> If we go to UNIX then our preference ( experienced system programmers) is
> with Solarix or Sun OS.  What size of system should we be looking at ?
> Should it be dedicated to LISTSERV service ? Should we have LSMTP or not ?
> How about reliability of LSMTP ? What happens in case of failure (server,
> connection, etc) Alternative options in that case ?
 
We recently moved almost 400 lists from a VM system to a Unix system.
The Unix system is a Sun Sparc 20 with 320 MB memory running Solaris
2.4.  We use sendmail 8.7.5.  As far as I know, LSMTP is not available
for Unix.  The machine is dedicated to LISTSERV.  It still has quite a
bit of capacity left.
 
I think the number of posts per day is more important for performance
than the number of lists.
 
> Any conversion GOTCHAS we should know ?
 
Let's see...
 
(1) Use the Newlist keyword to get posts and commands forwarded to the
new machine.  You can't turn off the message to the sender that Newlist
generates, though.  We wanted to because we eventually moved the name
of the VM machine when it was shut down.
 
(2) Newlist does not forward commands relating to archives and other
files.
 
(3) Some changes need to be made to the list headers as they are moved
(e.g., location of archives).
 
(4) Take care that you don't wrap LIST files at column 80 as they are
moved.  We used FTP to move them.
 
(5) The LISTSERV file system is different in the Unix version than the
VM version.  Get the 1.8c file system.  Don't bother with the interim
file system at this point.
 
(6) The data base facility is not in the Unix version.  Get the 1.8c
SEARCH command.
 
(7) The INDEX option works somewhat differently in the Unix version
(you need 1.8c for that too).  There's an additional sendmail alias
that has to be created for each list.
 
(8) Do the conversion gradually, rather than all at once.
 
(9) We did a conversion script that helped a lot.
 
(10) Turn off the "message has not been delivered for 4 hours" warnings
that sendmail likes to generate.
 
(11) Use an up to date version of sendmail as it generates bounces
messages in Delivery Status Notification format.  LISTSERV 1.8c
understands that format.