[Dovecot] How can we horizontally scale Dovecot across multiple servers?

[Felipe Scarel]

Quick question about the usage of DRBD: I'm thinking of a setup on my
organization here (15k+ users, 4TB of email data), but I'm holding back on
the clusterization due to the high volume of data.

Using DRBD would implicate mirroring those 4TB of data across all cluster
nodes? If yes, I might go with a SAN-based solution, though I haven't
studied much about that setup yet (the other sysadm administrates the VMs
and SAN, gotta ask him a few questions).

On Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 08:00, Robert Schetterer <robert at schetterer.org>wrote:

> Am 31.10.2011 10:43, schrieb Arlin:
> > Hi Robert,
> >
> > Thanks for the reply. We are upgrading Dovecot to v2.0.15 and other
> > component's to the latest version. In that case, can we use san for
> storage
> > or are you recommending that drbd with ocfs2 is the best way to attain
> the
> > horizontal scalability for the mail storage?
>
> Hi Arlin, there is no best way, you should choose
> whatever fits best to your needs an haves
> so it depends on many stuff ( i.e at last finance, network, manpower,
> knowledge) etc
>
> So all i can say iam just using a loadbalanced cluster setup with drbd
> ocfs2 maildir dovecot postfix mysql clamav spamassassin on ubuntu lucid
> lts with 3000 Mailboxes without any big Problems yet
> but i can imagine that a professional SAN might be better in performance
> but there is a lot other other questions left , i.e maildir must not be
> the best solution for mailbox format etc
>
> cluster setups with lots of mailboxes are complex
> in many ways, if you planning a real big mailservice
> you should ask more here on this list for existing other setups and
> choose i.e
> Timo and/or others for professional and paid advice and work
>
>
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Arlin
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: dovecot-bounces at dovecot.org [mailto:dovecot-bounces at dovecot.org]
> On
> > Behalf Of Robert Schetterer
> > Sent: 31 October 2011 14:26
> > To: dovecot at dovecot.org
> > Subject: Re: [Dovecot] How can we horizontally scale Dovecot across
> multiple
> > servers?
> >
> > Am 31.10.2011 09:47, schrieb Arlin:
> >> Could anyone please respond to this query. Thank you!
> >
> > you may use loadbalancers i.e (keepalived etc) and/or
> >
> > http://wiki2.dovecot.org/FeatLoginProxy
> > http://wiki2.dovecot.org/PasswordDatabase/ExtraFields/Proxy
> >
> > look the list for cluster setups etc
> >
> > reading your former post
> > you want to use many outdated prog versions dont do that a san for
> storage
> > might be a good choice some of the list use drbd with ocfs2 and other
> > cluster filesystems
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> From: Arlin [mailto:arlin at mvs.us]
> >> Sent: 28 October 2011 17:06
> >> To: 'dovecot at dovecot.org'
> >> Subject: How can we horizontally scale Dovecot across multiple servers?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> How can we horizontally scale Dovecot across multiple servers? Do we
> >> require to install independent instances of Dovecot on each server?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> We are planning to use a NAS/SAN device using ZFS or EFS for email
> > storage.
> >> Each logical unit will be of 10TB and similarly as the no: of user
> >> increases we are planning to add multiple 10TB units.
> >>
> >> In this case how we can manage the email storage on multiple volumes
> >> from Dovecot.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> The configuration of our existing system is:-
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Dovecot 1.0.15 / Maildirs
> >>
> >> Postfix 2.5.5
> >>
> >> Debian 5.0.9 (Lenny)
> >>
> >> MySQL 5.0.15
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Please advise.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Thanks in advance.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Creative Regards,
> >>
> >> Arlin
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > Best Regards
> >
> > MfG Robert Schetterer
> >
> > Germany/Munich/Bavaria
> >
>
>
> --
> Best Regards
>
> MfG Robert Schetterer
>
> Germany/Munich/Bavaria
>