Hi Adrian,
Having read the thread, I think I understand your plan. I think you should watch out
for CF on the iMS/SQL server competing with SS for processor time. What I see is that
CF is very very busy when receiving a bunch of mail. Of course this will depend on
the amount of processing being done in your iMS domain templates -- whether you have
IP blocks, filtering, forwarding, groups, processors, and other intensive tasks.
However the amount of CF processing power required by iMS shouldn't be underestimated
(which I've done). If someone decided to spam all your users one day, your iMS box
will be hurting-- not because of iMS per se, but because of CF. Actually I bet you'll
see much higher CF usage on the iMS box than you will on the Webmail box-- at least
until you get serious Web traffic. A Web user can only click buttons so quickly,
while an incoming mail stream (or 40) can fire off CF templates at a crazy rate.
One relief might be to configure SS to only use 1 of the 2 procs and, say, half the
RAM. This way CF will have a clear shot at the other resources. Unfortunately
there's no way to tell CF to only use the other proc and only the other half of the
RAM, so CF will still interfere with SS.
I think if I were in your shoes, I'd make one SQL Server box, and put everything else
on the other one, for now. Then, when your Web traffic picks up, break off the IIS/CF
(Webmail) functions to a 3rd box. This way you'll have 3 boxes doing 3 distinct
tasks. Also, you can use your SQL Server for other stuff besides mail (perhaps help
recoup some of the cost). Even though the SS machine and the iMS machine both may
require large storage, it won't do you much good if they're competing for the disk
access whenever an email comes in. Also, stick your SQL logs on a different drive
array from your data if you can (for speed and safety).
Cheers,
-Max
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