In message <20010829125016.S7096(a)wilbur.katipo.co.nz>, Dean Pemberton writes:
[nznog; messages take a while to come out] I can remember some guy from BSDi talking at uniforum in 98 about how sendmail was crap at this. [addresses that don't resolve, etc, can kill whole list]
Not to rain on anyone's parade, but most mailing list software injects messages in queue mode (to avoid an explosion of MTA processes trying to send the messages out immediately (in the background)). This then relies on the MTA queue processing to shift the messages out. Has anyone checked how often the queue is run on the relevant server? If it's every 30 minutes it'd pretty much exactly explain the times reported. If it's every 15 minutes (a common default with sendmail), then 15-minutes plus isn't that unlikely to happen given the right circumstances. For a mailing list of a few hundred addresses, it should be a walk in the park for most MTAs, sendmail included. Ewen --------- To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog
Yeah the example that he was using had alot more addresses. Thought it might be relivant though On Wed, Aug 29, 2001 at 01:27:06PM +1200, Ewen McNeill wrote:
In message <20010829125016.S7096(a)wilbur.katipo.co.nz>, Dean Pemberton writes:
[nznog; messages take a while to come out] I can remember some guy from BSDi talking at uniforum in 98 about how sendmail was crap at this. [addresses that don't resolve, etc, can kill whole list]
Not to rain on anyone's parade, but most mailing list software injects messages in queue mode (to avoid an explosion of MTA processes trying to send the messages out immediately (in the background)). This then relies on the MTA queue processing to shift the messages out.
Has anyone checked how often the queue is run on the relevant server? If it's every 30 minutes it'd pretty much exactly explain the times reported. If it's every 15 minutes (a common default with sendmail), then 15-minutes plus isn't that unlikely to happen given the right circumstances.
For a mailing list of a few hundred addresses, it should be a walk in the park for most MTAs, sendmail included.
Ewen --------- To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog
To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog
On Wed, Aug 29, 2001 at 01:27:06PM +1200, Ewen McNeill wrote: Not to rain on anyone's parade, but most mailing list software injects messages in queue mode (to avoid an explosion of MTA processes trying to send the messages out immediately (in the background)). This then relies on the MTA queue processing to shift the messages out. And for sendmail this sucks... you'll have one message with lots of recipients, and it will try to deliver to them, one at a time more or less, which is completely insane. If it's every 30 minutes it'd pretty much exactly explain the times reported. If it's every 15 minutes (a common default with sendmail), then 15-minutes plus isn't that unlikely to happen given the right circumstances. No, that's another effect --- and while you mention it sendmail (and most other MTAs) have broken retry logic to... if a message fails time after time, trying every n seconds in insane, you only load up the sending MTA and also create much unecessary traffic. Anyone who has a system which processes 10+ messages/second can tell you how nasty this is when you loose connectivity for an hour or so... crunch. For a mailing list of a few hundred addresses, it should be a walk in the park for most MTAs, sendmail included. Except that it's broken. If the list contains the addresses: cw(a)f00f.org jabley(a)automagic.org snow.white(a)panties.org ewen(a)naos.co.nz and the MTAs (or whatever) for panties.org are busted --- guess what? Sendmail will try for five minute or so before moving on to ewen(a)naos.co.nz. That behavior is so poor it can only be described as broken. I've used sendmail plenty in the past, I choose not to use it these days because there are better alternatives. I'm astounded by the number of people who continue to use it, when, for most people, there are better designed, more secure and simpler alternatives. --cw --------- To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog
That behavior is so poor it can only be described as broken.
zmailer is worth a try... http://www.zmailer.org/ Quote: "This is a package that implements an internet message transfer agent called ZMailer. It is intended for gateways or mail servers or other large site environments that have extreme demands on the abilities of the mailer. It was motivated by the problems of the Sendmail design in such situations." --- Terence C. Giufre-Sweetser +---------------------------------+--------------------------+ | TereDonn Telecommunications Ltd | Phone +61-[0]7-32369366 | | 1/128 Bowen St, SPRING HILL | FAX +61-[0]7-32369930 | | PO BOX 1054, SPRING HILL 4004 | Mobile +61-[0]414-663053 | | Queensland Australia | http://www.tdce.com.au | +---------------------------------+--------------------------+ --------- To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog
participants (4)
-
Chris Wedgwood -
Dean Pemberton -
Ewen McNeill -
Terence