FWIW,
I
had similar results with Imail 6.06 (all latest 6x patches applied). I
found the problem was my DNS server(s), not in my Imail server.
Mail is VERY dns intensive (especially when throwing stuff like Declude in
the mix, which requires extra DNS lookups for certain spam tests), if you
don't have quality, stable, local DNS to look at - pretty soon the queue
fills up and smtp stops responding (in my case it would actually slow the
entire server to a crawl, where the only remedy was the dredded reset
button). Throw a wrench in the works like that in with the recent
trends of dictionary attacks and increased spam traffic, and next thing you
know the server just can't take it anymore.
Since you mention that you can't connect to any DNS servers, this
would make me look at DNS REALLY closely.
-
make sure you've entered valid DNS servers in the Imail Admin - Imail uses
the servers specified here, not what is in the TCP/IP control
panel
-
make sure you've applied proper ACL's on your DNS servers, so you're only
doing recursive lookups for those local hosts that need it (and not everyone
on the internet - stealing CPU/DNS cycles that your Imail server
needs).
I
chased my tail on Imail crashing for almost 6 months. We were
rebooting it once every other day (if not, it would end up locking up on
it's own about every three days) and starting to look at other platforms out
of frustration. In an unrelated maintenance/upgrade, we changed out a
few outdated DNS servers (and updated the settings in Imail admin to point
to the two new IP's). All of a sudden Imail server was ROCK SOLID -
has gone over 6 months without an unscheduled reboot (have to reboot for
things like critical updates, etc., but never for a
freezeup).
Also, I run declude and have it pointed at two different
servers than Imail, so basically the DNS load is spread between 4 seperate
DNS servers. It has worked beautifully since.
-
Tony
I have been having this problem since we switched to Imail 7, last
June of 2002. Imail tech support can't help us, though we have tried
everything they can think of. Reboot is the only solution. One note
though, we find that when the smtp stops sending mail, we have 4000+ ports
open. It seems to us that Imail doesn't give up the ports and so the smtp
can't send mail because there are no open tcp/ip ports. Which is also why
we can't connect (MX Fail) to any DNS servers. We are looking at other
mail servers.
This happens to us about every other day or
two.
.
R.D. Hoot Hunt MCSE
Network Administrator
Chappell Studio / Marathon
Foto
641-472-6892 Ext
299
When in doubt, Reboot
!
We have recently been having problems
sending mail with our smtp server. At times it crashes and will not send
mail. When this happens, we ussually have to restart the server for
without the smtp service started, make a new empty spool directory,
start the smtp service, and then start moving the files from the
old spool over. I have a couple questions.
1) Is anyone else having the same problem.
Smtp sevices craashes and spool directory builds while noe mail is sent
and there is no warning given on the server.
2) What is the best way to solve this
problem. Do we have to shut down the server to fix this, or is there
another way to do it? We really don't like shutting down the server, but
it seems like that is the only way to do it.
