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Home > Archive > IIS and SMTP > August 2004 > Yet another request to force MS's brain dead SMTP service to process it's queue
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| Author |
Yet another request to force MS's brain dead SMTP service to process it's queue
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| John Smith 2004-07-09, 12:05 pm |
| I SMTP relay into an exchange server. Something magical happened sometime
over the holiday weekend and now I have 4,000 stupid NDR emails along with
some actual valid emails sitting in my SMTP queue. I yanked all the delivery
times down to 1 minute and squashed all connection timeouts to 1 minute yet
I sit here an hour later waiting for this stupid SMTP server to make it
through the queue. What else is there to get this pile of garbage to
respond?
"Industrial strength SMTP server" my patootie.
Timothy A. Anderson
tima at predator dash software dot com
| |
| John Smith 2004-07-09, 12:05 pm |
| I can't believe what a pile of garbage this thing is. I started rebooting
today at 11AM. It is now 12:54AM the next day after resetting all
timers/timeouts/counters/whatever to 1 minute and I still have yet to get
this stupid pile of junk to clear it's queue. Where's the "TRY ONCE AND GIVE
UP YOU PILE OF GARBAGE" button?
Sorry to rant, but I was planning a simple reboot and get to work on normal
projects day instead of a "What could possibly be getting this stupid pile
of junk stuck sending - of all stupid moronic idiotic things" day.
Thanks Billy G. Where do I want to go today? Home. I want to go home after
this stupid SMTP service actually cleans out it's queue. It's been 10 hours.
I'm still waiting.
Timothy A. Anderson
tima at predator dash software dot com
| |
| John Smith 2004-07-09, 12:05 pm |
| > The ndr's sitting there will eventually move to the badmail directory
> (most of them will be spam anyway). You might be well advised to empty
> that directory on a regular basis...
I'm well aware of this. I want it to plow through the queue and badmail the
appropriate stuff NOW. Not 2 days from now. NOW.
> What good is reducing delivery times supposed to be?
So it will clear the queue NOW and I can verify the stupid thing is working
before going home. I want to clear the queue NOW so I can send test emails
NOW and verify they work NOW.
> It is. It just needs proper administration...
Like the "process NOW" option. Even the bloated pig monster exchange server
has a "retry NOW" button.
> If your active queue is piling up your problem sits elsewhere (dns
> problems, connectivity problems, spam problems).
Connectivity problem fixed after a holiday weekend because the server
crashed for now reason. No DNS problems. No network problems now. No
connectivity problems now. Just the SMTP service failing because of typical
SPAM NDR's and it refusing to badmail them. ALL DAY. I spent 10 hours trying
to figure out why I couldn't send email and it was simply because the SMTP
service is brain dead and refused to badmail spam ndr's. Instead it wanted
to hang onto them for a couple more days and clog up my outgoing AND
incoming queue. How can you tell if these connectivity problems are fixed if
you can't force "retry NOW" and see if they work or not?
Is it working? Is it badmailing correctly? Can I send email out and get it
back RIGHT NOW? Can't find out until it processes the 4000 emails that are
stuck in it's stupid queue. Can't force processing of those emails. Guess I
get to go home and then get a call in 3 hours telling me things aren't
working instead of figuring it out NOW.
> At times we had over 40.000 (!) mails sitting in our mail queue and most
> of them were ndr's on their way out to nonexistant addresses...
> We solved that problem by using software from www.vamsoft.com to filter
> inbound mails...
I solved it by safe moding, renaming the queue folder to queue.old, creating
a new queue folder and rebooting. Only problem is there possibly exists some
good email in all the junk it was too stupid to try to process. Oh well. At
least I can test it NOW and find out it's working NOW.
tima at predator dash software dot com
which is finally working even though the ms smtp service is brain dead
| |
| Ken Schaefer 2004-07-09, 12:05 pm |
| Did you change the "expiration timeout" settings (you didn't mention those)?
The problem is that the SMTP server can not know if a domain is
unresolvable, or a domain doesn't really exist - hence the expiration
timeout settings. These are there to make the internet robust (so that it
copes with transient problems, and eventually recognises chronic issues).
