Mail Server recommendations

[Chris Cameron]

On Thursday 28 April 2005 16:32, Chuck Swiger wrote:
> If you are using sendmail, consider switching to store and forward
> mode exclusively, and use regular queue runners to help serialize the
> mail into a certain # of deliveries at any one time via:
>
> # limit on number of concurrent queue runners
> #O MaxQueueChildren
>
> Also consider setting up queue groups, and splitting up your mail
> into at least two piles: your internal mail, and everyone else,
> although creating a few more groups for common list traffic helps.

I'd just like to say that this isn't the silver-bullet it ought to be, 
and will be pretty much worthless if this mail server is as busy as 
it's being made out to be.

If the amount of mail in your queue is bigger than the number of queue 
runners you allow to run at any given time, sendmail will leak memory 
like mad. I have a script that HUPs sendmail every morning due to this.

This is made all the worse by the fact that during peak times queue 
runners will get gummed up on undeliverable mail, and prevent the next 
bunch of queue runners from going, making the back log in the queue all 
the bigger.


> Or consider switching to an MTA like postfix, which provides very
> good control over how many child processes can go on via master.cf...

Probably his best bet. Any new mail accounts at my site are going on a 
different server running qmail.


Chris