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hi,
I have several vps servers with very limited resources running several large mailman lists, n these servers keep stopping from responding n sometimes mailq shows several errors like: too many open files in the system and not enough resourses ... etc.
so every hour I do the following:
mailmanctl stop postfix stop reboot
to free up the system resources, and eventually the mailq shows empty n the mail gets delivered..
is that a good thing I’m doing? for I can’t afford to upgrade the hardware, is there a better solution? is there any side effects??
Thanks..
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On 5/31/2011 11:14 AM, Khalil Abbas wrote:
is that a good thing I’m doing? for I can’t afford to upgrade the hardware, is there a better solution? is there any side effects??
IIRC, it was Dolly Parton, a well known US country western singer who, following a 'wardrobe failure' (pre Janet Jackson) on national TV, said "You can't fit 10 pounds of mud in a five pound sack".
I think that applies here.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7ef6790ad69919683f6fef96d0bd3168.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
well thanks for the tip, but I'm sorry I didn't get it .. is it a good thing to stop mailman and postfix and reboot the servers every hour to free up recourses n start over?
-----Original Message----- From: Mark Sapiro Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 12:33 AM To: Khalil Abbas Cc: mailman-users@python.org Subject: Re: [Mailman-Users] reboot servers
On 5/31/2011 11:14 AM, Khalil Abbas wrote:
is that a good thing I’m doing? for I can’t afford to upgrade the hardware, is there a better solution? is there any side effects??
IIRC, it was Dolly Parton, a well known US country western singer who, following a 'wardrobe failure' (pre Janet Jackson) on national TV, said "You can't fit 10 pounds of mud in a five pound sack".
I think that applies here.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/56f108518d7ee2544412cc80978e3182.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On 5/31/2011 3:39 PM, Khalil Abbas wrote:
"You can't fit ten pounds of mud in a five pound sack." I.e., you are trying to do too much with too little. If you can't get more hardware or reduce the size of or maybe the number of posts to your lists, you will have problems. What you are doing is not good, but if you think it allows you to avoid the real solution, you can keep doing it.
You are the only one who can determine if what you are doing is causing lost and/or duplicated messages or perhaps other problems.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7ef6790ad69919683f6fef96d0bd3168.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
mmmmm.. what if I did this:
create small lists instead of large ones, then schedule the same message to be sent every hour to a different list ? this way the servers will not halt..
what do u think?
-----Original Message----- From: Mark Sapiro Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:58 AM To: Khalil Abbas Cc: mailman-users@python.org Subject: Re: [Mailman-Users] reboot servers
On 5/31/2011 3:39 PM, Khalil Abbas wrote:
"You can't fit ten pounds of mud in a five pound sack." I.e., you are trying to do too much with too little. If you can't get more hardware or reduce the size of or maybe the number of posts to your lists, you will have problems. What you are doing is not good, but if you think it allows you to avoid the real solution, you can keep doing it.
You are the only one who can determine if what you are doing is causing lost and/or duplicated messages or perhaps other problems.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b273ab068bc220d17a3e4c710c401c4b.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On 6/1/2011 3:31 AM, Mollatt Ntini wrote:
Defintely. If you don't have the resources for instant use, you need to get them or use them more gradually. Lowering the postfix process count will help that. IIRC, you can twiddle mailman to attempt fewer message per MTA connection. You can remove other loads from the system (what else is it doing?). Rebooting is not the answer, and really unnecessary if you stop/start the big processes.
z!
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/56f108518d7ee2544412cc80978e3182.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On 5/31/2011 11:14 AM, Khalil Abbas wrote:
is that a good thing I’m doing? for I can’t afford to upgrade the hardware, is there a better solution? is there any side effects??
IIRC, it was Dolly Parton, a well known US country western singer who, following a 'wardrobe failure' (pre Janet Jackson) on national TV, said "You can't fit 10 pounds of mud in a five pound sack".
I think that applies here.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7ef6790ad69919683f6fef96d0bd3168.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
well thanks for the tip, but I'm sorry I didn't get it .. is it a good thing to stop mailman and postfix and reboot the servers every hour to free up recourses n start over?
-----Original Message----- From: Mark Sapiro Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 12:33 AM To: Khalil Abbas Cc: mailman-users@python.org Subject: Re: [Mailman-Users] reboot servers
On 5/31/2011 11:14 AM, Khalil Abbas wrote:
is that a good thing I’m doing? for I can’t afford to upgrade the hardware, is there a better solution? is there any side effects??
IIRC, it was Dolly Parton, a well known US country western singer who, following a 'wardrobe failure' (pre Janet Jackson) on national TV, said "You can't fit 10 pounds of mud in a five pound sack".
I think that applies here.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/56f108518d7ee2544412cc80978e3182.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On 5/31/2011 3:39 PM, Khalil Abbas wrote:
"You can't fit ten pounds of mud in a five pound sack." I.e., you are trying to do too much with too little. If you can't get more hardware or reduce the size of or maybe the number of posts to your lists, you will have problems. What you are doing is not good, but if you think it allows you to avoid the real solution, you can keep doing it.
You are the only one who can determine if what you are doing is causing lost and/or duplicated messages or perhaps other problems.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7ef6790ad69919683f6fef96d0bd3168.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
mmmmm.. what if I did this:
create small lists instead of large ones, then schedule the same message to be sent every hour to a different list ? this way the servers will not halt..
what do u think?
-----Original Message----- From: Mark Sapiro Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:58 AM To: Khalil Abbas Cc: mailman-users@python.org Subject: Re: [Mailman-Users] reboot servers
On 5/31/2011 3:39 PM, Khalil Abbas wrote:
"You can't fit ten pounds of mud in a five pound sack." I.e., you are trying to do too much with too little. If you can't get more hardware or reduce the size of or maybe the number of posts to your lists, you will have problems. What you are doing is not good, but if you think it allows you to avoid the real solution, you can keep doing it.
You are the only one who can determine if what you are doing is causing lost and/or duplicated messages or perhaps other problems.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b273ab068bc220d17a3e4c710c401c4b.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On 6/1/2011 3:31 AM, Mollatt Ntini wrote:
Defintely. If you don't have the resources for instant use, you need to get them or use them more gradually. Lowering the postfix process count will help that. IIRC, you can twiddle mailman to attempt fewer message per MTA connection. You can remove other loads from the system (what else is it doing?). Rebooting is not the answer, and really unnecessary if you stop/start the big processes.
z!
participants (4)
-
Carl Zwanzig
-
Khalil Abbas
-
Mark Sapiro
-
Mollatt Ntini