[5523] in RedHat Linux List
Re: Backup Mail Server
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Eric Smith)
Thu Nov 21 21:37:11 1996
Date: 22 Nov 1996 03:28:25 -0000
From: Eric Smith <eric@brouhaha.com>
To: Mitchell Leben <mitch@smithphoto.com>
CC: redhat-list@redhat.com
In-reply-to: <Pine.LNX.3.91.961121112453.20086B-100000@snappy.smithphoto.com>
(message from Mitchell Leben on Thu, 21 Nov 1996 11:33:41 -0600 (CST))
Resent-From: redhat-list@redhat.com
Reply-To: redhat-list@redhat.com
Mitchell Leben <mitch@smithphoto.com> writes:
> I'd like to hear various solutions to setting up a backup mail server. I
> have sendmail on a 4.0 box, with about 1000 emails a day. The second
> computer will do nothing but serve as backup mail.
...
> - What are some backup strategies to synchronize two mail servers?
> I have considered setting up a crontab on the main server to ftp the key
> files to the backup every 15 minutes (passwd, group, sendmail.c*,mail
> spool, databases, aliases, etc.) Then the backup machine would copy these
> files to the proper places.
...
> DNS of course has to be considered as well. I can setup another MX record
> with a lower priority. Ideally the switch would be hot and seamless.
>
> Thanks for any setup ideas. My goal here is to have uninterrupted email,
> even if the main machine goes down.
The usual method is for the backup machine to simply act as a mail relay.
It doesn't need to have the passwd, group, aliases, etc. It just has to
have a sendmail.cf that causes it to forward all the mail for your domain(s)
to your primary server. User's can't get their mail while the primary
mail host is down, but I think that would be a nightmare anyhow.
<blatant commercial plug>
As it happens, my secondary DNS business, secondary.net, is branching out
into offering mail relay service also.
</blatant commercial plug>
Cheers,
Eric
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