Re: Sugesstions building a rather big mail system.
How many servers do you have running this ?
>I have been approached about building a rather big mail system handling
>500.0000 existing accounts (running today on a windows based product (ick))
>with a growth about 50.000 new accounts per year.
>The services needed is: smtp, pop3, imap4.
>I have used LVS for about 3y with good results for 30.000 accounts.
>But this is certainly a bigger project. Should I go for alteon or any other
>closed product or stick with LVS?
>Is there anyone on the list running such a system or have some comments about
>building such a system? (I do prefer to use OS/FS Software)
Sounds like you have a fun project.
I re-did a campus mail-system a few years ago here, and I
still manage it. It is much smaller [and under powered] with only
3000+ users, but I have learned a lot running an Open Source mail system
based on:
Postfix [with LDAP] MTA
Courier [with LDAP] IMAP
OpenLDAP [ mail routing and accounts]
Squirrel Mail [ Web-mail]
In running my own open source mail system for a 1.5+ years,
I would probably do a few things differently if
I had the opportunity to setup one again. More specifically, I would
probably use the SUN one product rather than Open Source. Although I do
not know anything about SUN one [or IPlanet], it appears from this side
of the fence to have simpler administrative tools and it has training.
With open source you [alone] are the subject matter expert unless you
find someone that is interested in learning and someone that you can
trust.
Since you are familiar with LVS, you should have no problem setting 2
[redundant] LVS systems up. You could balance the load between 10-20
IMAP servers.
You might also be able to use the same 2 LVS systems to balance your
load between the Web-mail servers.
<Crude Diagram>
[Firewall]
|
|
|
[LVS1]----[LVS2]
| |
[Fiber Only Switch]
|
Estimated Minimums needed for 500,000+ Email Users
--------------------------
10 IMAP servers [Courier IMAP 1 [Dual Xeon 1GHz] server /200 active users]
w/ XFS filesystem and Debian Stable
20 Webmail Servers [Squirrel-mail 1 [Dual Xeon 1Ghz] server /100 active users]
w/ XFS filesystem and Debian Stable
2 Databases Servers for authentication either [Mysql or OpenLDAP]
w/ XFS filesystem and Debian Stable
2-4 MX Gateways running either Exim or Postfix MTA and SPAMD with
w/ XFS filesystem and Debian Stable
Amivisd
2 [Fiber Channel] SAN Volumes for [MAIL storage] redundancy.
</Crude Diagram>
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Ted Knab
Chester, MD 21619
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