GW Planning 1

[thickage]

Facts:
- Planning 3,500 users on three post offices; no more than 400 users on all three POs at any given time (best practices guide says to have one PO and one POA per server)
- one domain/mta
- all three servers on same network segment (fiber connection)
- want to use WebAccess as primary access method

Questions:
- Looks like I need at least three servers; one for each post office. However, I'm also going to run the WebAccess application as the primary GroupWise access "client." I'm thinking of locating the smallest post office (600 users) on the same server that I install the domain and WebAccess application on. So, one MTA, POA, WebAccess application will run on this server, servicing approx. 600 users in the post office, of which we generally see about 65 people on at any given time. Is this advisable?

- Separate servers for the other two post offices.

- Separate server to handle the Internet Agent for Internet mail, which will be the Internet Agent for all of the post offices (hundreds of messages per day, but not heavy traffic).

Looks like I'll need four servers total?
1. Domain, MTA, POA, WebAccess, and Post Office 1 on machine one.
2. POA, WebAccess, and Post Office 2 on machine two.
3. POA, WebAccess, and Post Office 3 on machine three.
4. Internet Agent serving servers 1-3's Internet mail requests.

I don't expect more than 400 users on at any given point.

Anybody see anything wrong/alarming about the way I'm considering on configuring this GroupWise deployment?

Can I run WebAccess on each server? Can I point to the other server's WebAccess applications as a failover in case either of the WebAccess apps fail?

 

[Provogeek]

IMPO; think of the WebAccess agent as that pain in the butt kid down the street. For the most part, he is alright, but you want the freedom to slap him around at any time when he starts to act up. With WebAccess on the same server as the POA, you can't do this with out other considerations.

It is common for the GWINTER.NLM to abend the server when new service packs come out. I would place the WebAccess on it's own server to handle the load you expect it to. For even better performance, use Apache on Unix Solaris. That may be out fo reach in a normal budget, so settling for NetWare running apache may be more economical. Unless you have a windows team, avoid it. It works, but then you have to maintain a windows server.

Using the WebAccess as the primary client will cause you head pain. In order to use WebAccess a user mail box MUST have a password. You can set this password in ConsoleOne, but then it will take more of your time to handle user creations (can't set passwords in a template). PLUS, your depriving your users the great features the GroupWise client has to offer.

Are you doing GW6? or GW6.5? The later has so many enhancments to the client, your users will want it. Don't give up on the WebAccess by any means, it a great portal to use remotly. But on the local lan, the client will provide more functionality.

Also, I would give the GWIA it's own secondary domain. This prevents the GWIA from making a network connection across the wire, reducing traffic, and removing a common issue with the GWIA sucking up connection licenses (somthing to worry about if your on 5.X). Giveing the WebAccess it's own domain is a good idea also.

Brent Schmidt CNE,Network +
Senior Network Engineer
Keep IT Simple

http://www.kiscc.com

 

[thickage]

Provogeek,

Once again, thanks for the reply. I appreciate your input. I work in a school system, so the majority of users (students) don't really need the collaboration features that GroupWise has to offer. Therefore, the WebAccess server eliminates us from updating 2,500 workstations with a client.

However, to manage passwords, I'm going to have to implement LDAP at some stage so remote users can authenticate with their NDS credentials. Imagine us trying to roll out a system for 3,500 users where we'd have to set the default passwords on each account individually? I don't think so! We have less than 10 IT staff members, and there are only about five who are technically competent.

GWIA will have its own server and I will put it in a secondary domain, as you've suggested. I will also put WebAccess application on another server, as a secondary domain as well.

The primary domain is what I'm struggling with. I've seen best practices that say put the primary domain and MTA on its own box.

Problem here is we currently have three servers handling our current mail system (First Class). Now, it appears as though I'm going to need six servers for a stable environment.

1. Primary Domain/MTA
2. Sec Domain: GWIA
3. Sec Domain: WebAccess Application
4. Sec Domain: Post Office 1;Staff PO-Internet mail capable
5. Sec Domain: Post Office 2;Students-Int mail capable
6. Sec Domain: Post Office 3;Students-No Internet mail

Six servers to implement a GroupWise solution???? Man, this system would be pretty reliable, but that's a lot of hardware to dedicate to mail...

 

[thickage]

Forgot to add GroupWise 6.5 is the beast we're implementing...