And, all this whinging about "robust mailservers" - why isn't it robust? It
hasn't crashed on you? It's just doing what it's supposed to be doing. Just
because it does something other than what you want doesn't mean that it
doesn't work.
Personally, I think your attitude needs a facelift. If you come here
carrying on like you do, then no one is going to care about what are
ultimately your problems.
Cheers
Ken
"John Smith" <someone@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:eBJskyMZEHA.2388@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
: > The ndr's sitting there will eventually move to the badmail directory
: > (most of them will be spam anyway). You might be well advised to empty
: > that directory on a regular basis...
:
: I'm well aware of this. I want it to plow through the queue and badmail
the
: appropriate stuff NOW. Not 2 days from now. NOW.
:
: > What good is reducing delivery times supposed to be?
:
: So it will clear the queue NOW and I can verify the stupid thing is
working
: before going home. I want to clear the queue NOW so I can send test emails
: NOW and verify they work NOW.
:
: > > "Industrial strength SMTP server" my patootie.
: > It is. It just needs proper administration...
:
: Like the "process NOW" option. Even the bloated pig monster exchange
server
: has a "retry NOW" button.
:
: > If your active queue is piling up your problem sits elsewhere (dns
: > problems, connectivity problems, spam problems).
:
: Connectivity problem fixed after a holiday weekend because the server
: crashed for now reason. No DNS problems. No network problems now. No
: connectivity problems now. Just the SMTP service failing because of
typical
: SPAM NDR's and it refusing to badmail them. ALL DAY. I spent 10 hours
trying
: to figure out why I couldn't send email and it was simply because the SMTP
: service is brain dead and refused to badmail spam ndr's. Instead it wanted
: to hang onto them for a couple more days and clog up my outgoing AND
: incoming queue. How can you tell if these connectivity problems are fixed
if
: you can't force "retry NOW" and see if they work or not?
:
: Is it working? Is it badmailing correctly? Can I send email out and get it
: back RIGHT NOW? Can't find out until it processes the 4000 emails that are
: stuck in it's stupid queue. Can't force processing of those emails. Guess
I
: get to go home and then get a call in 3 hours telling me things aren't
: working instead of figuring it out NOW.
:
: > At times we had over 40.000 (!) mails sitting in our mail queue and most
: > of them were ndr's on their way out to nonexistant addresses...
: > We solved that problem by using software from www.vamsoft.com to filter
: > inbound mails...
:
: I solved it by safe moding, renaming the queue folder to queue.old,
creating
: a new queue folder and rebooting. Only problem is there possibly exists
some
: good email in all the junk it was too stupid to try to process. Oh well.
At
: least I can test it NOW and find out it's working NOW.
:
: tima at predator dash software dot com
: which is finally working even though the ms smtp service is brain dead
:
:
:
:
| |
| Kevin Buchanan 2004-07-09, 4:13 pm |
| Ken: I am with you on this one. I have been running SMTP/POP3 on W2k3
since it's release - no problems (...well, nothing like "John Smith" is
whining about").
IMHO - you are getting what you paid for. If you don't like the SMTP/POP
that ships with the OS - then buy a third party software and quit
complaining about it! John - you must think that Microsoft has to do it
better than everyone else - well, guess what?!? Sometimes they do - and
sometimes they don't! If you don't like it, then quit using it and buy
something else! Use this forum for help and quit blasting the software just
because it doesn't work for you they way you want it to. Honestly - you
sound like a 5 year old that isn't getting his way.
Well, John, you have read the responses to your comments - and by in large,
you are in the minority. It is important to understand the concept of the
configuration in relation to the medium has to perform. I think Ken said it
well...nuff said.
-KB
"Ken Schaefer" <kenREMOVE@THISadOpenStatic.com> wrote in message
news:ufpNH#YZEHA.2388@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Did you change the "expiration timeout" settings (you didn't mention
those)?
>
> The problem is that the SMTP server can not know if a domain is
> unresolvable, or a domain doesn't really exist - hence the expiration
> timeout settings. These are there to make the internet robust (so that it
> copes with transient problems, and eventually recognises chronic issues).
