[Mailman-Developers] Huge lists

[Chuq Von Rospach]

At 3:52 PM +0100 5/24/2000, Nigel Metheringham wrote:

>If we do split the list, then ideally it should be sorted.... at least
>so identical domains go together and maybe more intelligently than
>that.... and we're back to trying to second guess the MTA at its own
>job.

If you VERP, so you have one piece of email per subscriber per 
message, you stop trying to outguess the MTA, since it can look at 
everything and decide a delivery strategy (although even then, you 
can affect the MTA by what order you submit messages). When you start 
chunking things together, you start limiting the MTA's ability to 
optimize, so you have to get smarter.

Sorting by domain is better than no sorting, but sorting by MX is 
preferable -- but non-trivial and time-expensive. You basically get 
back into becoming an MTA again, so it's probably better to go with a 
domain sort and VERP, and just make sure you're configured to feed 
the MTA fast enough to keep it busy without overloading it.

-- 
Chuq Von Rospach - Plaidworks Consulting (mailto:chuqui@plaidworks.com)
Apple Mail List Gnome (mailto:chuq@apple.com)

And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
and say 'Man, what are you doing here?'"