Secondary mail server

[adams1416]

Hi..we have a 25 user network running MSExchange 5.5 on NT 4 collecting our internet mail. We have a spare IP on another broadband connection where we would like to setup a backup mail server in the event server "A" is down. we would like the Secondary server to queue incoming messages and then deliver them to appropriate mailbox on server "A" when it is available again. what are some of the ways we might do this? Thank You

 

[Durendal1970]

Adams1416,

You have a spare IP on another broadband connection...

How are you going to setup DNS to forward email to server B's IP when server A's IP is not working?

That is where I would start.

 

[adams1416]

Hi...DNS management is not done in house...so we would add a MX record pointing to the server mx 20 secondaryserver.ourdomains.com.....I guess were trying to do a mail forwarding kind of thing, except do it in house.

 

[Grenage]

But the trouble with that scenario, with the secondary forwarding mail to the primary... what if the secondary goes down?

 

[adams1416]

The secondary forwards only if the primary (MX10) is down. If both go down then I guess we are SOL. However right now we have no secondary MX record, if the primary goes down for an extended period we will lose any mail. We are trying to figure out a way to collect this mail and then forward it on to primary once it is available again.

 

[Grenage]

I see, I was under the impression there were no secondary MX records?

 

[Grenage]

Right, in view of my ignorance I had a read and you nare quite right regarding the MX records.

 

[adams1416]

So, there must be some kind of low $$ software out there that allows me, on the secondary(MX) server, to gather up our emails, hold it, and when the primary is available again send it on.

 

[Grenage]

I would imagine so too. All I was able to find in google however were Hosted services for email backup, along the lines of £100-200 per year.

I imagine it could be done locally, but in exchange I do not see how.

 

[dennisbbb]

The free SMTP Server on Windows 2000 will hold all email and forward to another server. In case that other server is offline, it will queue all email until that other server is up again. Think of it as a temporary stop point, before external email reaches the final server. Spam filters uses this technique to scan/filter these email before they are passed onto the final server. Hope this helps.