Actually, pop3 would work but SMTP would not.  The problem is the spooling
system does not record in the DB when it is locking (processing) a message
in the spool.  This means if server A receives a message via SMTP and dumps
it into the spool, both server A and server B would see the message and
potentially both grab it and store it in the outgoing spool, so messages
could get duplicated.  pop3 actually works since once the message is in an
inbox, there's no chance of it getting duplicated.

What someone would need to do is add a DB locking system, so as the spool
repository grabs a message, it records in the DB that it is grabbing that
message.  The problem is a) how does each server uniquely identify itself to
the DB (so you know which server has the lock), and b) what happens if that
server dies, since the DB lock would remain.  These aren't impossible to
address (perhaps just use IP address, or something like that, and probably
use some timeout to kill aged locks), but it's not ready yet.  That said,
you're by no means the first to request this feature, and it would be a nice
differentiator for James since I don't know of other mail servers that
support this.

Serge Knystautas
Loki Technologies - Unstoppable Websites
http://www.lokitech.com/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris D" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2002 4:46 PM
Subject: Clustering James?


> Hello,
>
> I would like to use James strictly as a mail-forwarding server (SMTP).  I
> have been able to install James and configure the JDBCAlias mailet to
> perform forwarding based on a database table.  I also intend on moving the
> user repository into the database as well.
>
> My question is this.  Can I have two servers in a cluster running
instances
> of James to forward mail?  I am assuming that since I am only using SMTP
> there should not be a problem.  Also, since only one server will be
> accepting a given request, there should not be a problem with duplicated
> messages.
>
> Any thoughts?



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