Single process taking over?

[Julian Field]

As a rather off-the-wall test, can you check to ensure there are no stray
locks outstanding.
cd ~root/.spamassassin
mkdir temp
cp * temp
rm *
mv temp/* .
then restart MailScanner with the bayes engine turned back on.
It theoretically shouldn't help, but have seen this improve things in the
past in other applications.

At 20:59 17/02/2004, you wrote:
>Mr. Field:
>
>Thank you very much. I have updated clamav to 0.67, and SA to their latest
>(one at a time, of course for testing purposes). Neither seemed to provide
>much help, but turning off Bayes, so far has seemed to allow MS to keep up.
>
>Again, my load average is back to it's normal range of 5.00+ whenever there
>are emails to scan instead of spiralling down to sub 0.75 levels regardless
>of what was in incoming. If only I had a machine where the lower range was
>normal.
>
>I will follow the list in the event something is found with the latest bayes
>engine.
>
>Thank you very much.
>
>Steve Campbell
>campbell at cnpapers.com
>Charleston Newspapers
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Julian Field" <mailscanner at ECS.SOTON.AC.UK>
>To: <MAILSCANNER at JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
>Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 11:31 AM
>Subject: Re: Single process taking over?
>
>
> > Can you try switching off Bayes (use_bayes 0 in spam.assassin.prefs.conf).
> > Then let me know if the problem recurs.
> >
> > Also, upgrade your SA to 2.63 in case you are seeing a bug in SA.
> >
> > At 15:31 17/02/2004, you wrote:
> > >Mr. Field,
> > >
> > >I have been going through pretty much the same situation as described
>with
> > >this post. The exception is that my machine does not show a domineering
> > >process and load average drops to near nothing. I have been trying to
>change
> > >sendmail to remedy this problem, but I may be looking at the wrong part
>of
> > >the puzzle. I have still not determined what is going on, but I do see a
>lot
> > >of Bayes lock files and one main bayes.lock file. It peaks once I see the
> > >bayes_toks.new file which seems to stay around forever. I offer this only
>to
> > >maybe point things toward a solution.
> > >
> > >I am running
> > >     MS 4.26.8-1
> > >     SA 2.61-1
> > >     ClamAV 0.65
> > >     MailWatch 0.5.1
> > >     Sendmail 8.11.6-27.73
> > >     RH 7.3
> > >
> > >I upgraded MS on a Monday and MailWatch on a Wednesday. That week
>problems
> > >started happening. The problems seemed to be resolved by my removing my
> > >Bayes files (you suggested poisoning, and this appeared to have been the
> > >case), but since I must stop MS, remove all of the bayes lock files, the
> > >bayes_tok.new file, restart MS and all appears fine. Load average climbs
>to
> > >normal to normal-high limits, my incoming backlog clears quickly and
> > >everything is fine. I replaced my Message.pm file with the the one you
> > >posted to the list, and that is the only other change I have made to the
> > >above installed programs.
> > >
> > >I hope some common thread may appear from my configuration and what
>others
> > >describe to shed some light on this. Most people don't complain about
>load
> > >averages this low, but to me it signals a slow down in my mail system,
> > >creating backlogs in the incoming queue.
> > >
> > >Thank you for your efforts, sir.
> > >
> > >Steve Campbell
> > >campbell at cnpapers.com
> > >Charleston Newspapers
> > >
> > >----- Original Message -----
> > >From: "Julian Field" <mailscanner at ECS.SOTON.AC.UK>
> > >To: <MAILSCANNER at JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
> > >Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 7:24 AM
> > >Subject: Re: Single process taking over?
> > >
> > >
> > > > At 11:38 17/02/2004, you wrote:
> > > > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > > > From: MailScanner mailing list [mailto:MAILSCANNER at JISCMAIL.AC.UK]
>On
> > > > > > Behalf Of Julian Field
> > > > > > Sent: Tuesday, 17 February 2004 8:36 PM
> > > > > > To: MAILSCANNER at JISCMAIL.AC.UK
> > > > > > Subject: Re: Single process taking over?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Ah, a reproducible fault! I like those :-)
> > > > >
> > > > >I don't!!  :)
> > > > >
> > > > > > What does your MailScanner.conf look like? (just the interesting
>bits,
> > > > > > don't care what all the filenames of your reports are and stuff
>like
> > > > > > that).
> > > > >
> > > > >See below..
> > > > >
> > > > > > What virus scanner(s), SpamAssassin, etc?
> > > > >
> > > > >ClamAV, McAfee, Spamassassin 2.6.3, DCC, Razor
> > > > >
> > > > > > What is the last thing the runaway process logs before CPU
>hogging?
> > > > >
> > > > >Nothing abnormal, just the process starting and mail being processed,
> > >even
> > > > >in verbose logging, it just appears to be a normal process that won't
>let
> > > > >the other threads have any resources.  If I kill it, the other
>threads
> > >spawn
> > > > >and run as per normal.
> > > > >
> > > > > > Does the CPU hogging start the instant you start MailScanner, or
>the
> > > > > > instant the first child process runs, or when?
> > > > >
> > > > >As soon as mail begins to be processed.  If no mail is in the queue,
>not
> > > > >hogging, but the second any mail is in queue it's hogging.
> > > > >
> > > > >MailScanner.conf
> > > > >============================================
> > > > >Max Children = 4
> > > > >Queue Scan Interval = 1
> > > > >MTA = sendmail
> > > > >Max Unscanned Bytes Per Scan = 100000000
> > > > >Max Unsafe Bytes Per Scan = 50000000
> > > > >Max Unscanned Messages Per Scan = 15
> > > > >Max Unsafe Messages Per Scan = 15
> > > > >Virus Scanning = yes
> > > > >Virus Scanners = mcafee clamav
> > > > >Virus Scanner Timeout = 300
> > > > >Spam Checks = yes
> > > > >Spam List =
> > > > >Use SpamAssassin = yes
> > > > >Max SpamAssassin Size = 90000
> > > > >Deliver In Background = yes
> > > > >Delivery Method = batch
> > > >
> > > > Do you reckon you could reproduce the problem on a box to which you
>could
> > > > give me login access? I suspect it's something very simple, but I have
> > > > never witnessed it here and it's apparently not a common problem.
> > > > --
> > > > Julian Field
> > > > www.MailScanner.info
> > > > MailScanner thanks transtec Computers for their support
> > > >
> > > > PGP footprint: EE81 D763 3DB0 0BFD E1DC 7222 11F6 5947 1415 B654
> >
> > --
> > Julian Field
> > www.MailScanner.info
> > MailScanner thanks transtec Computers for their support
> >
> > PGP footprint: EE81 D763 3DB0 0BFD E1DC 7222 11F6 5947 1415 B654

--
Julian Field
www.MailScanner.info
Professional Support Services at www.MailScanner.biz
MailScanner thanks transtec Computers for their support
PGP footprint: EE81 D763 3DB0 0BFD E1DC 7222 11F6 5947 1415 B654