Re: [exim] Fastest Exim server ever

Marc Perkel wrote:
> I just got a call from someone wanting to be able to send 50k email
> messages a second. Most of it in bursts of a few seconds long. It has to
> do with some kind of gaming application. I'm just trying to picture in
> my mind what kind of hardware could do that.

They 'know not, and know not that they know not'.

First, if you do the math, the 'hardware' is probably pretty close to
what hotmail or yahoo uses. Or used to use.

EG: A building - or several - full of servers, and the Mother of All
router and backbone infrastructures.

Forget about any ONE MTA doing that sort of volume, even with an
'Exokernel' OS implementing a bespoke near-as-dammit state-machine.

Second: smtp sounds like *entirely* the wrong tool for such an
application in the first place. Even TCP/IP is not a good fit.

>
> What the Exim record for how fast a server can send email? Anyone have
> some numbers?
>

Check what *routers* can handle first. Then NIC's.

Doubtful you could fetch and carry fast enough even if there was an MTA
that could do that job.

Nonsense numbers, IOW.

> As to being fast, I'm thinking that lots of ram would be necessary.

You are not wrong, but that's a bit like saying BB-62 needs more fuel
than the average motorcycle.....

;-)

> The
> you put the queues in ram disk and you have a fall back server so it
> tries to deliver one time and if it fails to laterals the message off to
> another server that queues the messages for normal retry delivery. And
> I'm thinking you would have a separate DNS server dedicated to caching
> lookups.
>
> Thoughts?

Sheesh. '*a* nother server?'

OK. Do even a *small part* of the math...

tcpdump one of your MTA for long enough to get at least enough data to
satisfy Student's 'T-distribution' w/r packets per message handled.

Extrapolate to 50,000 messages/second.

Check the specs on the world-record-holding routers.
Or even a common Foundry 2U

Adjust the US$ needed for enough of 'em to route the packets.

Now you are ready to *talk* to the MTA.

Next step is pricing IBM P6 boxes... lots of 'em... and HACMP
software.. Look up IBM's world-record traffic loads for Japan and
Australian Olympics. Who else can you use?

Next step is real-estate. Near Dulles Airport, so you have half a
chance of finding the bandwidth it will all need..

Getting clearer what 50,000 *messages not packets* per *second* means?

Somone has either slipped a few zeros, or sipped something illegal.

;-)

Bill