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SSD or HDD for Mail Server ?
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SSD or HDD for Mail Server ?

Hello,

There're lots of performance benchmark for web / db server in terms of IOPS , but rare to find for mail servers.

I ran a small mail server (postfix/dovecot/rspamd) for 3-4 years on Linode vps, but now thinking to move to a dedicated server for a much bigger storage space.

Interested in AX line at Hetzner but couldn't decide if I need soft RAID-1 SSD (standard nvme/datacenter sata ssd/datacenter nvme) or 2 enterprise HDD's in soft RAID-1.

  1. What do you guys suggest for a standard imap mail server which scan inbound and outbound mail ?

  2. How about block storage on some vps provider (especially buyvm) , does it appropriate for mail storage ?

Thank you

Comments

  • Mr_TomMr_Tom Member, Host Rep

    Unless you're doing a lot of mail HDD should be fine.

    If you don't need the storage go SSD, otherwise HDD will be fine.

  • How much workload does your mailserver have? You mentioned scanning, is this AV scanning through ClamAV or something?

    Block Storage at BuyVM would be appropriate, honestly I can't see a reason why any good modern node would struggle unless you're handling a significant amount of mail and users.

    Thanked by 1Francisco
  • RAMdisk routinely offloading to tape drive.

    /s

    Use HDD if it's cheaper.

  • wdmgwdmg Member, LIR

    I always recommend SSD or NVMe if you’re doing little or lots of mail. If you send large attachments and store them on the machine, then pick HDD with some NVMe/SSD cache for an optimal setup.

  • @eastonch said: is this AV scanning through ClamAV or something?

    Yes, currently it's clamav and rspamd on mail gateway. But plan to have a single mail server in the future.

  • For mail server reliability is the main goal. So HDD in RAID10 at least and triple backups. Why NVMe drives for mail? Are you running 100 000 concurrent email sessions?

  • @LTniger said: Why NVMe drives for mail? Are you running 100 000 concurrent email sessions?

    Surely not. :smile:

    But its already included in Ryzen dedi server at Hetzner.

  • I've always used HDD for my own mail server, and I've never experienced any issue.
    Backup and all will be right.

  • Depends on if you have email users with 20GB+ mailboxes and they like to constantly search for messages over IMAP or webmail.

  • lonealonea Member, Host Rep

    SSD are so cheap these days that it doesn't make sense to have HDD in servers.

    Why even bother with HDD...

  • @sparek said:
    Depends on if you have email users with 20GB+ mailboxes and they like to constantly search for messages over IMAP or webmail.

    In that scenario, 2 enterprise hdd in raid -1 wont be sufficient ? Btw the server should be able to handle many 30-50gb mailboxes in the future.

  • @nvidian said:
    In that scenario, 2 enterprise hdd in raid -1 wont be sufficient ? Btw the server should be able to handle many 30-50gb mailboxes in the future.

    Try it. Let me know how it works out for you.

  • jsgjsg Member, Resident Benchmarker

    Two main factors: "Frequency" of mails coming in/going out, and size of mailboxes.
    As for "which kind of disk?": Don't worry about it unless you have a better than 1 Gb/s network connection, because this translates to about 100 to 120 MB/s of data transfer, so NVMe is largely nonsensical and so is even SSD. Those are desirable when you need high intra-system transfer speed (e.g. for a DB server) but for a mail server who basically just shift data from network to disk or vice versa HDD will do fine. Same for processor (SMTPd and even IMAPd isn't a heavy load unless you run a really big operation); a couple of E5-26xx v2 cores will do fine, v3 will be luxurious and Epy or Ryzen total overkill.

    That said if available for a smooth high end operation I'd prefer a SSD (for. indexing, search, etc) and HDD for email storage.

    Thanked by 2vimalware nvidian
  • @jsg said:
    Two main factors: "Frequency" of mails coming in/going out, and size of mailboxes.
    As for "which kind of disk?": Don't worry about it unless you have a better than 1 Gb/s network connection, because this translates to about 100 to 120 MB/s of data transfer, so NVMe is largely nonsensical and so is even SSD. Those are desirable when you need high intra-system transfer speed (e.g. for a DB server) but for a mail server who basically just shift data from network to disk or vice versa HDD will do fine. Same for processor (SMTPd and even IMAPd isn't a heavy load unless you run a really big operation); a couple of E5-26xx v2 cores will do fine, v3 will be luxurious and Epy or Ryzen total overkill.

    That said if available for a smooth high end operation I'd prefer a SSD (for. indexing, search, etc) and HDD for email storage.

    Thats explained everything. Thank you @jsg

  • i get ssd

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