OS will be Redhat EL 5.3 (not exactly my first choice) looking at just using ext3fs, would this be a bad thing ? Where does one find this mysterious "offline" setting in outlook ? 2009/8/17 Nic Bernstein <nic@xxxxxxxxxxx>: > If you need to do archival, I recommend that instead of using Sendmail, you > look into using Postfix. It has an option "always_bcc" which can be used to > send a copy of each message, internal as well as incoming and outgoing, to a > particular mailbox. You can then either have that mailbox put into a > separate partition. Or, if you need to be able to support legal discovery, > such as for Sarbane Oxley compliance, you should look into using a database > backed archival solution, such as with the catchmail.py script or dbmail. > > As for the Outlook performance issues, do your users have Outlook configured > for "offline" mode support? If so, that may be the cause of the problems. > Unless these users are using portable computers there is no real need for > this mode to be employed. > > As far as you hardware choices, they seem reasonable. I have systems with > hundreds of users working off of SATA arrays quite happily, though for a > modern system I would use SAS. > You didn't mention which operating system you are using. If you haven't yet > chosen, I would recommend looking into one which supports ZFS, which would > mean Solaris, OpenSolaris, NexentaOS or FreeBSD, for example. We have a > server with 1500 users on similar hardware to your spec, running on FreeBSD > with the mailstore in a ZFS volume with RAIDz2 and are quite happy with the > performance. With ZFS RAIDz options you do not really need the RAID > controller, and all the problems that go along with them. > If you are more comfortable with Linux, which does not have ZFS support, > then I recommend NexentaOS, which is the OpenSolaris kernel and core with > the Ubuntu userland bolted on. You get the best of both worlds that way. > > Cheers, > -nic > > On 08/16/2009 06:02 PM, John Duthie wrote: >> >> I am currently proving a Cyrus Imap / E-Groupware server will work at >> my company. >> (replacing FT gate, Competing against Exchange). >> >> We are almost at the stage where we will be getting hardware. >> >> I need advice on some points. >> >> Hardware. >> archival. >> ms outlook IMAP support Issues. >> >> The Site: >> ~50 Users , all accessing email all day (heavy usage can be assumed). >> IT Company/ Call center. >> >> Hardware: >> >> Single server >> Dual Xeon 2 core , 8 GB ram >> looking at a Intel SAS 256 MB RAID card >> with 2 Arrays >> 300 GB SAS - OS / and email >> and 1 TB SATA - Archival >> >> would using SATA for the /var/spool/imap folder limit performance much >> vs using SAS drives ? >> >> would raid5 using 3 or 4 1 TB drives be better than the sas raid 1 ? >> >> >> My test server. is a Dualcore E5200 @ 2.50GHz wwith 2GB ram and a >> 160 SATA drive. >> >> I get delays accessing my email in Outlook (1.5 Gb of email) , I >> suspect this delay is Outlook >> Outlook is unresponsive for 2-3 minutes at startup (when syncing) >> >> I also get a Message now and then about my connection being closed >> >> All of the users currently use Outlook. >> Outlook Auto Archive does not seem to work with IMAP >> >> I am 99% sure this is outlook is the problem, are there workarounds >> available ? >> (fairly sure I can convert a lot of people to Thunderbird etc , But >> the Managers like their Outlook!) >> >> >> Is there a way to Archive Older Messages on the server ? >> maybe ipurge not purging but moving emails ? >> >> ( we need to keep every email Archived for Legal reasons etc. ) >> (still don't know how to get Sendmail to archive all outgoing messages >> yet either) >> >> also: >> The RHEL5.3 cyrus rc script runs a database backup on shutdown and a >> restore on bootup - This is a bit dumb, when the backup progess >> crashed due to a misconfigeration (test server) and the server was >> Power reset. it the restored a broken backup and I lost the mailbox >> database .. - Not your fault but something to watch out for. >> >> >> If anyone out there has set-up a similar system and hit a Stumbling >> block Please let me know !! >> >> also if anyone needs a pam config for imap to authenticate against a >> egroupware mysql database I have it working. >> >> TIA >> >> John. >> ---- >> Cyrus Home Page: http://cyrusimap.web.cmu.edu/ >> Cyrus Wiki/FAQ: http://cyrusimap.web.cmu.edu/twiki >> List Archives/Info: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/mailing-list.html >> > > > -- > Nic Bernstein nic@xxxxxxxxxxx > Onlight llc. www.onlight.com > 219 N. Milwaukee St., Ste. 2A v. 414.272.4477 > Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 f. 414.290.0335 > > ---- Cyrus Home Page: http://cyrusimap.web.cmu.edu/ Cyrus Wiki/FAQ: http://cyrusimap.web.cmu.edu/twiki List Archives/Info: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/mailing-list.html
