proper setup for secondary MX

Hi all,

How do I properly setup SurgeMail to be a secondary MX for a
domain?
I have fallback_relay set and fallback_always for the
domains in  
question,
is that the proper way to do it?

Thanks,
Aaron

------------------------------------------------------------
----
Aaron Faby                                Server Logistics,
Inc.
aaronserverlogistics.com                    Phone:
888-886-4044
http://www.serverlogis
tics.com                 Fax: 888-886-4044
Apple Consultants Network Certified Member
------------------------------------------------------------
----

if you want your surgemail server to be the 'backup' mail
server in case the 
main one fails, this is done through dns in the zone file
for the domain. if we 
assume that the primary mailserver for the domain is
mail.mydomain.com and the 
name of your surgemail machine is mail2.mydomain.com

the dns would look (partially) like this:

        IN MX 10 mail.mydomain.com.
        IN MX 20 mail2.mydomain.com.
mail   IN A  1.2.3.4
mail2  IN A  1.2.3.5

of course, if the servers are not in mydomain.com then the A
records wouldn't be 
there.

NB: the . at the end of the mail server names is REQUIRED.

if someone tries to send to mail and it doesn't respond, the
sender would then 
try mail2.

david camm
advanced web systems
keller, tx



Aaron Faby wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> How do I properly setup SurgeMail to be a secondary MX
for a domain?
> I have fallback_relay set and fallback_always for the
domains in  question,
> is that the proper way to do it?
> 
> Thanks,
> Aaron
> 
>
------------------------------------------------------------
----
> Aaron Faby                                Server
Logistics, Inc.
> aaronserverlogistics.com                    Phone:
888-886-4044
> http://www.serverlogis
tics.com                 Fax: 888-886-4044
> Apple Consultants Network Certified Member
>
------------------------------------------------------------
----
> 
> 
> 
> 

David,

I have the DNS part down. What I want is secondary MX
functionality  
in the sense that SurgeMail will catch
all the mail for the domain and forward to the primary when
it comes  
back up. I have the DNS setup properly
for forwarding, but surgemail doesn't seem to have a way to
mark a  
domain as secondary only. This is super
easy in Postfix, not so clear in SurgeMail.

Aaron


On Feb 23, 2007, at 1:05 PM, David Camm wrote:

> if you want your surgemail server to be the 'backup'
mail server in  
> case the main one fails, this is done through dns in
the zone file  
> for the domain. if we assume that the primary
mailserver for the  
> domain is mail.mydomain.com and the name of your
surgemail machine  
> is mail2.mydomain.com
>
> the dns would look (partially) like this:
>
>        IN MX 10 mail.mydomain.com.
>        IN MX 20 mail2.mydomain.com.
> mail   IN A  1.2.3.4
> mail2  IN A  1.2.3.5
>
> of course, if the servers are not in mydomain.com then
the A  
> records wouldn't be there.
>
> NB: the . at the end of the mail server names is
REQUIRED.
>
> if someone tries to send to mail and it doesn't
respond, the sender  
> would then try mail2.
>
> david camm
> advanced web systems
> keller, tx
>
>
>
> Aaron Faby wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>> How do I properly setup SurgeMail to be a secondary
MX for a domain?
>> I have fallback_relay set and fallback_always for
the domains in   
>> question,
>> is that the proper way to do it?
>> Thanks,
>> Aaron
>>
------------------------------------------------------------
----
>> Aaron Faby                                Server
Logistics, Inc.
>> aaronserverlogistics.com                   
Phone: 888-886-4044
>> http://www.serverlogis
tics.com                 Fax: 888-886-4044
>> Apple Consultants Network Certified Member
>>
------------------------------------------------------------
----
>

