Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 08:53:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Michael Lucas <mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org> To: mpd@bluetie.net (Michael Dungan) Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: high volume mail server hardware suggestions Message-ID: <200004131253.IAA13389@blackhelicopters.org> In-Reply-To: <000b01bfa4cb$62fa4b30$c71930d0@hoorj> from Michael Dungan at "Apr 12, 2000 6: 6:43 pm"
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Memory is *far* more important than processor power. At one point, I had a Pentium 200 with a gig of RAM and a 10-gig RAID array handling mail for 30,000 users. CPU never went over 10%, memory usage varied but was always pretty high. (At the time, this was pretty kick-ass hardware. ;) This was under 3.1, the so-called "notoriously unstable" version of FreeBSD. The only reason you would need dual or quad processors is if you're running NT, or doing some serious number-crunching. Mail is hard on the disk, and soaks up memory, but isn't CPU-intensive. ==ml > So you would say that memory is more important than proc power? My boss > wants to know whether we should purchase dual or quad proc boxen. (We would > be purchasing more dual boxen if we went this route.) Are they any online > case studies on this? I'm no e-mail admin, but I'm the one stuck setting > this all up. > > Thanks, > > Mike > > > > My suggestions (keeping in mind that other people will disagree with me): > > > > 1) SCSI, hardware RAID > > 2) /usr/ports/mail/postfix > > 3) lots and lots and lots of memory > > > > You can handle tens of thousands of users with this setup. > > > > > Does anyone have any suggestions for hardware for running high volume > e-mail > > > servers with FreeBSD? Should I use a few "large" servers, or several > smaller > > > ones? > > > > > > thanks, > > > > > > Mike > > > > > > > > > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > > > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200004131253.IAA13389>