Localized mail servers, global scope

Thu Jun 23 16:28:43 UTC 2005

At 12:04 PM -0400 2005-06-23, Derek Diget wrote:

>  I replied privately to the original poster since I was not on NANOG-post,
>  but this would be interesting if the anycasting was tied into some load
>  balancers doing geographical balancing.

	GSLB only works if each and every server can supply information 
appropriate to whatever question might be asked, based solely on 
where the incoming connection is being generated.

	In the case of e-mail, at this point you know nothing about the 
recipient.  Unfortunately, the OP has recipients distributed around 
at least 25 sites in the world, and that's where he really needs his 
load-balancing.  Anycasting and GSLB isn't going to help this problem.

>  But certain vendors do have MTAs that can kind of do this.  I am
>  thinking about Sun's Messaging Server.  Chapter 12 of their Deployment
>  Planning Guide <http://docs.sun.com/source/819-0063/ms-topology.html>
>  mentions a "Distributed Topology" that I thinks fits the original
>  posters requirement pretty closely.

	Newsflash: MTAs can be used as both SMTP/SMTP routers and 
SMTP/local delivery gateways!

	Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.  I don't suppose anyone here saw my previous 
mention of the Lachman-LASER IETF draft for doing mail routing via 
LDAP?  Heck, what about mail routing via something like NIS?  Or do 
you want me to go back into ancient history and dig up UUCP and the 
route mapping tables that were developed?

>                                       You can abstract the mail reception
>  (SMTP/MSA) routing behind the MTAs and also abstract the mail retrieval
>  (IMAP/POP/Webmail) behind the Messaging MultiPlexors (MMPs).  I would
>  think if further discussion on this vendors product is wanted, then
>  please see a web site <ims.balius.com> that has information on the user
>  mailing list.

	Setting up a router-only external infrastructure which then 
passes on incoming messages to the appropriate back-end is nothing 
new.  See <http://www.shub-internet.org/brad/papers/dihses/> and 
<http://www.shub-internet.org/brad/papers/sistpni/>.

	Trying to dress up something basic like this and then turn around 
and sell it as a commercial service is also not new.

-- 
Brad Knowles, <brad at stop.mail-abuse.org>

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

     -- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
     Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755

   SAGE member since 1995.  See <http://www.sage.org/> for more info.