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outdated DNS servers (and updated the settings in Imail admin to point to the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.
