Re: [vps-mail] Separate Mail Server

[Abigail Marshall <abigail@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I have been thinking more and more about setting up on VPS2 that is
> dedicated to doing just mail (POP, Webmail, mailing lists).  I seem to
> remember Abigail saying that she has done this and I imagine others have
> also.  So I have some questions, if you don't mind.

> 1) Did you need to (or feel the need to) disable any services on the
> dedicated mail server? (like webserver)

I didn't. I actually have some web pages being served on the
VPS2 mailserver because I decided to install Dada mail for
broadcast mail lists, and of course Dada generates a sign up
page & keeps archives of mailings. The VPS2 is running so
well that I've also put some other stuff on it (like using
it for FTP storage of some larger docs), though I don't plan
to use it to permanently host the root domain of any site.
(It's just that I have enough server load issues that it
helps to be able to move things around from time to time).

> 2) Did you need to (or feel the need to) disable any services on the web
> site servers? (like incoming mail server)

No, because my other servers still have programs running
that need to send/receive email, such as a mailman list and
a discussion board. But I did use virtmaps settings to
limit what each would accept.

> I have thought about disabling services, but on a web site server I know
> that scripts will still need to be able to send mail out

Exactly.

>  and on mail
> servers people will still want to access mail through the web.

I don't provide web based mail on my servers, so I don't
have that particular issue. For me the primary reason for
using one server for handling all the email was spam & virus
control, and also server load issues that came up from time
to time by alphabet spammers or trojans hurling too much
mail at the server.  It's just easier to maintain one
installation of Spamassassin, one set of procmail recipes,
etc., than to have to keep updating and anticipating
problems on multiple servers.

> 3) Is there anything special I should consider doing on either a web site
> server and or mail only server that might help optimize performance for
> each?

Probably, but the VPS2 is so much more efficient than the
VPS1 servers I had that I haven't run into any sort of load
issues yet. I am using a VPS2 Standard taking over mail
operations from a VPS1-C that was straining with the load,
and basically the VPS2 server load rarely goes above  0.01.
So I haven't begun to think about optimizing. I'm sure
depending on the volume of email you have it could become an
issue at some point.  But for me the main benefit so far has
been the time saver of only have to worry about managing
email in one place.

-Abigail

> Thanks,
> --
> Jonathan Duncan
> Administrator
> 801.376.7796
> JKD Web Magic
> http://www.jkdwebmagic.com
> Web Site Hosting and Design

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