On Thursday, August 19, 2004, 11:47:43, Sharyn Schmidt wrote: > ... > I have a rather small user base, only about 300 users. My idea was to > install IMAIL on the 2nd server (declude as well) and then import the > registry key from my current Imail server to the new one. This would > get all the current users and lists onto the new one. > > I really don't make a lot of user changes on a day to day basis, so > any account I set up or delete on my primary server, I would just make > the same change manually on the second server.
Another option would be to periodically re-import the user registry data. > ... > If my primary server was unreachable, I would want my internal users > to be able to send/receive email, via the second server, using their > <user>@todhunter.com email address. My remote users would still need > to be able to access webmessaging over the internet to retrieve their > mail. Here's where I've got some questions. When the primary does down are you/they expecting to be able to see the e-mail that was received on the primary when you are connecting to the backup? And in reverse, when the primary comes back up is the expectation to be able to see e-mail that was received on the backup when you start connecting to the primary again? If people will accept e-mail stored on the primary being unavailable when the primary is down and e-mail received by the backup not automagically appearing on the primary the task becomes a lot simpler. > I run my own primary nameserver here, at my main site. I would want to > set up DNS entries for the second(new) server in advance, since, if my > internet connection is down here at my site, my primary nameserver is > too. It would make sense to have an authoritative slave running in your backup data center. You'll automatically get updates you make on your master nameserver and some of the cost of backup data center could be assigned to DNS backup (although a 'dig' on todhunter.com shows you're pretty well covered in that respect). > I would want the second server to have the same IMAIL official host > name and the same mail.todhunter.com alias. > > My thought was then, I could just create a host record (ie mail2) in > DNS, point it to the IP address I will be using for it, create an mx > record using mail2.todhunter.com and give it a higher number than the > one than the primary, say 50 or 100 or whatever. > > In Outlook, on all client machines, we would set up a 2nd email > account for mail2 as the incoming and outgoing server so users would > be able to connect to it. If the primary is up, it shouldn't get mail > sent to it as the mx record will have a higher number. Keep in mind that any network hiccups that prevent someone from reaching the primary will cause them to attempt to reach your backup. Also spammers will often go after lower priority MX's with the assumption that they're less protected. > I don't expect anything to happen automatically, I just want to ensure > when I fire it up, and it needs to be working, everything on the > server itself, and in DNS is working right. I could even keep the smtp > service on the second server stopped, until I needed to use it. That would certainly cut down on spammers going after the backup :-) -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] "The avalanche has already started, it is too Rod Dorman late for the pebbles to vote." � Ambassador Kosh To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/
