[Mailman-Users] Interesting Mailman-Postfix Churning: User unknown in local recipient table

[Jeremy Butler]

I encountered an interesting case of, I think, Mailman-provoked Postfix 
churning this afternoon.  For several hours, Postfix and Mailman kept going 
in circles (see below).   Fortunately, when I restarted Postfix, the 
churning stopped.

But, obviously, I'd like to avoid a repeat of this.  And so I'm looking for 
advice.

I believe this churn was initiated when a Mailman list (splash at tcf.ua.edu) 
tried to tell a subscriber (maiser at tcf.ua.edu) that he had been 
unsubscribed.  Mailman sent a good-bye note to maiser at tcf.ua.edu, which 
appeared to be on the same system as it was, BUT maiser at tcf.ua.edu was NOT 
actually a valid account on that machine.  In fact, I deleted it because it 
wasn't a valid account.

Can anyone 'splain to me why the lack of a valid recipient led to such 
churning?

Thanks!

---- maillog ----

Mar 20 15:18:14 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: connect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:14 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: 28874C050: 
client=localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:14 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: 28874C050: reject: RCPT from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]: 450 <maiser at tcf.ua.edu>: User unknown in 
local recipient table; from=<splash-bounces at tcf.ua.edu> proto=ESMTP 
helo=<www.tcf.ua.edu>
Mar 20 15:18:15 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: disconnect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:15 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: connect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:15 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: disconnect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:15 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: connect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:15 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: 7B3E2C050: 
client=localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:15 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: 7B3E2C050: reject: RCPT from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]: 450 <maiser at tcf.ua.edu>: User unknown in 
local recipient table; from=<splash-bounces at tcf.ua.edu> proto=ESMTP 
helo=<www.tcf.ua.edu>
Mar 20 15:18:16 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: disconnect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:16 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: connect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:16 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: disconnect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:16 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: connect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:16 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: 8E27FC050: 
client=localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:16 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: 8E27FC050: reject: RCPT from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]: 450 <maiser at tcf.ua.edu>: User unknown in 
local recipient table; from=<splash-bounces at tcf.ua.edu> proto=ESMTP 
helo=<www.tcf.ua.edu>
Mar 20 15:18:17 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: disconnect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:17 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: connect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:17 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: disconnect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:17 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: connect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:17 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: A0CDCC050: 
client=localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:17 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: A0CDCC050: reject: RCPT from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]: 450 <maiser at tcf.ua.edu>: User unknown in 
local recipient table; from=<splash-bounces at tcf.ua.edu> proto=ESMTP 
helo=<www.tcf.ua.edu>
Mar 20 15:18:18 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: disconnect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:18 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: connect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Mar 20 15:18:18 www postfix/smtpd[27266]: disconnect from 
localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]


Jeremy Butler
jbutler at ua.edu
========================================================
TELEVISION: CRITICAL METHODS AND APPLICATIONS
www.TVCrit.com