implement an email server for 7,000 users that will handle an estimated 25,000messages each day implement?

Question

implement an email server for 7,000 users that will handle an estimated 25,000 messages each day.will you implement this service on an existing file and print server, or will recommend dedicated equipment?

Answer 1

That's a very low load for 7,000 users. Apparently this company *hates* email. For the sake of portability, manageability, and security, I would use dedicted servers for the email of that many users.

Answer 2

Added to some of the above. If it is down to you to implement a mail system for 7000 users you have to consider:

The operating system mail is being hosted on. I.e Windows/Linux
I can only speak for the Windows Platform.
Microsoft Exchange Server requires very heavy dedicated Hardware resources. The bigger the better!!
If this is your route you should also consider more than one server.
Is the mail-store going to be stored on the Server/Servers?

1 server will require several RAID array configured to RAID 5
For Multiple Servers in the Same Server room a Storage Area Network is a possible solution.
The Backup solution will require a Multitape drive than can back up your mail-stores in the backup window.
The backup software must be capable of backing up Exchange Mailstores. Veritas Backup Exec is very good (10d).
It must be scalable. (With room to grow!) You wanna see some of the mail-stores I've seen!
If each user is going to have mail delivered to local machine (PST File) you have to come up with a solution to back up these files. Added to that PST files have a 2 GB limit. Some people keep every mail!
Don't forget you anti-virus solution very carefully! I used Norton and although is great at Enterprise level solution it has been beaten in the past by viruses attacking the E-mail system.

Answer 3

For that many users? Definitely a dedicated email server. I think you're underestimating the message load greatly, figuring that each user would get less than 4 emails a day. Don't forget about spam!

And nothing personal, but if you're the person in charge of recommending or making this decision, maybe you should defer to a professional that can access your needs in person and recommend the best solution for you.

Answer 4

Your question opens up many questions about your current infrastructure, 7000 users and you are asking if it should be dedicated?

I would recommend TWO servers (for resilience purposes), of course if you can afford for your mail servers to be down dont bother.

But this is the least of your issues.. are these users multi-site? at 7000 users, I would presume so... how many sites? What is your network bandwidth at each site?

25,000 messages a day at an average of 50kb a message=
One day = 1.2GB.
One week = 6GB.
One Month 24GB.

Can you see what sort of storage we are talking? I know of users with 500MB inbox's - try downloading that over a 512KB DSL link!

Hire an IT consultant (me!) because you seriously need some help.

Answer 5

Hi!
For a such amount number of users you should use a Raid 5 System Server so you'll not loose data if any Server will be broken.

Answer 6

It is strongly recommended that you use a dedicated server for Mailing purposes as you can leave SMTP(465)and POP3(445)ports open and block any other port because of security reasons.
You can manage your security better.

Answer 7

I suggest you get a new job