External MySQL or Memcache servers?

[RoyK]

Hi all

I have Zimbra running as an Ubuntu VM on an OpenSolaris host with VirtualBox. This works well, but since I run both MySQL and Memcached on the host OpenSolaris OS, it would be more appropriate to use these instead of virtualising them again.

Now, is there a simple way to do this? I talked to someone on IRC that said no, don't do it, since it'll make upgrades harder etc.

If there isn't a good way to do this, perhaps it should be added? It shouldn't be too hard to set in a config file that please use /this/ server for MySQL and /that/ server for Memcached etc.

Best regards

roy

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by RoyK

I have Zimbra running as an Ubuntu VM on an OpenSolaris host with VirtualBox. This works well, but since I run both MySQL and Memcached on the host OpenSolaris OS, it would be more appropriate to use these instead of virtualising them again.

Now, is there a simple way to do this? I talked to someone on IRC that said no, don't do it, since it'll make upgrades harder etc.

No there is no way to do that, Zimbra is supplied as a complete integrated set of packages and must be installed and used as such.

[RoyK]

Originally Posted by phoenix

No there is no way to do that, Zimbra is supplied as a complete integrated set of packages and must be installed and used as such.

Excuse my ignorance, but why is this so? A dedicated MySQL and/or memcache server would normally perform better than a complete integrated set, and would allow for Zimbra to scale better. A global configuration naming the appropriate servers and their function should be quite easy to setup.

roy

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by RoyK

Excuse my ignorance, but why is this so? A dedicated MySQL and/or memcache server would normally perform better than a complete integrated set, and would allow for Zimbra to scale better.

IThe packages are configured to perform well for Zimbra requirements and not for a general MySQL, LDAP etc. server. It's recommended to install Zimbra on it's own server and it's specifically designed for that environment.

Originally Posted by RoyK

A global configuration naming the appropriate servers and their function should be quite easy to setup.

Fell free to try, if you like, it is open source after all.

[LMStone]

Originally Posted by RoyK

Excuse my ignorance, but why is this so? A dedicated MySQL and/or memcache server would normally perform better than a complete integrated set, and would allow for Zimbra to scale better. A global configuration naming the appropriate servers and their function should be quite easy to setup.

roy

Each Zimbra mailbox server gets its own installation of MySQL. MySQL's config is tuned for the specific use cases of a Zimba mailbox server, with settings adjusted at installation time by the amount of RAM installed on the mailbox server. There is no RAM wasted on a QC for example, since that cache doesn't get utilized really in a Zimbra installation.

Further, since the Zimbra MySQL instance is on the server performing the queries, communication takes place at bus speeds.

We support a number of LAMP stack applications; this kind of setup seems pretty optimal to us, but I'd like to understand why you think a separate, dedicated MySQL server would perform better?

All the best,
Mark