Invalid Queue Files with Postfix

[Brad Beckenhauer]

>>> On 8/18/2007 at 9:09 AM, in message <46C6FDA7.3080605 at ecs.soton.ac.uk>, Julian
Field <MailScanner at ecs.soton.ac.uk> wrote:
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> Brad Beckenhauer wrote:
>>
>> That would be a nice feature request for MailScanner, something to
>> provide consistant volume benchmarks across all supported MailScanner
>> platforms.  
>> Something like:
>> MailScanner -stats
>> or a configuration setting to enable benchmarking with the
>> understanding that there would be system overhead associated with the
>> additional process.
>>   
> What stats would you like it to log that it doesn't already?
> There's no communication between the child processes once they are 
> started, but I could add a signal trap so that a kill -USR or something 
> would make them dump some figures to some file or other, then restart 
> the batch they were on. They already catch kill -HUP to force them to 
> die. So exactly what do you want to do when it receives a SIGUSR?

Several times on the list I've noticed questions like "What's your volume?".  
Is there already something in MailScanner that can generate an answer to that question?

My first thought would be to have MailScanner calculate the daily volume of total daily messages processed.  That way when the "What's your volume" question comes up, there is a standardized way to respond to the question.  An hourly histogram would be an interesting stat.

Date
TIME             Msgs processed
00:00-01:00   xxxx
01:00-02:00   xxxx
02:00-03:00   xxxx
—----------------------
Mail Volume   xxxxx
Hourly Avg:    xx%

Anyway... That was the thought.....  Feel free to toss the idea to the bit bucket.  I'm not going to be arguing the idea.

Thanks for listening.
Brad

> 
> 
>>   
>>>>> Brad Beckenhauer wrote:
>>>>>         
>>>>>> I'm running a Postfix system using the Hold method and recently
>>>>>> experienced a huge backlog due to "invalid queue files". 
>>>>>>           
>> Eventually
>>   
>>>> the
>>>>       
>>>>>> hold directory got enough invalid queue files that MailScanner
>>>>>>           
>>>> switch to
>>>>       
>>>>>> "accelerated" mode of processing messages.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> sample from the maillog:
>>>>>> Aug 17 08:37:48 mx2 MailScanner[26605]: New Batch: Found invalid
>>>>>>           
>>>> queue
>>>>       
>>>>>> files: B1FB93EE101
>>>>>> Postcat of this file is below.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Finding what's causing these invalid queue files and eliminating
>>>>>>           
>>>> them
>>>>       
>>>>>> is the first issue.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Would a feature in MailScanner that takes action when invalid
>>>>>>           
>> queue
>>   
>>>>>> files are found be useful to others?
>>>>>> Such a feature could:
>>>>>> Detect invalid queue files (which it already does) and
>>>>>> a) Move the invalid queue file somewhere safe and notify the
>>>>>>           
>> admin
>>   
>>>>>> b) postsuper -d queue_file to get rid of it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Or how about a courtesy email to the email admin when
>>>>>>           
>> MailScanner
>>   
>>>>>> switches to "accelerated mode".
>>>>>>
>>>>>> postcat B1FB93EE101
>>>>>>
>>>>>> *** ENVELOPE RECORDS B1FB93EE101 ***
>>>>>> message_size:             489             336               1
>>>>>>           
>>>>>>     0
>>>>>> message_arrival_time: Thu Aug 16 09:22:55 2007
>>>>>> sender: Lucien.Hatch8400 at hot.ee 
>>>>>> named_attribute: client_name=62.43.179.119.dyn.user.ono.com
>>>>>> named_attribute: client_address=62.43.179.119
>>>>>> named_attribute:
>>>>>> message_origin=62.43.179.119.dyn.user.ono.com[62.43.179.119]
>>>>>> named_attribute: helo_name=62.43.179.119.dyn.user.ono.com
>>>>>> named_attribute: protocol_name=SMTP
>>>>>> original_recipient: tnolte at stfm.org 
>>>>>> recipient: tnolte at stfm.org 
>>>>>> *** MESSAGE CONTENTS B1FB93EE101 ***
>>>>>> Received: from 62.43.179.119.dyn.user.ono.com
>>>>>> (62.43.179.119.dyn.user.ono.com [62.43.179.119])
>>>>>>         by mx1.aafp.org (Postfix) with SMTP id B1FB93EE101
>>>>>>         for <tnolte at stfm.org>; Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:22:55 -0500
>>>>>>           
>>>> (CDT)
>>>>       
>>>>>> Received: from martinique.hotbox.com (unknown [111.13.212.156])
>>>>>>            by galleryplanet.com with SMTP id 5[10
>>>>>> Message-Id: <20070816142255.B1FB93EE101 at mx1.aafp.org>
>>>>>> Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:22:55 -0500 (CDT)
>>>>>> From: Lucien.Hatch8400 at hot.ee 
>>>>>> To: undisclosed-recipients:;
>>>>>> *** HEADER EXTRACTED B1FB93EE101 ***
>>>>>> *** MESSAGE FILE END B1FB93EE101 ***
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>           
>>>>> Jules
>>>>>         
>>> Cheers
>>>     
> 
> Jules
> 
> - -- 
> Julian Field MEng CITP
> www.MailScanner.info 
> Buy the MailScanner book at www.MailScanner.info/store 
> 
> MailScanner customisation, or any advanced system administration help?
> Contact me at Jules at Jules.FM 
> 
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