Wherein I will describe how to set up a cyrus-imapd cluster in fairly straightforward, and mostly reliable terms. It will probably include lots of invective concerning cyrus-sasl (the scourge of my existence) and openldap (which is like a little kid that tends to get the pointy scissors and stab you over and over with a gleeful smile on its face).
For the moment, I will just note that I have moved email for a couple of my secondary addresses to our little cluster. That represents a certain optimism on my part.