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Date:      Tue, 08 Oct 2002 09:03:21 -0700
From:      Chris Irvine <chris@threeprong.com>
To:        Jamie <jamie@gnulife.org>
Cc:        <freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: Server out of space -- Need suggestions
Message-ID:  <web-241490@threeprong.com>
In-Reply-To: <20021007164750.V6069-100000@floyd.gnulife.org>

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Just my $.02 ...

I've been very happy with a commercial package from
Stalker. Scales very well, easy to maintain, and feature
loaded. I know it isn't free. But after working on ISP
features like SMTP AUTH, and SMTP relay after POP, using
sendmail or qmail can be a pain.

The software runs on anything, including FreeBSD. 
One sample config, 16k web users, 100 heavy lan users, all
running on a single G4@350 w/ OSX. Load average rarely goes
over 0.1

If you want to scale up, front and back end clustering is
supported for a price. Let me know if you have any
questions. (I don't work at Stalker, but sometimes wonder
if I should.)

-Chris

On Mon, 7 Oct 2002 16:50:44 -0500 (CDT)
 Jamie <jamie@gnulife.org> wrote:
> 
> 
>      Sorry, I should have added what we are looking at as
> far as load and
> userbase. We have about 3000 mail accounts on the server,
> and would like
> to think in terms of building for a larger base of about
> 6000 or so. We
> have the equipment all housed at a colo facility. The
> hardware is so-so.
> Dual PIII's with Asus VP6 motherboards and a gig of ram
> if any of that
> info is userful.
> 
> 
> 
>     - Jamie
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, 7 Oct 2002, Lapinski, Michael (Research) wrote:
> 
> > If your users lack clue enough to configure
> > a mail client that is what support helpdesks
> > are for or a well structured support website.
> >
> > Your talking in terms of a very large isp.
> > I am talking in terms of what the original
> > poster (who seems to be running a small to
> > medium mail server) can/should do. Having 2
> > disparate  mail servers is not uncommon, I was
> > also thinking of a colo-swap with another
> > provider, its way cheaper then having to pay
> > loop+bandwisdth commit on a link that you only
> > want for backup mail servers.
> >
> >
> > It all realy boils down to what level of service
> > and redundancy you are looking to get to. Again I
> > was thinking on the cheap and less complicated because
> > I interpreted that is what the original poster was
> > looking to do =)
> >
> > -mtl
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------
> > Michael Lapinski
> > Computer Scientist
> > GE Research
> >
> >
> > "I think there is a world market for maybe five
> computers."
> >             - IBM Chairman Thomas Watson, 1943
> >
> >
> > ->-----Original Message-----
> > ->From: 'Denny Reiter' [mailto:denny@reiters.org]
> > ->Sent: Monday, October 07, 2002 5:29 PM
> > ->To: Lapinski, Michael (Research)
> > ->Cc: freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG
> > ->Subject: Re: Server out of space -- Need suggestions
> > ->
> > ->
> > ->On Mon, Oct 07, 2002 at 04:30:22PM -0400, Lapinski,
> Michael
> > ->(Research) wrote:
> > ->> Your not goign to keep them in sync, this is so you
> users
> > ->> can recieve *all* of thier mail, regardless if your
> primary
> > ->> mail server is up. It is quite easy to config
> netscape and
> > ->> other mail clients to poll multiple pop servers for
> new mail.
> > ->
> > ->Don't take this personally, but I find that solution
> silly in
> > ->reality.  While it's quite possible technically and
> would definitely
> > ->solve problems, getting a user to successfully
> configure one mail
> > ->account and keep from screwing that up is hard
> enough.  Tell them
> > ->to configure multiples and their head will start
> spinning.
> > ->
> > ->> I was addressing topic that others had brought up
> with
> > ->> using a netapp and sharing it between 2 boxes and
> having
> > ->> one box grab the ip of the mail server if it went
> down.
> > ->> Its great and all but like I said before, if your
> mail server
> > ->> is built well then the network turns into the
> failure point.
> > ->> And with the network being the failure point why
> bother having
> > ->> redundant mail servers in the same physical
> location?
> > ->
> > ->Got a couple of hundred users?  You can probably get
> away with
> > ->taking down your mail server to add more RAM or
> upgrading your
> > ->system.  Got 10,000? You still might be able to get
> away with it
> > ->in the wee hours of the morning if you are quick and
> lucky.  Got
> > ->60,000?  No way.  You might be able to build one box
> and make it
> > ->ultra-reliable and ultra-fast, but if things go
> sideways on you,
> > ->you're screwed.  Having multiple boxes taking care of
> things
> > ->automagically not only will please your customers,
> but immensely
> > ->improve your mental health.
> > ->
> > ->And the network being the failure point?  That's why
> you have
> > ->multiple circuits from different providers.
> > ->
> > ->--
> > ->Denny Reiter
>                               denny@reiters.org
> > ->So I don't hurt your feelings:
>        happydenny@reiters.org
> > ->                       www.scapegoats.org
> > ->Actually, Microsoft is sort of a mixture between the
> Borg and
> > ->the Ferengi.
> > ->
> >
> > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
> > with "unsubscribe freebsd-isp" in the body of the
> message
> >
> 
> 
> "It's kind of fun to do the impossible."
> 
>       - Walt Disney
> 
> 
> To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
> with "unsubscribe freebsd-isp" in the body of the message

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