Hello, I am evaluating a potential move of a mail server from a dedicated server to a cloud-based server instance. I am trying to research the cons (I am comfortable with the pros) of doing so.
>From what I can tell, we have to consider possible performance issues (e.g., I/O contention), although if you find a provider with a good infrastructure/design or can afford to buy enough resources, this can be minimized. However, the issue that strikes me as the most serious (being somewhat out of our control and dependent on people and factors that aren't all that transparent) is that one might find the server in a Bad Neighborhood. This was covered almost a year and a half ago on this list already: http://marc.info/?t=128115967300001&r=1&w=2 But I am starting a new thread because a year and a half is a long time and because I think there have been some developments in regard to this issue of RBLs and cloud providers-- Amazon is the well-known example of a cloud provider that wound up on at least one prominent RBL which caused a lot of grief. I'm under the impression that they have taken measures to deal with this problem, although I haven't seen the details of this except in the form of some forum posts that suggest that they have separated their dynamically allocated netblocks from a pool of IP addresses that are tied to customer accounts in a static manner. This seems like a reasonable solution to that problem, but I'm not 100% sure that that's what they've done OR that it has proved to be a good fix. We aren't considering Amazon and would like to use a different cloud hosting provider, but it's very difficult to tell what providers have dealt with this problem (or if it is a problem at all -- some people (see below) contend that it isn't an issue, but I don't think they understand how Bad Neighborhoods affect MTAs around them). I have been participating in a forum thread in a cloud hosting-specific subforum where I thought I could get some good feedback, but instead I've ended up having to explain and re-explain why ranges of addresses that are somewhat frequently reassigned can be bad news for anyone attempting to run a mail server. (I'd be thrilled to have one of the experts from here come and do a better job of explaining it than I have!!) http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1117637 So is there anyone out there who runs a mail server from a cloud-based server? (non-Amazon as well as Amazon) Can anyone here shed any light on the current state of cloud providers and RBLs and/or dynamic netblock lists (and what has been done to help remedy such issues)? Thank you Ori
