9.11 Managing Array Nodes

A MailMarshal installation consists of an Array Manager and one or more email processing servers, also known as array nodes.

9.11.1 Managing Node Services

You can view the status of the MailMarshal services on each email processing node, and stop or restart the services, from the MailMarshal Management Console.

To see an overview of the status of services on each node, in the left pane of the Management Console click Mail Servers.

To see details of the status of services on a particular node, and to stop or restart the services:

1.In the left pane of the Management Console click Mail Servers. The list shows all servers and a summary of the state of each server. (For more details about the information listed, see Help.)

2.In the right pane select the server you want and click Edit.

3.Select General from the left pane to see the Services listing and to see the status of each service installed on the node.

4.To stop one or more services, select them in the list then click Stop.

5.To start one or more services, select them in the list then click Start.

6.To restart all services, click Restart all.

9.11.2 Adding and Deleting Nodes

You can add email processing servers (nodes) to a running MailMarshal installation to add capacity or redundancy. You can also delete existing nodes from an installation.

9.11.2.1 Adding a Node

You can add a node at any time without affecting other nodes. After adding the node, adjust email routing so that the new node shares in email processing. Contact your internet service provider or DNS administrator, as necessary.

To add a node to a MailMarshal installation:

1.Log on to the new server.

2.Install MailMarshal.

3.During installation, select the option “I want to join an existing array” and enter the name of the existing Array Manager.

•You must provide both a Windows account that can connect to the Array Manager, and an Array Join credential managed through the MailMarshal Server Tool.

For more information, see “Installing MailMarshal as an Array”.

9.11.2.2 Deleting a Node

You should delete a node to cleanly remove it from the MailMarshal array. Before deleting a node, adjust email routing so that the node to be deleted does not process any email. Contact your internet service provider or DNS administrator, as necessary.

To delete a node from a MailMarshal installation:

1.Stop MailMarshal services on the node using the MailMarshal Management Console.

2.If you want to preserve messages from quarantine folders stored on the node, back up the Quarantine folder in the MailMarshal installation folder on the node.

3.Uninstall MailMarshal on the node server using the Add/Remove Programs application in Control Panel.

4.During the un-installation process, MailMarshal will attempt to remove the node records from the array installation.

•To remove the node records from configuration you must provide both a Windows account that can connect to the Array Manager, and an Array Join credential managed through the MailMarshal Server Tool. Currently this is the only way to remove a node from configuration.

5.In the Management Console, an un-installed node that has not been removed will show a blank status.

9.11.3 Joining a Node to an Array

You can join an email processing server (node) to a MailMarshal array. After joining the array, the node will retrieve policy configuration from the Array Manager.

To join an existing node to a MailMarshal installation:

1.Log on to the node server.

2.Run the MailMarshal Server Tool from the MailMarshal program group.

3.On the Node > Array page, enter the local port, and the port and server name for the Array Manager. Select Join Array, and then click Apply.

•You must provide both a Windows account that can connect to the Array Manager, and an Array Join credential managed through the MailMarshal Server Tool.

9.11.4 Customizing Settings for Nodes

Since the purpose of a MailMarshal array is to replicate configuration over a number of processing servers, most settings will be the same for all nodes. You can configure the following settings for each node:

Server name and general information

For each email processing server, you can view and change the server name and the description and location notes.

Delivery information

For each email server in an array, you can specify DNS servers, and the relay and routing tables to use. One use of this override would be to allow geographically separated MailMarshal servers to deliver inbound email to different internal email servers.

Internet Access information

For each email server in an array, you can specify proxy settings (or direct access) that will allow the server to retrieve SpamProfiler updates over the Internet.

Inbound TLS information

For each email server in an array, you can configure Transport Layer Security (TLS) usage including a certificate.

Server Threads

For each email server in an array, you can configure the number of processing threads used.

Advanced server information

For each email server in an array, you can choose one or more IP addresses and ports the MailMarshal Receiver will bind to. You can specify what percentage of available threads each address:port can use. This setting allows you to reserve some Receiver capacity for specific connections (for instance to ensure that outgoing email will be accepted even if incoming volume is high)

You can specify a host name, which may be required if this information is not entered in the Windows networking properties. You can also select whether the email processing server should be preferred by the Array Manager as a host to be used in sending notifications.