does spamd read all sitewide config files in /etc/mail/spamassassin when it starts and keeps them in memory so that whenever a spamc connects to it its there for quicker / more efficenet processing...?
Yes. Spamd only reads user_prefs files at message-delivery time. That's why everyone always tells you to restart spamd after editing files in /etc/mail/spamassassin.
im asking becuase i cant run the full rules and suribls on my primary mailhub because it keeps giving me a
spam acl condition: spamd connection to 127.0.0.1, port 783 failed: Connection timed out
i presume this is due to the cpu not being able to handle all the connections simultaneously...
Possibly. But it's likely it's network check timing that's killing you rather than CPU, since disabling suribls helps.
Spamd limits the number of children it will spawn, and it can't handle more mail until one finishes and is free.
If you have enough free ram (check with ps or top) you might consider upping the limit with the -m parameter to spamd. Default for SA 3.x is -m 5.
Note that spamd processes are pretty large (20-45mb is common) and it doesn't pay to load so many that your system bogs down in the swapfile.
because of this i am thinking i may need to migrate all spam scanning to a dedicated server and have all 3 hubs point to it.
has anyone else had this sort of problem...
I'm not a spamd user, I'm on MailScanner.. it's load problems manifest differently due to it's double-queue architecture. I've got no great experience with spamd, just a basic understanding of how it flows.
