Zimbra data - what to store where and how to do it

[batfastad]

Hi everyone

I'm planning a test installation of Zimbra in an OpenVZ container with a view to buying NE Pro for our 15 users in a few months.

I know Zimbra stores loads of data, but I'm trying to work out what to put where, and how to do it.
The container has exclusive access to 1TB RAID 1 (don't have enough spare bays in the backplane for RAID 10) and 30GB on the internal boot drive of the machine.
I'd like as much as possible to be stored on the RAID array because the 30GB internal boot drive isn't mirrored (yet)

From what I can work out there are at least 3 areas of data storage in Zimbra:
- mysql database
- binary blob attachment files
- logs
What else?

How do I go about changing what is stored where?
Is that something that should be configured at installation time?

Or should I just shove everything on the RAID 1 and be done with it?
Rather than stuff being stored in different places.

Cheers, B

[dave_kempe]

I would try and keep it as simple as possible.
Only thing I would consider splitting off in your setup is /opt/zimbra/backups if you are are using the network edition. They have the potential to get very large and having them on separate storage with a separate quota/partition size would be very sensible.
To get storage into your OpenVZ container, look up how to bind mounts: Bind mounts - OpenVZ Wiki
So you mount /mnt/slowstorage in the host, then re-bind mount it into the container.
But this is only an issue with the network edition and if you have not enough space for the data and all the backups.

[batfastad]

Ah ok. Yeah that makes sense. It's best to have backups on separate storage anyway. I was planning that we would take an ext drive out of the office on a rotation.
Are all the various storage locations changeable through the admin interface?

[dave_kempe]

No I don't believe you can change the storage location through the admin interface. I would tread carefully on changing anything other than /opt/zimbra/backups

[batfastad]

Thanks for the heads up on the Bind Mounts as well, that was something I needed to look into next.

Yeah fair enough. I might just move the whole OpenVZ VE onto the RAID 1 array so I don't have to change much.
I'm guessing people using SANs need to change a fair number of locations though?

Cheers, B

[dave_kempe]

There is always HSM if you want to consider two types of storage. But for me, in my experience, simplicity trumps almost anything else.

[veronica]

Rather than RAID 1 i would prefer using RAID 5. Write performance goes down using RAID 1.

[uxbod]

Wrong way round Veronica. Write speed goes down on RAID5 but increases on RAID1.

Wiki :: Performance Tuning

[veronica]

Well as number of disks increases in RAID1, write performance decreases. Each block must be written to each participating disk as a result each write incurs a performance hit.

[Eno]

You don't need write performance for a mail server ( even for Zimbra ). Raid5 is quiet good and not expensive.