Multiple Scalix Servers

[kluss0]

I am currently running a single Scalix server (Enterprise Edition) that serves as the only mail server for my company. The company has two sites, one in the US and one in India. The two sites are connected via an IPSec VPN, which is how the people in India access the mail server. I am considering deploying a second server in India in a multiple server configuration and using the existing server as the internet mail gateway (based on this great howto http://www.scalix.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=698) to increase local performance. However, before I do that, there are a few things that I need to know:

1) I purchased licenses for the existing server based on user numbers in both offices. Do I need to buy new licenses for the second server, or can I transfer licenses out of the existing pool?

2) If the VPN tunnel goes down, will the internet gateway queue incoming mail until it can send it off to the other server? Will the secondary server queue outgoing mail until it can route it back to the internet gateway?

3) Is there a way to specify the existing server as the internet mail gateway, but if it cannot be reached, send the mail out on it's own?

4) If I use omcpoutu to dump users from the existing server and omcpinu to import their mailboxes into the new server, will all of the calendar/contacts/etc. work as they always did?

TIA,
Kenny

[florian]

1) I purchased licenses for the existing server based on user numbers in both offices. Do I need to buy new licenses for the second server, or can I transfer licenses out of the existing pool?

If this is Enterprise Edition (which is the only version that supports multiple servers), no problem. You just install the same license key on both machines, it will pool automatically if the multi-server setup is correct.

2) If the VPN tunnel goes down, will the internet gateway queue incoming mail until it can send it off to the other server? Will the secondary server queue outgoing mail until it can route it back to the internet gateway?

Yes; by default, queueing will last for at least 24 or 48 hours, depending on your sendmail setup, but this can be adjusted.

3) Is there a way to specify the existing server as the internet mail gateway, but if it cannot be reached, send the mail out on it's own?

That's more complex as routing on Scalix level is static, but if we were to change this to SMTP based routing, this is possible.

4) If I use omcpoutu to dump users from the existing server and omcpinu to import their mailboxes into the new server, will all of the calendar/contacts/etc. work as they always did?

I would suggest adding the following line to your general.cfg, but if the directories are properly setup and synchronized using dirsync, they will.

Code: Select all

SR_RESOLVE_MASK=4


-- Florian.

[kluss0]

Quote:

4) If I use omcpoutu to dump users from the existing server and omcpinu to import their mailboxes into the new server, will all of the calendar/contacts/etc. work as they always did?

I would suggest adding the following line to your general.cfg, but if the directories are properly setup and synchronized using dirsync, they will.


Code:

SR_RESOLVE_MASK=4

So, are you saying that I don't have to copy the users out, delete them from the original server, create new accounts on the new server, then copy them in ? Is there a way to automagically transfer a user from one node to the other? That would make my life a lot easier!!

Thanks,
Kenny

[florian]

That|s correct and at this point there is no automatic way for migrating users. Such is planned for a later release, however, it is not simple as there are situations where copying over the network might not work and people might actually prefer to burn the mbox on a dvd and send it over manually or so.

-- f.