> My company is looking to double it's size. > To that end I need to come up with general costs for this. > > What is the recommended hardware config and costs for the following: > > Dedicated Postfix server for outgoing mail ( * 2) > > Dedicated Postfix server for anti-virus ( * 2 )
There is no true standard for Postfix box sizes. There has been a lot of discussion. A couple questions. Why get inbound and outbound servers? Why not just run multiple instances that have different rules for inbound and outbound mail paths? Postfix is HD IO bound. The more IO you have, the more of the machine Postfix can chew up. AntiVirus seems to be much more CPU and/or RAM bound. So you could start with two boxes that are cookie cutter replicas of each other. Fast disk IO, decent processor, nice chunk of memory. Watch the load. Then if this is not good enough performance get out the cookie cutter again and stamp out another box of the same shape, size, etc. You may find that 2 or 3 boxes does everything you need, and that would save you the cost the 4th and possibly the 3rd box. The way to get better IO has been gone over again and again. Basically drives striped for speed, aka: raid 0, does this. Do not use a journal if you can afford it because this adds to IO. Redistribute non-Postfix IO. Dump logging off the box, OR add a another HD or Mirror that is for the OS, etc. and then put just your spool on the high IO drive set. --Eric
