Re: [exim] HArdware Suggestions for exim courier-imap

Simon Chappell wrote:
> been using Qmail

> is also time to move to Exim.
>
> We currently have a Dual P3 700 with 6 hard disks with 600 accounts on
> it. We have moved webmail of to another server but Imap and Smtp is
> still pushing the 15min load average past 6.00 .
> We have about 100 users with Outlook using Imap and the rest use Horde
> webmail.
>
> With so many users is there anyone who can give me a few pointers as to
> how big to go on the new server? I understand that disk IO is the big
> thing with Imap so we are looking at Raid but not sure whether to move
> from raid5 to another faster option. Also CPU's and Ram. We are looking
> at Dual 3Gig with 4Gig of Ram.

I'd think that your existing machine ought to support that load without
breathing too hard. How much disk space is used by your users' mail?
Do they keep on-server forever, or download-n-delete?
What runs your raid5? (5 is relatively expensive on writes - I'd suggest
moving to raid1 assuming you're not limited by space or costs)

Are you running heavy content-scanning? Spamassain?
What processes consistently take cpu?
What OS (and version)?

- Jeremy