An enterprise which is deploying Merce often requires various services. Merce PSG or Merce Partners can provide these services.

• Network architecture and design: In some cases, a LAN or WAN architecture and design may be required, if an existing enterprise network of adequate capacity and performance is not present. Merce PSG can undertake an architecture and design exercise as a consultancy activity.

• OS installation and testing, with appropriate OS-level hardening for higher security and stability. Merce is certified on a specific set of Linux distributions.

• Special hardware configuration: Merce is sometimes deployed on server-class hardware in high-performance data centre environments where special testing and extended configuration may be needed. These cases include:

  • External RAID arrays: Storage for Merce mail and file servers is sometimes configured on external RAID arrays. Merce PSG processes for commissioning of such hardware includes analysing customer's storage requirements, defining fault tolerance and availability requirements, creating RAID sets, testing RAID sets for failover, support for hot standby disk, support for RAID levels 1, 5 and 6, and installing the system on this tested hardware platform.
  • SAN integration: including testing OS support for FC HBA (Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters), testing for fault-tolerant teaming of interfaces, and testing throughput of SAN fabric under I/O load from server.
  • L3/L4 core switches: are used for interconnecting server clusters in high-performance data centres. We can assist the customer in configuring L3/L4 access control rules in these switches to permit secure flow of information in the directions necessary.

• Merce installation, commissioning and testing.

Some services may be needed after a base installation of Merce, to get the benefit of the power of the new system. Merce PSG or Partners can offer services in this phase.

• Data protection and high availability: these measures can be enabled at various levels:

  • AutoD2D: disk-to-disk backups on the same server. Protects against data loss if a hard disk fails. Works without hardware RAID controller or software RAID support in the OS kernel, and therefore can be tuned to each site's requirements.
  • Warm standby server pair with cross-backup of data. In this approach, data is backed up between two servers in a pair, such that both servers have 100% data. This allows manual failover from a failed server to its backup pair member, in the event of hardware failure of any one server.
  • High availability cluster with heartbeat monitoring and automatic failover. This too requires cross-backup between a pair of servers, but the failover is automatic.

  Currently, HA clusters are supported by Merce PSG only for Merce deployments on RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) coupled with RHCS (Red Hat Cluster Suite).

• Incoming mail reception: This area requires careful flow design for maximum redundancy and least latency. It is recommended that there be multiple MX for the enterprise domain, connected to the Internet backbone at widely spaced points in the physical network, to provide a fault-tolerant reception "net" to receive incoming SMTP connections reliably. Failure to design a good network of incoming MX can seriously affect incoming flow of messages during routing disruptions on the Internet backbone (which are frequent short-term occurrences). Merce PSG can configure intermediate firewalls, routers, etc. where possible to allow for multi-path incoming email flow. Merce PSG can also test this flow for throughput and latency.

• User migration: Merce PSG can create an initial list of users on the newly commissioned Merce system, test a few users for proper mail and Web access, and migrate email folders and messages from legacy email systems to Merce IMAP mailboxes.

• Desktop migration: Merce PSG can assist in configuring mail client software on desktop computers and demonstrate correct functioning of the end-user experience.

• Merce Insight installation and configuration: Merce Insight is a module of Merce which provides a very powerful monitoring system for an entire enterprise IS infrastructure. Merce PSG can install and configure Merce Insight and fine-tune an initial set of rules in its rulebase, to track and report exceptions in your IS infrastructure.

  Full details of Merce Insight are available here.

• Training: There are many training programme offerings from Merce, aimed at both end-users in a customer organisation and members of the IS management team. The end-user training programmes cover the impact the new Merce system will have on the way the end-users can use their email and access the Internet, and simple problem-response scenarios for common end-user mistakes. Training programmes for the IS management team includes full coverage of installation and configuration of Merce, operation and maintenance, troubleshooting scenarios, and network monitoring using Merce Insight.

  Details of training programmes are given on a separate page.

Some of these services may require the customer to obtain licences of additional software products. Merce does not resell these products.

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