Question

540 messages stuck in Qmail queue

Asked by: 1105media

I checked my qmail server today, turns out there are 540 messages stuck in the queue that haven't been delivered.  I've tried using qmHandle -a to deliver all of them, but that doesn't help.  I've tested an email script that sends out a test email message, and the email is being delivered - with a bit of delay.  What about the other emails that are in the queue?  I've done some extensive reading and I'm still unsure how I can get these messages in the queue to be delivered.  

Can anyone help/

Total messages: 540
Messages with local recipients: 0
Messages with remote recipients: 540
Messages with bounces: 0
Messages in preprocess: 0


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Asked On
2008-02-11 at 11:09:50ID23153986
Topics

Qmail Email Server

,

Email Servers

,

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

Participating Experts
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Points
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: Syngin9Posted on 2008-02-11 at 11:22:28ID: 20869263

Hmm, are these all legitimate emails?

How often do you check the queue?

Does the server make use of SPF records and Domain keys? (AOL and Yahoo are becoming heavy sticklers  for those)

I'd check to ensure that the server can do DNS lookups too.  That would stop remote emails from going out as well.  Was your test email sent to a local or remote user?

Also, check your server's ip here to ensure its not blacklisted:

http://www.senderbase.org/  (its the form at the top left)

One time, as a last resort, I did a server reboot to fix an otherwise unfixable queue error and the emails just started flying out. Not something I would normally recommend but its a good fix for a large number of possible causes of a problem like that.

 

by: 1105mediaPosted on 2008-02-11 at 11:27:57ID: 20869307

I haven't checked the email queue in a few days - but the last time I checked it was fine.

Yes, the server can do DNS lookups.  There are some emails that are going out, but it seems like the queue goes from 540 down to 532 emails, and then fluctuates, but never goes down to normal.

We also subscribe to a blacklist service - and I've also checked your site, we're not on a blacklist.

I haven't seen a problem yet up until today.  

Also - I rebooted the machine, the emails are going out slowly, but there is a steady 532 emails in the queue.

Can you suggest anything else?

 

by: Syngin9Posted on 2008-02-13 at 05:48:36ID: 20884080

Get a copy of qmHandle and run that with the -l flag.  It'll allow you to see the subject and also cull the queue based on a partial subject match.

Check to see if your catchall is set to bounce.  If your server is trying to bounce spam email back to what it thinks is the original sender, this could explain the large number of emails in the queue.

 

by: 1105mediaPosted on 2008-02-13 at 15:34:32ID: 20889571

I've used qmHandle - whenever I try a ./qmHandle -a to try and send all messages, nothing happens.  qmHandle doesn't seem to work as far as deleting messages from the queue either - it fails to stop qmail.  I've also tried stopping qmail, running qmHandle -d234 for example, nothing happens.

I'm going to give another python script a chance to see if that cleans the queue out..  Any other suggestions?

 

by: Syngin9Posted on 2008-02-14 at 05:55:39ID: 20893206

Just tried the most recent copy and Im getting those problems myself.  I have an older version of the script that works fine for me at the following location if interested:

http://charlotte.tregaskiss.com/qmHandle

 

by: 1105mediaPosted on 2008-02-14 at 08:21:58ID: 31429919

Thanks i'll try that.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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