Requirements

This section describes the following platform, client product, and additional software requirements for this release of Messaging Server:

• Important Patch Information

• Supported Platforms

• Client Software Requirements

• Product Version Compatibility Requirements

• Messaging Server Use of Administration Server

• Additional Software Requirements

• File System

For information about upgrading to Messaging Server 6 2005Q4 from a previous version of Messaging Server, see Installation Notes.

Important Patch Information

For the current list of required patches for Sun Java System Messaging Server go to http://sunsolve.sun.com and select either “Patches” or “Patch Portal”. As operating system patch requirements change and patches to Java Enterprise System components become available, updates will be made available on SunSolve, initially in the form of recommended patch clusters.

Supported Platforms

This release supports the following platforms:

• Solaris 8 Operating System with required patches (SPARC® Platform Edition)

• Solaris 9 Operating System Update 2 (SPARC and x86 Platform Editions) with required patches

• Solaris 10 Operating System (SPARC and x86 Platform Editions) including Zones Support

• Red Hat Linux 2.1 Update 2 (or later updates)

• Red Hat Linux 3.0 Update 1 (or later updates)

For detailed information about Solaris and Linux requirements, including required upgrade patches and kernel versions, see the Sun Java Enterprise System 2005Q4 Installation Guide for UNIX and Sun Java Enterprise System 2005Q4 Release Notes.

For a list of the Messaging Server packages, see Appendix Appendix A, Java ES Components for This Release, in Sun Java Enterprise System 2005Q4 Installation Guide for UNIX in the Sun Java Enterprise System 2005Q4 Installation Guide for UNIX.

The Java Enterprise System installer checks for required platform patches. You must install all required patches or the installation process will not continue.

The performance of your messaging server depends on many factors, including CPU power, available memory, disk space, file system performance, usage patterns, network bandwidth, and so on. For example, throughput is directly related to file system performance. If you have questions about sizing and performance, contact your Sun Java System representative.

Required Patches

For more information on Messaging Server patches, see http://sunsolve.sun.com

Client Software Requirements

Communications Express access for Messaging Server requires a JavaScript-enabled browser. For optimal performance, Sun recommends the browsers listed in this section:

Product Version Compatibility Requirements

Messaging Server is compatible with the product versions listed in this section:

NSS Version Requirements

Messaging Server 6 2005Q4 requires the use of the shared security component NSS version 3.9.3.

For more details about product version dependencies, see the Sun Java Enterprise System 2005Q4 Installation Guide for UNIX and Sun Java Enterprise System 2005Q4 Release Notes

Messaging Server Use of Administration Server

Messaging Server uses Administration Server for the following purposes:

• If you use the console to administer Messaging Server, you must have Administration Server running on the same machine.

• When Messaging Server is configured, Messaging Server reads the Administration Server configuration files. However, Administration Server does not have to be running to accomplish this task.

Additional Software Requirements

A high quality caching DNS server on the local network is a requirement for a production deployment of Messaging Server. Messaging Server depends heavily on the responsiveness and scalability of the DNS server.

Additionally, ensure in your setup that DNS is properly configured and that it is clearly specified how to route to hosts that are not on the local subnet:

• The /etc/defaultrouter should contain the IP address of the gateway system. This address must be on a local subnet.

• The /etc/resolv.conf exists and contains the proper entries for reachable DNS servers and domain suffixes.

• In /etc/nsswitch.conf, the hosts: line has the files, dns and nis keywords added. The keyword files must precede dns and nis.

• Make sure that the FQDN is the first host name in the /etc/hosts file.

If your Internet host table in your /etc/hosts file looks like:

123.456.78.910 budgie.west.sesta.com
123.456.78.910 budgie loghost mailhost

            

change it so that there is only one line for the IP address of the host. Be sure the first host name is a fully qualified domain name. For example:

123.456.78.910 budgie.west.sesta.com budgie loghost mailhost

            

File System

The following file systems are recommended for message stores:

• LUFS (Logging UFS).

• VxFS (Veritas File System). Veritas File System provides good system performance if configured properly. If you use VxVM, the Veritas Volume Manager, you need to carefully watch that the volumes and the log file for the volumes are set to be regularly striped.

• HAStoragePlus File System for Sun Cluster installations. The HAStoragePlus File System provides better performance than the default Sun Cluster Global File System.

• NFS (Network File System)

  You can use NFS on MTA relay machines, for LMTP, for autoreply histories, for message defragmentation. (See the Sun Java System Messaging Server 6 2005Q4 Administration Guide. In addition, NFS can be supported on BSD-style mailboxes (/var/mail/ ) as well as for the Message Store

  In addition, NFS is compatible with NAS.