[Mailman-Users] Upgrade to version 2.1 - latency on processing incoming messages

[Ray Gardener]

Richard,

Deliveries are now flowing quickly again. I noticed an old and orphaned .pck
file in the qfiles/in directory and deleted it (the system had been halted
using reboot earlier in the day which may have caused this).  But I didn't
see any errors related to this file in the logs or on the console. Next time
I will see what the qrunner -v option tells me ;-)  BTW Is the in/queue
processing always FIFO in Mailman 2.1?

Regards and thanks,

Ray


Is the
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Barrett" <r.barrett at openinfo.co.uk>
To: "Ray Gardener" <R.A.Gardener at shu.ac.uk>
Cc: <mailman-users at python.org>
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 5:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Mailman-Users] Upgrade to version 2.1 - latency on processing
incoming messages


> At 16:25 16/06/2003, Ray Gardener wrote:
> >Richard,
> >
> >the logs indicate that posts are being accepted into the mailman in queue
> >within a minute from being sent by the MUA.  From the mailman post logs I
> >can see the messages being sent by out mailman, after which they arriving
in
> >the mailing list members mailbox within a minute. So the majority of the
> >wait seems to be in the mailman system rather than in the surrounding
mail
> >systems. (Running "qrunner -r Incoming" invariably causes the  mail to
much
> >more quickly.) However I do notice that there is a gap between the time
the
> >message arrives in the in queue and it getting logged in the post log
that
> >accounts for much of the delay
> >  I can see currently, files in the qfiles/in directory that have been
there
> >for 15 minutes without anything logged for them in either the post or
smtp
> >logs.
> >
>
> The post and smtp log entries for a given message are written after the
> message goes out and give no direct read on the time the local MTA handed
> over the message to MM and it was inserted into the incoming queue; the
> MTA's mail log (/var/log/mail ??, depends on your system) is good for
that.
>
> I do not think there is a generic problem for the latest stable 2.1 (MM
> 2.1.2). I'm currently looking at a lightly loaded (but quite slow
hardware)
> MM server running MM 2.1.2 and it is taking just a few tens of seconds to
> pass messages right through the system.
>
> The MM code that delivers to the outgoing MTA (assuming you are using
> SMTPDirect) does not write to the MM post or smtp logs until delivery to
> the outbound MTA is complete so there is the real possibility that the
> delay in processing is not due to MM per se but brought about by delays it
> is seeing in handing off outgoing mail to the SMTP server.
>
> Is your MM handing outgoing mail to the local MTA or are using SMTP to
> separate outbound mail relay machine? If so, that machine's load may also
> be affecting things.
>
> As an aside, I originally configured the system I am currently looking at
> to use SMTP to the main outgoing mail relay machine for the site. I
> subsequently changed it to send out via the local MTA as MM can be a touch
> aggressive trying to hand off to a sluggish MTA and the main relay machine
> is running a whole slew of virus and spam checking which slowed it at
times
> of high traffic. Going via the local MTA got the mail off MM's hands
> quickly and it (Sendmail) was better better behaved in dealing with the
> communication with the main mail relay machine in times of stress. But
that
> may not reflect your usage.
>
>
>
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Richard Barrett" <r.barrett at openinfo.co.uk>
> >To: "Gardener, Ray A" <R.A.Gardener at shu.ac.uk>
> >Cc: <mailman-users at python.org>
> >Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 3:09 PM
> >Subject: Re: [Mailman-Users] Upgrade to version 2.1 - latency on
processing
> >incoming messages
> >
> >
> > > At 13:32 16/06/2003, Gardener, Ray A wrote:
> > > >Hi
> > > >
> > > >Last week I upgraded to 2.1 - after a few problem things seems to be
> > > >almost working fine.
> > > >However I notice that mails sent in regularly  take over 20 minutes
to be
> > > >delivered. The logs directory files for mailman don't show any
> > > >problems and the system is lightly loaded.
> > >
> > > But where is the time delay occurring: between receipt by the local
MTA
> >and
> > > Mailman sending it out, between Mailman handing it off to the outbound
MTA
> > > and that passing the mail on. What do the headers on "delayed" mail
show;
> > > also the MTA and Mailman's post/smtp logs.
> >
> > >
> > > If anything the latency should be better with 2.1.x than with 2.0.x
> > >
> > > Are these posts to lists with many subscribers or do they have some
> > > characteristic (large posts, many attachments) that might affect their
> > > handling?
> >
> >
> >No this has been reproduced in my test list with two subscribers and
small
> >(< 3k) messages.
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Ray
> >
> >Ray
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
> Richard Barrett
http://www.openinfo.co.uk
>
>