From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Dec 27 07:29:02 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2695916A4CE for ; Sat, 27 Dec 2003 07:29:02 -0800 (PST) Received: from world.tonkinresolutions.com (233-123.adsl6.netlojix.net [207.71.233.123]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 91EFF43D46 for ; Sat, 27 Dec 2003 07:29:00 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from nick@tonkinresolutions.com) Received: from 127.0.0.1 (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by injector.tonkinresolutions.com (Postfix) with SMTP id D7647F805 for ; Sat, 27 Dec 2003 15:28:57 +0000 (GMT) Received: from teltron.tonkinresolutions.com (unknown [192.168.0.146]) by world.tonkinresolutions.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 36998F7C1 for ; Sat, 27 Dec 2003 07:28:57 -0800 (PST) To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <20031226173013.96397.qmail@web60301.mail.yahoo.com> <44ekuqs35x.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> Message-ID: From: Nick Tonkin Organization: Tonkin Resolutions Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 07:28:58 -0800 In-Reply-To: <44ekuqs35x.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> User-Agent: Opera7.23/FreeBSD M2 build 518 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.60 (1.212-2003-09-23-exp) on world.tonkinresolutions.com X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.9 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.60 X-Sanitizer: Advosys mail filter MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Subject: Re: Backup Server X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 15:29:02 -0000 On 27 Dec 2003 10:15:06 -0500, Lowell Gilbert wrote: > samy lancher writes: > >> I have a 4.5 FreeBSD server. It is our Email, web and database server. >> I would like to setup a backup server so that when the main server goes >> down the backup server takes over its job. >> Could some one please tell me the best way to setup a backup server and >> also suggest some good documentation. You could try the Equalizer series of load balancing appliances from Coyote Point software (www.coyotepoint.com). They are designed for network load balancing but they have an automatic failover mode so that machine 'B' takes over immediately when machine 'A' is unavailable. Of course keeping your content synchronized between two machines is a different kettle of fish. In the application in which we used the Equalizers. IIRC we used rsync to keep a fairly live database up to date (we had to because we used the devices for load balancing primarily so they were actually both in used concurrently). This seems like it would be quite involved if you wanted to keep an e-mail server for several users ready to fail over. Oh, BTW, the equalizer is a software-based device that runs FreeBSD internally. Also worth noting is that the support we got from Coyote Point was exemplary. HTH, -nick -- _____________________________________ Nick Tonkin {|8^)> information management systems and custom software development http://www.tonkinresolutions.com