Can Scalix on FC 4 support dual CPUs?

[bluemike]

My installation of Scalix on a test system had gone well. Now it's time to buy a server-class system to put in on.

I know that with WIndows apps, they have to be coded to make use of a second CPU. Is the same true with Linux apps? Can you forsee any issues with getting a i386 'dual core' CPU? I am just trying to avoid any 'non-starter' type problems up front....

[kanderson]

You'll be fine. If you have less than a thousand users or so, this is simple. If not, call Scalix and ask for advice on the hardware you should go with.

Having said that, be aware that a dual core chip is not going to be as fast as a dual processor system. The dual cores will overload the bandwidth available on the processor socket if you can actually get them that busy.

Typically mail servers have problems with disk I/O long before they have problems with processor load. Assuming your clients are all MAPI, this will be the same for you. I find IMAP connections are very processor intensive, and surprisingly slow. I'll grudgingly give up Kmail early next year once the Evolution connector is available.

[bluemike]

Actually, I only have a few users, but massive attachments. Usually 1-2 GB a week. Do you think I could trade off CPU spped for bigger storage space? I was thinking 2.8Ghz, but I could get a slower (i.e. cheaper) CPU and use the saving to get a couple of really big HD's that'd be cool.

[kanderson]

That works out a little less than 300 Megs a day. Either this is internal email, or you have a WAY bigger internet connection than I have.

Personally, I'd go with HDD. This will especially be true for people opening their email. If they click from one message to another, each with a large attachment, it will take a LONG while to open a message and the preception will be that the server is slow. This will be because the server is reading a (say) 30 Meg email attachment, and shooting it over the network to make it available for Outlook.

I'd spend money on faster HDDs and cache for the RAID controller before I'd spend money on the processor.

I'd also suggest that you put spamassassin on another machine, as that can have a pretty serious load in every way, especially if you use Razor, DCC and Pyzor integrated with Spamassassin.

How are people going to connect to your server? POP, IMAP, or MAPI?

Kev.

[bluemike]

All this email is from customers. We get 75-100 email a day (not including spam), and each one with 2-3 MB attached. We are a print shop and get most of our printed files this way. One nice thing is that it's rare for an individual email to have a large attachment, so they open pretty quick.

I think you're right. I will go for more/faster storage and get a slower CPU.

I havn't quite figured out how to install and/or setup spamassassin yet. This is my first email server AND my first linux experience, so I am learning as I go.

[kanderson]

Feel free to write back on this board. People are generally quite helpful.

Personally, I'd recommend SuSE over RedHat for your install, but that's mostly personal preference. More importantly, I'd advise that installing on FC4 is a mistake. It will install and run fine, but you will screw yourself when it comes time to upgrade. Go out and purchase an enterprise version of Linux, either SLES or redhat. Otherwise, an upgrade to Scalix will also require an upgrade to your OS. Scalix only supports 1 "community" version per distro per release. So even though 9.4.2 supports FC4, if FC5 is out before Scalix 10.0.0 (or whatever the next release is), you won't be able to install Scalix until you've upgraded from FC4 to FC5, at least not easily.

Lastly, before you start, make sure that the install you use is 32 bit, rather than 64. Scalix isn't compiled for a 64 bit processor, the install will fail, and you'll need to reinstall.

Once Scalix is up and running, worry about Spam & Viruses. That can wait.

Kev.

[bluemike]

O Scalix has been up and running for a few days now. I do have FC4, but it seemed like the best bet since I was trying keep the hard costs to zero.

I have Scalix set to only accept outgoing from the internal subnet, so that stop 95% of the spammers. As far as incoming spam, that's next on the 'post-your-problem' list.....

The AV is covered by SAV Corporate. It only filters after the emails are sent to the Windows system with Putlook...so that's not good. Again, on my list....