On Thu, 16 Oct 2003, Matthias F. Brandstetter wrote: > I need a mailsystem for around 2.000 POP3 accounts (and SMTP for them of > course) and and I want to implement that in a safe way. So I thougt I > setup some kind of backup server with the same config and then make a new, > but higher MX record for this domain to that backup mailserver, right? > > Question: Sure, I can make a 1:1 copy of the 1st server, but if that one > goes down and the 2nd is handling all the mails, how can users reach their > "old" mails from primary server? Is it possible somehow to implement a > "fulltime" copy (so that both server have always the same content on > them), or do I have to sync the mail data over night for example?
Are you looking to separate the mail frontend (send/receive mail) and the backend (mail storage)? If so, I know postfix can do this easily (through LMTP). I don't know whether or not qmail can do this, but it probably can. Then, regardless of the state of the mail server(s), users can access their mail. This still leaves the issue of replicating the mail storage itself, of course. I don't know how it would affect quotas, either. Also, you will want to use an LDAP or SQL backend for user info storage, to easily replicate all changes to all the servers. This does give the advantage that if the primary mail server is down, mail won't be stored (where users probably won't be able to get to it) on the backup server. That could be an interesting problem to fix if you're using mbox. -- Marshal Newrock, unemployed Linux user in Lansing, MI Caution: Product will be hot after heating -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
