Zimbra 8 FOSS - Multiserver Install DNS config help

sviriyala · Post by **sviriyala** » Tue Nov 13, 2012 1:50 am

Hi All,
Trying to setup Multiserver env (RHEL) with each service running on different servers. This is the final config I want to have:
LDAP Master - 1 server

Ldap Slave - 1 server

Mailstore servers - 2 servers

MTA Servers - 2 servers

IMAP/POP Proxy - 1 servers

HTTP PRoxy - 1 server

At a later point in time I may decide to use load balancers.
What should be the DNS configs and hostnames I should be using? For a particular domain, if this is how I setup (sample config) DNS (MX records point to a 3rd party Antivirus/Antispam servers):
ldapmaster.domain.com A 192.168.1.1

ldapslave.domain.com A 192.168.1.2

mailstore1.domain.com A 192.168.1.5

mailstore2.domain.como A 192.168.1.6

mta1.domain.com A 192.168.1.10

mta2.domain.com A 192.168.1.11

imap-pop-proxy.domain.com A 192.168.1.15

http-proxy.domain.com A 192.168.1.16
If I use DNS round robin mechanism to resolve multiple servers:
mailstore.domain.com A 192.168.1.5

A 192.168.1.6

mta.domain.com A 192.168.1.10

A 192.168.1.11
While installing the individual servers, I use the hostnames as mentioned above.
For mailstore servers installation, what is the SMTP host I enter during the install? Do I use the round robin dns name (mta.domain.com)?

Similarly for MTA servers installation, what is the MTA Auth hostname I enter during install? Do I use the round robin dns name (mailstore.domain.com)? If I do so, I get the error "Setting the MTA Auth ....Failed" message.
Can someone pls help/clarify on this point? Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks

sviriyala · Post by **sviriyala** » Wed Nov 14, 2012 4:32 am

I am sure there are hundreds, if not thousands of Multi sever installs of Zimbra out there. So this must be a simple thing. Am I the only one to encounter this doubt regarding multiple Mailstore and Mailbox servers?
can someone give me some clue?
Thanks

blazeking · Post by **blazeking** » Wed Nov 14, 2012 1:07 pm

Round-robin DNS works for MTA, but I believe you (obviously) run into lots of problems for mailbox stores. You'll need to specify one mailbox store to be your MTA Auth. If you're looking for redundancy on MTA Auth, DNS round-robin isn't the answer.

sviriyala · Post by **sviriyala** » Wed Nov 14, 2012 3:36 pm

[quote user="blazeking"]Round-robin DNS works for MTA, but I believe you (obviously) run into lots of problems for mailbox stores. You'll need to specify one mailbox store to be your MTA Auth. If you're looking for redundancy on MTA Auth, DNS round-robin isn't the answer.[/QUOTE]
Thanks a lot Blazeking. That atleast clarifies some doubt I had. However I was wondering how AJCody achieved it?

Ajcody-Multi-Server-Installation-Notes - Zimbra :: Wiki
One clue I got after going thro that wiki several times is that you complete the installation of multiple MTA servers with one Mailbox store as the MTA AUth. Later, after install, using command line you try to change that value to the round robin dns value. Here is the command from the same wiki:
[QUOTE]/opt/zimbra/bin/zmprov -m -l ms mail41.zimbra.DOMAIN.com zimbraMtaAuthHost rrms608.zimbra.DOMAIN.com[/QUOTE]
However I wasn't very sure if that is the way to setup, as the document is not very clear on this point. Can someone throw some light?
Thanks

sviriyala · Post by **sviriyala** » Thu Nov 15, 2012 12:29 pm

[QUOTE]One clue I got after going thro that wiki several times is that you complete the installation of multiple MTA servers with one Mailbox store as the MTA AUth. Later, after install, using command line you try to change that value to the round robin dns value. Here is the command from the same wiki:
/opt/zimbra/bin/zmprov -m -l ms mail41.zimbra.DOMAIN.com zimbraMtaAuthHost rrms608.zimbra.DOMAIN.com

[/QUOTE]
Apparently trying to set via command line after install doesn't work, because it looks for the server/service entry in LDAP. Here is the error I got:
[QUOTE]ERROR: service.INVALID_REQUEST (invalid request: specified zimbraMtaAuthHost does not correspond to a valid service hostname: )[/QUOTE]
So I am wondering: How did it work for AJCody?
The best option given the present scenario is to install one mailstore server which holds not mailboxes. The only purpose of this server would be to auth all MTA servers. Is that so? Can someone suggest a better alternative?
Thanks