Topic: Network Topology - Can it be done???

[gabby]

I have been running SME 7.x for about 3 years with very few issues (all of them recoverable).

I would like to set up a satellite SME server to provide redundancy (web and email server) to the primary server I have been running. So the network I envision looks something like this:

The Internet
|
|
-----------------------
|                              |
Primary SME                Satellite SME

I will have local networks setup behind each SME server (so they would both be operating in Server-Gateway Mode).

My question is, can Satellite SME be setup as a redundant web/email server for the same domain in case Primary SME goes down? If so, can you direct me to the documentation for getting it setup?

(It just so happens that Primary SME is down right now due to a power outage, but my site for the Satellite SME is not affected by the power outage.)

Thank you in advance!

[mmccarn]

There hasn't been any work specifically on SME 'High Availability' since SME 6.

You can fake what you're looking for in pieces; here are a couple options I'm familiar with:

Full mutual backup/failover: http://wiki.contribs.org/Affa
- Looks complicated, but takes very little time to setup and works
- 'Failover' must be controlled manually, and really results in turning your 'backup' SME into your 'primary' SME

Mutual backup internet connectivity (Inbound email, proxypass webmail):
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=40075.0
- In this config you can manually re-route outbound internet traffic if you have two different internet connections and both SMEs are at the same site.

I think I've seen other forum discussions in the last year about duplicating user accounts and ibay contents from one SME to another.