Hi guys,
Been reading your failover scenarios and wanted to mention that NT has
built-in function calls that would support your efforts. Umm, someone would
have to code it, but the NT calls are built-in. You can monitor specific
registry entries for modifications. You can monitor specific disk
directories or files for modifications. A little bit of code to communicate
back and forth... Well, maybe more than just a little... So, a "clean,
straight-forward product" to do what you want is well within the possible
zone. I would not have any idea whether it is in the probable zone or not. I
don't know if the ROI is there or not. It would not require some of the high
cost solutions that seem to be the only real solution available now.
Having Fun - Dancing on the dark side of the moon,
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Baden Hughes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2001 7:06 PM
Subject: RE: [IMail Forum] Imail failover
>
> you could try a load balancer with virtual ip to which pop3.domain and
> smtp.domain point, and two servers behind that, one of which is the
primary
> (referenced in the load balancer) and the other the secondary
> (unreferenced), and the secondary pulling differential copies of the data
> off each hour (??)) when the primary went down, change the load bancer
> config (takes about 5 seconds) and up comes the secondary with a copy of
> backup mail etc etc ... we've experimented with such a setup and it works
OK
> for low volumes of mail only (in which case you might not want to go out
and
> spend 12K on a Foundry). Larger quantities of mail becomes quite difficult
> because of the volume of data that needs to be transfered in a single
backup
> run for the secondary.
>
> there are lots of catches, but its workable, probably depends on how much
> infrastructure and network engineering support you have at your disposal
>
> baden
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Todd Lahman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > Sent: Friday, 6 April 2001 8:51 AM
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: Re: [IMail Forum] Imail failover
> >
> >
> > There is a way you could get a backup IMail server sort of.
> >
> > You can write a script on the main server which backs up the
> > registry file
> > using a command line. You schedule it to run every 24 hours
> > or every hour
> > depending on your needs. You then write a script to ftp that
> > file to the
> > backup server after each backup. You time it say 5 minutes after the
> > registry backup is scheduled. On the backup server you use
> > the same command
> > line script to restore the registry on the backup server
> > which will load in
> > any changes from the main server. The only problem is if the
> > main server
> > fails the mail accounts will operate normally, but there
> > won't be any mail.
> > Copying the mail folders would take forever even with just a
> > few hundred
> > accounts. If you have an Access database you can also use
> > the same ftp
> > script to transfer and overwrite the backup server's database as well.
> > Other than that there isn't a lot of failover I know would be
> > guaranteed,
> > and IMail isn't cluster aware.
> >
> > This script can also be used to simply backup your server to a remote
> > machine offsite daily to make sure you still have a backup if
> > there is ever
> > a fire.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Len Conrad" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2001 12:30 PM
> > Subject: Re: [IMail Forum] Imail failover
> >
> >
> > >
> > > >Just out of curiosity. Is the correct way to make a IMail
> > backup server
> > > >just to set up another machine running Imail, possbily
> > synchronize the
> > > >databases on both a couple time/day,
> > >
> > > That's pretty hard since the "database" of mailboxes is
> > updated every
> > minute.
> > >
> > > >and create an mx record with a lower priority number for the backup
> > machine??
> > >
> > > The backup SMTP delivery only, not mailbox backup
> > >
> > > >or is there a better way? Also,
> > > >how do you make a backup smtp server?
> > >
> > > RT, uh, read the explanation in the imail manual
> > >
> > > Len
> > >
> > >
> > > http://MenAndMice.com/DNS-training : In Austin, TX; SFO, CA; Paris,
> > > FR
> > > http://BIND8NT.MEIway.com : ISC BIND 8.2.3 "NT3" for NT4 & W2K
> > > http://IMGate.MEIway.com : Build free, hi-perf, anti-abuse
> > mail gateways
> > >
> > >
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> > >
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> > >
> >
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