Re: [cobalt-developers] Replacing sendmail

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Oren Teich wrote:

> > Cobalt's email to admin is letting us know that sendmail will stop
> > itself when the box becomes overloaded.  I've pretty much figured out
> > the problem is based on how many children we're running, but
> > nevertheless I want Cobalt to help us with advice on this... How many
> > children may we safely run on their hardware for example.
> >
> 
> In /etc/sendmail.cf look for the line:
> 
> # load average at which we just queue messages
> O QueueLA=15
> 
> This states that sendmail gives up when the load average gets above 15.
> 
> uptime will show you the load average.

Ok, but I've never seen a load average above 2 when sendmail shuts
down.  Also, this line is about queueing... which is not what's shutting
down.  What's shutting down is "accepting"; sendmail is no longer
accepting email on port 25.

Yes, I know about: O RefuseLA=20

but the question is how can I estimate how many emails per hour equate
to load average => 20.

And I also know about: O MaxDaemonChildren=12

but the question is how can I estimate how many emails per hour equate
to 12 or more daemons running.  And another question is how high can I
safely raise this?

I think it's perfectly fair for Cobalt to give me some numbers here. 
Can you?  I've already got a tech support call in for second level, and
it's been a week.  Can someone give me an answer here?

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
nobaloney.net
P. O. Box 52672
Riverside, CA  92517
voice: (909) 787-8589  *  fax: (909) 782-0205