Too messages in Hold folder when spamassassin is activated in MailScanner

[Glenn Steen]

On 25/11/2007, Israel Garcia <igalvarez at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all, I'm running MailScanner-4.65-3.1(with DCC, razor2, pyzor) on a
> CentOS4.5 Linux server. I installed too the package
> install-Clam-0.91.2-SA-3.2.3.tar.gz in order to activate spamassassin
> with mailscanner. I ran spamassassin -D --lint and there's no problem
> in my configuration files. I also see in maillog file the spamassassin
> doing its work with spam:
>
> Nov 25 04:54:51 hostname  MailScanner[20611]: Message B25732B1DB.A9A63
> from 75.93.188.141 (jerrimy at donin.com) to mydomain.com is spam,
> SBL+XBL, spamcop.net, SpamAssassin (not cached, score=30.984, required
> 6, DCC_CHECK 1.37, FH_HELO_EQ_D_D_D_D 0.50, FS_REPLICA 1.18,
> HELO_DYNAMIC_IPADDR2 4.39, HTML_MESSAGE 0.00, RATWARE_MS_HASH 2.78,
> RATWARE_OUTLOOK_NONAME 0.00, RCVD_IN_BL_SPAMCOP_NET 2.19, RCVD_IN_XBL
> 2.90, RDNS_DYNAMIC 0.10, SARE_SPEC_REPLICA_OBFU 1.81,
> SARE_SPEC_ROLEX_NOV5A 1.06, TVD_RCVD_IP 1.62, URIBL_AB_SURBL 1.61,
> URIBL_BLACK 1.96, URIBL_JP_SURBL 2.86, URIBL_OB_SURBL 2.13,
> URIBL_SC_SURBL 2.52)
>
> Everything is fine BUT, when I run "qshape hold" I see the HOLD folder
> is FULL of messages waiting to be processed, I mean thousands of mails
> waiting and there is a long delay in delivering.
> My link to internet is not full, I mean I see the normal traffic.
>
> So, when I turn off spamassassin in MailScanner.conf there's almost no
> messages in HOLD foder.
>
> My questions are:
>
> 1. How can I speed the spamassassin process in my server?
Use a caching only DNS, limit what you check (RBLs etc).... There are
some things to do:-)

> 2. Do I have to use all the plugins (DCC, razor2, pyzor, spamcop, and
> others that comes activated by default  when I install spamassassin
> package)?
No. But they all contribute something:-). WRT Pyzor, make sure you use
the "alternative" server, the official one will likely just time out.
What modules do you load?

> 3. Maybe offtopic, sorry.. but does anybody knows any rules on the MTA
> (postfix) in order to stop spam before it gets to
> mailscanner/spamassassin?
You can implement all the usual stuff (look at the UCE advice at
www.postfix.org->Documentation... The cheat sheet is pretty good
advice. This page:http://wiki.mailscanner.info/doku.php?id=documentation:configuration:mta:postfix:how_to:setup_smtp_filtering
has some interrest too:-), and of course... Don't accept mail for
unknown users. You can either use the *_recipient_maps settings (with
"static" maps) as described in the mailscanner Wiki
(http://wiki.mailscanner.info/doku.php?id=documentation:configuration:mta:postfix:how_to:reject_non_existent_users),
or use address verification (also mentioned in the wiki, and has it's
own page in the postfix docs...;-).

> 4. Does anybody knows some perfect setup (best perfomance) to install
> mailscanner with spamssassin? some link? some tutorial?
Perfect is too much to aim for;-). I usually try for functional:-):-)

>
> I have used mailscanner for several years I really love it. Any ideas
> will be accepted.
>
> thanks in advance!
> --
> Regards;
> Israel Garcia
> --
> MailScanner mailing list
> mailscanner at lists.mailscanner.info
> http://lists.mailscanner.info/mailman/listinfo/mailscanner
>
> Before posting, read http://wiki.mailscanner.info/posting
>
> Support MailScanner development - buy the book off the website!
>


-- 
-- Glenn
email: glenn < dot > steen < at > gmail < dot > com
work: glenn < dot > steen < at > ap1 < dot > se