smtp load balancer???

[DAve]

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Joshua Hirsh wrote:
>>I am considering adding an SMTP load balancer in front of my 
>>MS servers.
>>
>>Any suggestions?
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Denis,
> 
>  Have you tried setting up multiple A records for one MX, instead of two equal value records? 
> 
> 
> For example:
> 
> usherbrooke.ca.	IN	MX	5 smtpe1.usherbrooke.ca.
> smtpe1		IN	A	132.210.244.90
> smtpe1		IN	A	132.210.244.91
> 
> 
>  It might be cheaper instead of buying a device to actually balance it out, but I don't have any data on how well this balances out the requests as compared to how you have it setup now (two equal value MX records).
> 
> 
>  Regards,
> 
> -Joshua

Depends, we currently use that method and I am looking for a load 
balancer because of the problems we are encountering.

The issue is that when a toaster goes down or needs to be taken off 
line, simply removing it from DNS is not enough. Those %#$^& windows 
machines refuse to update their DNS when it expires. If I have a HD fail 
and want to take a server off line for repair, my windows clients begin 
to fail connections. The current solution is for me to drive to the NOC 
(50 miles) at 3am and do the work. If the work cannot be completed by 
7am, we tell our dialup clients to reboot their PC, and our commercial 
clients to flush their DNS cache when they call, which they will.

I have a toaster removed from DNS now for over two weeks awaiting an OS 
upgrade, and it is still handling thousands of messages a day. A good 
load balancer will solve that problem.

DAve

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