High availability email server...

[Heinzmann, Robert]

Hi, 

you can also use DRBD for replication on the block level. Then you need no SAN and have a shared nothing architecture. You will need a high speed link between the sites (GBIT). An alternative is a SAN with replication. You can also use md for this purpose (host based SAN raid). Two cheap MSA 1000/1500 will do just fine. 

We have done a installation with 2 MSA 1500 san arrays mirrored with MD on the host level in production since 1 year. Runs without a problem. There are aprox. 3500 active users on the servers. Exim and other services (e.g. LDAP) are also protected in the cluster.  We used SteelEye LifeKeeper as cluster software. 

Contact me if you need more information. 

Regards, 
Robert Heinzmann

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Robert Heinzmann
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> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: info-cyrus-bounces at lists.andrew.cmu.edu 
> [mailto:info-cyrus-bounces at lists.andrew.cmu.edu] Im Auftrag 
> von Chris St. Pierre
> Gesendet: Freitag, 28. Juli 2006 15:12
> An: Chad A. Prey
> Cc: info-cyrus at lists.andrew.cmu.edu
> Betreff: Re: High availability email server...
> 
> Chad--
> 
> We've put /var/lib/imap and /var/spool/imap on a SAN and have 
> two machines -- one active, and one hot backup.  If the 
> active server fails, the other mounts the storage and takes 
> over.  This is not yet in production, but it's a pretty 
> simple setup and can be done without running any bleeding 
> edge software, and it appears that it will work fine.  
> There's no need to use a SAN, either -- you could share your 
> mail storage out via NFS with the same effect.
> 
> We're going production with this in mid-August; if you'd like 
> to know how everything goes, drop me a note in a month or so.
> 
> Chris St. Pierre
> Unix Systems Administrator
> Nebraska Wesleyan University
> 
> On Thu, 27 Jul 2006, Chad A. Prey wrote:
>