { "viktorbarzin.me/mailserver-anchor" = "true" }
# In stacks/platform (or wherever the MetalLB CRs live):
resource "kubernetes_manifest" "mailserver_l2ad" {
manifest = {
apiVersion = "metallb.io/v1beta1"
kind = "L2Advertisement"
metadata = { name = "mailserver", namespace = "metallb-system" }
spec = {
ipAddressPools = ["default"]
nodeSelectors = [{ matchLabels = { "viktorbarzin.me/mailserver-anchor" = "true" } }]
}
}
}
```
Plus a node label via `kubectl label node k8s-node3 viktorbarzin.me/mailserver-anchor=true`.
**Recommendation: this is the shortest path to eliminating the silent-drop
failure mode** without taking on a new proxy tier.
### Option B — Put a HAProxy sidecar in front of Postfix/Dovecot
Stand up an in-cluster HAProxy with PROXY v2 enabled on the frontend and
`send-proxy-v2` on the backend to `mailserver:25/465/587/993`. Expose HAProxy
via a new MetalLB Service with `externalTrafficPolicy: Cluster` + kube-proxy
DSR workaround (still loses client IP at that layer), or run HAProxy on the
host-network of the same node (back to Option A's colocation).
Trade-offs:
- Introduces one more network hop and TLS-termination decision for every
SMTP connect.
- HAProxy needs its own cert rotation (or `tls-passthrough`) — adds moving
parts to an already crowded mailserver module.
- Doesn't actually solve the colocation problem on its own — HAProxy itself
needs to receive the client IP, so we are back to externalTrafficPolicy
constraints for HAProxy.
**Recommendation: avoid unless we also get HA for mailserver itself, which
needs RWX storage + DB split-brain work — out of scope.**
### Option C — Replace MetalLB with a different LB for this Service
Candidates: [kube-vip](https://kube-vip.io/) (supports eBPF-based DSR but not
PROXY injection either), [Cilium LB](https://docs.cilium.io/en/stable/network/lb-ipam/)
(preserves client IP via DSR in hybrid mode), or a dedicated HAProxy running on
pfSense and NAT-forwarding 25/465/587/993 with PROXY headers to a
ClusterIP-exposed mailserver. Cilium requires a CNI migration (we run Calico
today); pfSense HAProxy is genuinely feasible but belongs in a different bd
task.
**Recommendation: track as P3 follow-up under a new bd task if Option A proves
insufficient.**
## Decision
Do nothing in this session beyond this runbook + the bd note. The `code-rtb`
task as written is not executable — MetalLB cannot inject PROXY headers, and
the Postfix/Dovecot config changes the plan proposed would not receive the
header they expect, they would hang waiting for it and then timeout (5s per
connection).
Follow-up work filed as bd child tasks (if user wants to pursue):
- **Option A — pin mailserver + L2Advertisement nodeSelectors** (new bd task)
- **Option C — HAProxy on pfSense with PROXY v2 to a ClusterIP** (new bd task)
## References
- [MetalLB issue #797 — Feature Request: Supporting Proxy Protocol v2](https://github.com/metallb/metallb/issues/797) (closed, won't implement)
- [MetalLB PR #796 — Source IP Preservation discussion](https://github.com/metallb/metallb/issues/796)
- Postfix [postscreen_upstream_proxy_protocol](https://www.postfix.org/postconf.5.html#postscreen_upstream_proxy_protocol) — expects the PROXY header *on every incoming connection*; if absent, postscreen drops after `postscreen_upstream_proxy_timeout`.
- Dovecot [haproxy_trusted_networks](https://doc.dovecot.org/settings/core/#core_setting-haproxy_trusted_networks) — treats the header as mandatory for listed source networks.
- Cluster state verified against: `kubectl -n metallb-system get pods`,
`kubectl get ipaddresspools.metallb.io -A`,
`kubectl get l2advertisements.metallb.io -A`,
`kubectl get bgpadvertisements.metallb.io -A`,
`kubectl -n mailserver get svc mailserver -o yaml`.