Backup mail server?

[Scot L. Harris]

On Tue, 2005-05-17 at 10:02, Ted Beaton wrote:
> Scot L. Harris wrote:
> >
> > 
> > If he is not willing to pay for HA then it must not really be critical. 

> You can even avoid the whole dns thing.  If the primary server is down 
> (as in off the network), a couple things could happen.  First ifconfig 
> the backup to the ip of the primary.  Then the change is invisible to 
> both local users and the world.  Except for the MAC it is now the same 
> machine.  Then send me an email telling me to go fix it so it doesn't 
> come back up and cause an ip conflict.  If the machine isn't off the 
> network but the processes are hosed just "init 0" it and then send me an 
> email.  Depending on how you set up rsync the machine could have all the 
> latest blacklists, access lists, av definitions, etc from that.  Or it 
> could do it's own updates while it is waiting to assume the primary 
> role.  As for needing the server at a different site, that would only be 
> needed if your primary concern was people getting mail to it (which in 
> the original post that was true).  In my case the guy I work for wants 
> full functionality.  But if our internet connection is down he has no 
> connectivity anyway.  He still couldn't get to his mail unless he went 
> home.  As for the last statement "must not really be critical", I'm 
> surprised that I'm the only person who works for someone who doesn't let 
> logic dissuade him from what he wants.  He wants the redundancy of NASA 
> for free. ;-)  Of course I haven't done this yet, even though this is 
> "critical" to him, everything else is too and I'm doing "all the other 
> stuff".  But I have done things like this in the past.

If you are going to play games with the IP address like that why not
implement full blown HA which does that plus takes care of the MAC
address for you?  (I know, the cost issue....)  :)

I should have put a :) on the "must not really be critical".  Been there
done that own the t-shirt.  :)  


-- 
Scot L. Harris
webid at cfl.rr.com

"Live or die, I'll make a million."
-- Reebus Kneebus, before his jump to the center of the earth, Firesign Theater