>
> And, all this whinging about "robust mailservers" - why isn't it robust?
It
> hasn't crashed on you? It's just doing what it's supposed to be doing.
Just
> because it does something other than what you want doesn't mean that it
> doesn't work.
>
> Personally, I think your attitude needs a facelift. If you come here
> carrying on like you do, then no one is going to care about what are
> ultimately your problems.
>
> Cheers
> Ken
>
>
> "John Smith" <someone@microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:eBJskyMZEHA.2388@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> : > The ndr's sitting there will eventually move to the badmail directory
> : > (most of them will be spam anyway). You might be well advised to empty
> : > that directory on a regular basis...
> :
> : I'm well aware of this. I want it to plow through the queue and badmail
> the
> : appropriate stuff NOW. Not 2 days from now. NOW.
> :
> : > What good is reducing delivery times supposed to be?
> :
> : So it will clear the queue NOW and I can verify the stupid thing is
> working
> : before going home. I want to clear the queue NOW so I can send test
emails
> : NOW and verify they work NOW.
> :
> : > > "Industrial strength SMTP server" my patootie.
> : > It is. It just needs proper administration...
> :
> : Like the "process NOW" option. Even the bloated pig monster exchange
> server
> : has a "retry NOW" button.
> :
> : > If your active queue is piling up your problem sits elsewhere (dns
> : > problems, connectivity problems, spam problems).
> :
> : Connectivity problem fixed after a holiday weekend because the server
> : crashed for now reason. No DNS problems. No network problems now. No
> : connectivity problems now. Just the SMTP service failing because of
> typical
> : SPAM NDR's and it refusing to badmail them. ALL DAY. I spent 10 hours
> trying
> : to figure out why I couldn't send email and it was simply because the
SMTP
> : service is brain dead and refused to badmail spam ndr's. Instead it
wanted
> : to hang onto them for a couple more days and clog up my outgoing AND
> : incoming queue. How can you tell if these connectivity problems are
fixed
> if
> : you can't force "retry NOW" and see if they work or not?
> :
> : Is it working? Is it badmailing correctly? Can I send email out and get
it
> : back RIGHT NOW? Can't find out until it processes the 4000 emails that
are
> : stuck in it's stupid queue. Can't force processing of those emails.
Guess
> I
> : get to go home and then get a call in 3 hours telling me things aren't
> : working instead of figuring it out NOW.
> :
> : > At times we had over 40.000 (!) mails sitting in our mail queue and
most
> : > of them were ndr's on their way out to nonexistant addresses...
> : > We solved that problem by using software from www.vamsoft.com to
filter
> : > inbound mails...
> :
> : I solved it by safe moding, renaming the queue folder to queue.old,
> creating
> : a new queue folder and rebooting. Only problem is there possibly exists
> some
> : good email in all the junk it was too stupid to try to process. Oh well.
> At
> : least I can test it NOW and find out it's working NOW.
> :
> : tima at predator dash software dot com
> : which is finally working even though the ms smtp service is brain dead
> :
> :
> :
> :
>
>
| |
| jspadea 2004-08-19, 5:46 pm |
| I'm having the same problem John had. Although, in my case I know what caused it:
I set up a W2K server to be a relay server for several hundred domains. The final destination is a Linux server running Sendmail and is configured to drop connections that have undeliverable recipient email addresses. The flaw in my design is that the W2K server accepts all the mal-addressed spam and then tries to deliver it to the Linux server which simply drops the connection. After about 24 hrs I have over 200,000 messages in the queue. Only 15,000 of them were NDR's.
Does anybody know when or how often the IIS SMTP service processes the Queue folder? I set the Expiration to 1hr but messages older than an hour are still in there. Does anybody know at what point the Queue size prevents SMTP from processing incoming mail? (At some point, all mail went to the Queue without any attempt to deliver.) Any suggestions on the best way to process the 185,000 messages I have left? Is there any way to stop incoming messages completely to allow processing the queue? |
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