[Mailman-Users] troubleshooting out queue backlog

[Robert Heller]

At Thu, 5 Sep 2019 15:54:06 -0700 Kevin Bowen <kevin.t.bowen at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> >Is sendmail just passing things off to your hosted smtp provider (eg
> using the hosted smtp provider as a "smart host")
> 
> Yes, smart host. I don't see any rejections in sendmail's logs though. I'm
> told that this machine has been exempted from any throttling at the smtp
> provider end.

Well, the smtp provider's server might just be extra busy and it struggling to 
handle the volume.

> 
> Kevin Bowen
> kevin.t.bowen at gmail.com <kevin at ucsd.edu>
> 
> 
> On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 2:39 PM Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:
> 
> > At Thu, 5 Sep 2019 14:16:31 -0700 Kevin Bowen <kevin.t.bowen at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > > Do you have SPF records and DKIM signing set up?
> > >
> > > I believe so - we're nowadays using a hosted smtp provider (proofpoint),
> > > and mail from mailman shows an SPF "pass" in my mail client. I think if
> > > that were the issue it would be affecting all outgoing mail from our
> > > domain, but this appears to be affecting only mailman
> >
> > Question: if you are using a hosted smtp provider, then what is Sendmail
> > doing? Is sendmail just passing things off to your hosted smtp provider (eg
> > using the hosted smtp provider as a "smart host") or is Sendmail actually
> > trying to deliver mail directly?  I would expect it to be the former, but
> > check Sendmail's logs to be sure Sendmail is not doing something wrong.
> > It is
> > also possible that your hosted smtp provider changed something and you
> > need to
> > update Sendmail's configuration to match.  Your symptions suggest that
> > Sendmail is having trouble sending mail (eg facing rejection or other
> > problems).
> >
> > One of the possible config issues might be that your hosted smtp provider
> > is
> > imposing limits on the number of messages per connection or the number of
> > connections per hour, etc.  You might need to update various *mailman*
> > config
> > options if that is the case.  Again the place to look is Sendmail's logs.
> >
> > I am presuming that non-mailman outgoing mail from your is originating from
> > your hosted smtp provider (your users are properly connecting to the hosted
> > smtp provider directly to send mail). You probably need to make sure
> > mailman/sendmail are doing things correctly as well.
> >
> > >
> > > >And mailman 2.1.9 is a really old version...
> > >
> > > I know. It's a legacy system I inherited.
> > >
> > > Kevin Bowen
> > > kevin.t.bowen at gmail.com <kevin at ucsd.edu>
> > >
> > >
> > > On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 2:01 PM Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > > At Thu, 5 Sep 2019 13:53:26 -0700 Kevin Bowen <kevin.t.bowen at gmail.com
> > >
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Hello,
> > > > > This morning my mailman instance (2.1.9) was not delivering any mail
> > -
> > > > mail
> > > > > was going into it but not going out. Restarting mailman and sendmail
> > > > caused
> > > > > mail to start flowing again, but several hours later there still
> > appears
> > > > to
> > > > > be a backlog of several thousand files in /var/spool/mailman/out -
> > > > they're
> > > > > draining, but only very slowly, with some of them dating back to this
> > > > > morning, around the time of the restart, and mail delivery appears
> > > > delayed.
> > > > > I'm not sure if it just needs more time to drain the queue, or if
> > > > something
> > > > > is stuck somewhere that needs to be removed - I don't see anything
> > > > relevant
> > > > > logged, but I'm not sure if I'm looking in the right place or what I
> > > > should
> > > > > be looking for. Can anyone give me any pointers to what i should be
> > > > looking
> > > > > at to troubleshoot this?
> > > >
> > > > Look at Sendmail's logs.  My *guess* is that someone is greylisting (or
> > > > even
> > > > blacklisting) your domain or host.
> > > >
> > > > Do you have SPF records and DKIM signing set up?
> > > >
> > > > And mailman 2.1.9 is a really old version...
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Kevin Bowen
> > > > > kevin.t.bowen at gmail.com <kevin at ucsd.edu>
> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------
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> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
> > > > Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
> > > > http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
> > > > heller at deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
> > Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
> > http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
> > heller at deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
> >
> >
> 
>                                                                                                                      

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller at deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services