------------------------------------------------------------
----
Aaron Faby                                Server Logistics,
Inc.
aaronserverlogistics.com                    Phone:
888-886-4044
http://www.serverlogis
tics.com                 Fax: 888-886-4044
Apple Consultants Network Certified Member
------------------------------------------------------------
----

g_gateway


Aaron Faby wrote:
> David,
>
> I have the DNS part down. What I want is secondary MX
functionality in 
> the sense that SurgeMail will catch
> all the mail for the domain and forward to the primary
when it comes 
> back up. I have the DNS setup properly
> for forwarding, but surgemail doesn't seem to have a
way to mark a 
> domain as secondary only. This is super
> easy in Postfix, not so clear in SurgeMail.
>
> Aaron
>
>
> On Feb 23, 2007, at 1:05 PM, David Camm wrote:
>
>> if you want your surgemail server to be the
'backup' mail server in 
>> case the main one fails, this is done through dns
in the zone file 
>> for the domain. if we assume that the primary
mailserver for the 
>> domain is mail.mydomain.com and the name of your
surgemail machine is 
>> mail2.mydomain.com
>>
>> the dns would look (partially) like this:
>>
>>        IN MX 10 mail.mydomain.com.
>>        IN MX 20 mail2.mydomain.com.
>> mail   IN A  1.2.3.4
>> mail2  IN A  1.2.3.5
>>
>> of course, if the servers are not in mydomain.com
then the A records 
>> wouldn't be there.
>>
>> NB: the . at the end of the mail server names is
REQUIRED.
>>
>> if someone tries to send to mail and it doesn't
respond, the sender 
>> would then try mail2.
>>
>> david camm
>> advanced web systems
>> keller, tx
>>
>>
>>
>> Aaron Faby wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>> How do I properly setup SurgeMail to be a
secondary MX for a domain?
>>> I have fallback_relay set and fallback_always
for the domains in  
>>> question,
>>> is that the proper way to do it?
>>> Thanks,
>>> Aaron
>>>
------------------------------------------------------------
----
>>> Aaron Faby                               
Server Logistics, Inc.
>>> aaronserverlogistics.com                   
Phone: 888-886-4044
>>> http://www.serverlogis
tics.com                 Fax: 888-886-4044
>>> Apple Consultants Network Certified Member
>>>
------------------------------------------------------------
----
>>
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------
----
> Aaron Faby                                Server
Logistics, Inc.
> aaronserverlogistics.com                    Phone:
888-886-4044
> http://www.serverlogis
tics.com                 Fax: 888-886-4044
> Apple Consultants Network Certified Member
>
------------------------------------------------------------
----
>
>
>
>

At 03:41 PM 2/23/2007, you wrote:
>How do I properly setup SurgeMail to be a secondary MX
for a domain?
>I have fallback_relay set and fallback_always for the
domains in
>question,
>is that the proper way to do it?

Hi Aaron,

If you want to do intelligent secondary as in a
bastion/surgewall 
host because the primary is , you will need:

vdomain address=""
name="somedomain.com"
         mailbox_path
"d:surgemaildomainssomedomain.com"
         surgewall "1.2.3.4"
         url_host "spamfilter.somedomain.com"

If you want to just collect and relay as in a backup MX for
any 
account at a domain, then add:

         g_gateway domain="whatever.com"
to="mail.whatever.com" 
user="" pass="" relay=""
check="TRUE" sms="" local=""
         g_relay_to "whatever.com"

I don't know if g_relay_to is still needed. It was a number
of years 
ago, but g_gateway may be enough today. Unless you have a
great 
reason for it (and a HUGE disk array) then I strongly
suggest not 
using a secondary MX host. You lose the ability to filter at
the 
primary based on IP and you will collect millions of spam
messages. 
Many spammers will purposely target the lowest preference MX
record 
for delivery of their spam.

Take it easy. We need to grab lunch next time I'm at my LA
office.

-Robert




Tellurian Networks - Global Hosting Solutions Since 1995
http://www.tellurian.com
| 888-TELLURIAN | 973-300-9211
"Well done is better than well said." - Benjamin
Franklin

On Fri, 2007-02-23 at 17:25 -0500, Robert Boyle wrote:
> I don't know if g_relay_to is still needed. It was a
number of years 
> ago, but g_gateway may be enough today. Unless you have
a great 
> reason for it (and a HUGE disk array) then I strongly
suggest not 
> using a secondary MX host. You lose the ability to
filter at the 
> primary based on IP and you will collect millions of
spam messages. 
> Many spammers will purposely target the lowest
preference MX record 
> for delivery of their spam.

Ditto that. Remember that sending mail servers will queue up
mail for
you. Count on at least 48 hours. There's no need to fall
back to a
secondary even for a half day outage (which I'm certainly
not wishing
upon you!). If after that much time you're still
unavailable, then you
might want the secondary MX because you will risk mail
timing out and
being returned to sender. A simple DNS change is all that's
required for
that.

Corey