[Mailman-Developers] VERPing: ouch!

[Brad Knowles]

At 2:28 PM +0200 2004-07-13, Fil wrote:

>>  >        for 152991 recips, completed in 31782.241 seconds
>>
>>  	How does this compare to a normal, non-VERPed delivery for this list?
>
>  grep -E "1..... recips" logs/smtp
>
>  May 27 16:43:46 2004 (440) <20040527135407.74A5F368143 at alan.rezo.net> smtp
>          for 151942 recips, completed in 1231.438 seconds

	1231.438/151942 = 0.0081046 seconds per recipient (average)

>  Jun 30 15:39:26 2004 (435) <20040630132741.F1A0836811C at alan.rezo.net> smtp
>          for 152717 recips, completed in 428.891 seconds

	428.891/152717 = 0.0028084 seconds per recipient (average)

>  Jul 13 02:05:22 2004 (435) <20040712150834.DCA153680BD at alan.rezo.net> smtp
>          for 152991 recips, completed in 31782.241 seconds

	31782.241/152991 = 0.2077392 seconds per recipient (average)


	So, on average, you're taking somewhere close to 25-75 times as 
long, if you enable VERP for the entire list.  Ouch!

>>  	I ask because Chuq Von Rospach has done some calculations on what
>>  should theoretically happen to your performance if you enable VERP,
>>  but I don't know of anyone who has actually timed the performance
>>  difference on large lists.
>
>  Usually the sending (mailman to postfix to 90% of users) takes a bit more
>  than two hours ; yesterday it took about 6 hours. But more importantly, the
>  Mailman -> postfix thing took 5 hours instead of ~ 15 minutes.

	I will definitely update the VERP performance entry in the FAQ to 
reference your experience.

-- 
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles at skynet.be>

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

     -- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
     Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755

   SAGE member since 1995.  See <http://www.sage.org/> for more info.