From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jun 22 06:58:08 2004 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 3C6DF16A4CE for ; Tue, 22 Jun 2004 06:58:08 +0000 (GMT) Received: from hobbiton.shire.net (hobbiton.shire.net [206.71.64.250]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 157FE43D58 for ; Tue, 22 Jun 2004 06:58:08 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from chad@shire.net) Received: from [67.161.247.57] (helo=[192.168.99.66]) by hobbiton.shire.net with asmtp (TLSv1:RC4-SHA:128) (Exim 4.10) id 1BcfED-0005Ov-00; Tue, 22 Jun 2004 00:57:57 -0600 In-Reply-To: <20040621172520.3544d6fe.wmoran@potentialtech.com> References: <20040621132006.2b1a296f.wmoran@potentialtech.com> <20040621172520.3544d6fe.wmoran@potentialtech.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v618) Message-Id: <7B04A918-C419-11D8-AB72-003065A70D30@shire.net> From: "Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC" Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 00:57:52 -0600 To: Bill Moran X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.618) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on hobbiton.shire.net X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-0.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_30 autolearn=no version=2.63 X-Spam-Level: cc: FreeBSD-questions Subject: Re: What's the best possible email failover solution 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: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 06:58:08 -0000 On Jun 21, 2004, at 3:25 PM, Bill Moran wrote: > >> You'd be much better off with some sort of NAS in a raid >> config, even if it were home grown, to store the spools. > > We already have a "home-grown NAS" (just a FreeBSD box with Vinum > RAID) but > it doesn't protect me if the machine with the drives has a power > supply or a > mobo or a CPU go south. I don't know if a NAS is any more reliable > than a > PC, but it's still a single point of failure. Yes, but your scenario of losing all the mail before the backup if something goes poof is covered. In other words, if a CPU or a MB goes poof, you do not lose your mail stores. Your RAID disk protects you against that. Your mail may not be accessible while you replace a MB or CPU or PS (get redundant PS), but you do not lose it, which is the failure you wanted to protect against. My mail server has redundant power supplies and adaptec raid cards (SCSI disks) doing HW mirroring with hot spare. I have not had a problem ever losing mail (since Jan 1997 when we started business). Chad