A very slow MS 4.62.2-3 & SA 3.2.1 & ClamAV 0.91 machine - FIXED (temporarily)

[Quentin Campbell]

I have found a temporary fix to this problem which is to switch off MCP checks.

HOWEVER I can find no explanation as to why this should help in my situation.

I currently have 4 identically configured gateways each carrying roughly the same traffic load. Only one of these needs to have "MCP Checks = no". The other three work OK when this is "yes".

The /etc/MailScanner hierarchy is the same. So is /etc/mail/spamassassin. All run with the same MS & SA & ClamAV versions.

I am doing sa-update nightly so /var/lib/spamassassin hierarchy is the same. Ditto /usr/share/spamassassin (which should be ignored now that I use 'sa-update').

What files/directorise outside of the above might slow down MCP checks?

NB This problem is NOT likely to be directly related to the version of MailScanner I am running because this problem occurred on the machine before I upgraded to 4.62.2-3 and SA 3.2.1 but was less pronounced.

Quentin

>-----Original Message-----
>From: mailscanner-bounces at lists.mailscanner.info [mailto:mailscanner-
>bounces at lists.mailscanner.info] On Behalf Of Quentin Campbell
>Sent: 13 July 2007 09:18
>To: MailScanner discussion
>Subject: RE: A very slow MS 4.62.2-3 & SA 3.2.1 & ClamAV 0.91 machine -
>someresults of -sa-debug
>
>When I do 'MailScanner -debug -sa-debug' there is no obvious big pause
>but a hesitation when it starts to '... dbg: rules: running body tests;
>score so far...'.
>
>A more obvious thing is that lookup times for uridnsbl sites is very
>variable and that responses are not cached:
>
>...
>...
>[25023] dbg: uridnsbl: query for carquiet.com took 5 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:236.81.138.89)
>[25023] dbg: uridnsbl: query for carquiet.com took 5 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:14.241.178.80)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(multi.uribl.com.:aegean.gr)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(bl.open-whois.org.:aegean.gr)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(multi.surbl.org.:aegean.gr)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(dob.sibl.support-intelligence.net:aegean.gr)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:1.130.251.195)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:3.148.251.195)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:8.130.251.195)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:19.168.251.195)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:9.177.251.195)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:5.160.251.195)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:3.144.251.195)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:210.210.177.194)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:5.128.251.195)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:1.128.251.195)
>[25046] dbg: uridnsbl: query for aegean.gr took 7 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:5.184.251.195)
>[25047] dbg: uridnsbl: query for poemboy.hk took 6 seconds to look up
>(multi.surbl.org.:poemboy.hk)
>[25047] dbg: uridnsbl: query for carquiet.com took 6 seconds to look up
>(multi.surbl.org.:carquiet.com)
>[25047] dbg: uridnsbl: query for carquiet.com took 6 seconds to look up
>(dob.sibl.support-intelligence.net:carquiet.com)
>[25047] dbg: uridnsbl: query for poemboy.hk took 6 seconds to look up
>(multi.uribl.com.:poemboy.hk)
>[25047] dbg: uridnsbl: query for poemboy.hk took 6 seconds to look up
>(bl.open-whois.org.:poemboy.hk)
>[25047] dbg: uridnsbl: query for carquiet.com took 6 seconds to look up
>(bl.open-whois.org.:carquiet.com)
>[25047] dbg: uridnsbl: query for carquiet.com took 6 seconds to look up
>(multi.uribl.com.:carquiet.com)
>[25047] dbg: uridnsbl: query for poemboy.hk took 6 seconds to look up
>(dob.sibl.support-intelligence.net:poemboy.hk)
>[25047] dbg: uridnsbl: query for carquiet.com took 6 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:236.81.138.89)
>[25047] dbg: uridnsbl: query for carquiet.com took 6 seconds to look up
>(sbl.spamhaus.org.:14.241.178.80)
>[25050] dbg: uridnsbl: query for sciencedirect.com took 13 seconds to
>look up (dob.sibl.support-intelligence.net:sciencedirect.com)
>[25050] dbg: uridnsbl: query for sciencedirect.com took 13 seconds to
>look up (bl.open-whois.org.:sciencedirect.com)
>[25050] dbg: uridnsbl: query for sciencedirect.com took 13 seconds to
>look up (multi.surbl.org.:sciencedirect.com)
>[25050] dbg: uridnsbl: query for sciencedirect.com took 13 seconds to
>look up (multi.uribl.com.:sciencedirect.com)
>[25050] dbg: uridnsbl: query for sciencedirect.com took 13 seconds to
>look up (sbl.spamhaus.org.:3.4.12.138)
>[25050] dbg: uridnsbl: query for sciencedirect.com took 13 seconds to
>look up (sbl.spamhaus.org.:2.4.12.138)
>[25050] dbg: uridnsbl: query for sciencedirect.com took 13 seconds to
>look up (sbl.spamhaus.org.:11.200.81.198)
>[25050] dbg: uridnsbl: query for sciencedirect.com took 13 seconds to
>look up (sbl.spamhaus.org.:2.180.25.207)
>[25023] dbg: uridnsbl: query for carquiet.com took 5 seconds to look up
>(multi.uribl.com.:carquiet.com)
>[25023] dbg: uridnsbl: query for carquiet.com took 5 seconds to look up
>(multi.surbl.org.:carquiet.com)
>[25023] dbg: uridnsbl: query for poemboy.hk took 5 seconds to look up
>(multi.uribl.com.:poemboy.hk)
>[25023] dbg: uridnsbl: query for poemboy.hk took 5 seconds to look up
>(bl.open-whois.org.:poemboy.hk)
>[25023] dbg: uridnsbl: query for poemboy.hk took 5 seconds to look up
>(multi.surbl.org.:poemboy.hk)
>[25023] dbg: uridnsbl: query for poemboy.hk took 5 seconds to look up
>(dob.sibl.support-intelligence.net:poemboy.hk)
>[25023] dbg: uridnsbl: query for carquiet.com took 5 seconds to look up
>(bl.open-whois.org.:carquiet.com)
>[25023] dbg: uridnsbl: query for carquiet.com took 5 seconds to look up
>(dob.sibl.support-intelligence.net:carquiet.com)
>...
>...
>
>
>Quentin
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: mailscanner-bounces at lists.mailscanner.info [mailto:mailscanner-
>>bounces at lists.mailscanner.info] On Behalf Of Quentin Campbell
>>Sent: 12 July 2007 16:37
>>To: MailScanner discussion
>>Subject: A very slow MS 4.62.2-3 & SA 3.2.1 & ClamAV 0.91 machine
>>
>>I have a very slow mail gateway among the 4 that I have just upgraded.
>>
>>They all run MS 4.62.2-3, SA 3.2.1 and ClamAV 0.91 and should have
>>identical configurations for MS and SA. MCP processing is done and it
>is
>>the same on all 4.
>>
>>There were 211 batches of 30 messages each processed on the slow
>>machine. Overall the average time to process each message is 15
>seconds!
>>
>>The last two of these batches were processed by running MailScanner in
>>debug mode. The average processing time for each message then dropped
>to
>>between 2 and 3 seconds!
>>
>>I am trying to get a handle on why this machine is so slow. Any
>>suggestions to help further my investigation are welcome.
>>
>>Quentin
>>---
>>PHONE: +44 191 222 8209    Information Systems and Services (ISS),
>>                           Newcastle University,
>>                           Newcastle upon Tyne,
>>FAX:   +44 191 222 8765    United Kingdom, NE1 7RU.
>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>-
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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>>
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>
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