Help selecting server please

[jhoelz]

We are about to deploy a server for Zimbra. Long term use will be for about 200 domains with about 4000 users. We are looking at the following, all with Red Hat ES 4.0.

• AMD Athlon 64 3500+ w/2GB RAM
  AMD Athlon 64 X2 (Dual Core) 4200+ w/2GB RAM
  Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz w/2GB RAM

Any reasons to prefer the dual core vs. the intel with hyperthreading?

Thanks for the help!

[Klug]

Dual core is not comparable to hyperthreading : dual core is two CPU in the same "box".

Why not going dual core opteron ?

[jhoelz]

Originally Posted by Klug

Why not going dual core opteron ?

$100 / month Will the Dual Core AMD handle the users we need?

[Klug]

Considering the number of users, I'd more concerned by RAM and even more by the disk volume and stripping/redundancy.

What kind of users do you intend to host (heavy mail users, light ones)?
How many emails (in and out) per day?
What will be the quota of your users?
Will they use the WebUI or IMAP or ZCO?
Etc...
As you see, lots of questions to be answered to give you proper hints on the server(s) sizing.

I think you should try to contact a VAR or HSP in your area and see with him what is possible to arrange (rebranding, appliance, etc).

IMHO, if you need to host 200 domains and 4000 users but are 100 USD short per month, there might be a problem somewhere.

[jhoelz]

This will probably be a "progressive" project starting out with about 500 users. The current mail server runs teh following:

SMTP rcvd ~ 315/hr
SMTP sent ~ 115/hr
POP Sessions ~ 750/hr
IMAP Session ~ 70/hr

Usage will be mixed between all with POP and WebUI being primary. We average about 50-75 WebUI users at a time.

As the numbers of users grow to support the program we can always add RAM or move to another server. Right now we are more concerned about supporting what we have with the ability to grow as we ramp up. Keeping the cost to minimum is also essential to serve our client base.

[jhoelz]

OK I'm reconsidering what we will deploy for production.

2 x AMD Opteron 246 2.0GHz
2GB RAM
2 x 160GB HD

We may add another two disks if it makes sense.

Would this support 400 users, mix of webui and Outlook connector?

[gmsmith]

Originally Posted by jhoelz

OK I'm reconsidering what we will deploy for production.

2 x AMD Opteron 246 2.0GHz
2GB RAM
2 x 160GB HD

We may add another two disks if it makes sense.

Would this support 400 users, mix of webui and Outlook connector?

I am an Intel fan(boy), but that is more of a personal decision for the most part. The more discs the better...RAID 10 is recommended for more then 100 users. Hardware raid I assume? Personally I would put 4GB of ram in there to start.

What quota ratio are you expecting. If all users max their quota, you could only give them 300 megs (assuming a RAID1 with two discs as outlined above) and that doesn't allow for local backup storage for your incrementals and fulls or anything else really outside of Zimbra and the OS.

[Klug]

Same advice on RAM : with dual Opteron, you'll have "way too much" power compared to available RAM...

And same thoughts on HD too : I've met several people taking their max number of users and multiplying by max quota to define the "HD size". They're just forgotting all the rest, like indexes and backups (mainly backups when talking about size).