Archive-Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 00:20:23 -0700 Subject: Re: HELP! Messages Staying In Queue... From: peter@langstoeger.at (Peter 'EPLAN' LANGSTOEGER) Message-ID: Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 07:02:52 GMT Reply-To: MX-List@MadGoat.com To: MX-List@MadGoat.com In article , Robert Alan Byer writes: >I have a strange situation... > >I noticed today that messages being sent from as far back as last >Friday are still sitting in the queue. > >The error messages are.... > > %MX-W-HOSTLOCK, target host is tempoarily locked > agianst connection attempts Is this your typo, or should Matt fix his ? > %MX-W-NOCONTACT, could not establish contact > with any mail server for this destination > > >Now, i've tested and my machines are on the net, DNS is working >properly and they are getting out to machines just fine. > >Does anyone have any ideas here as I'm at a loss since I can't >find any reference for these error messages in the MX documentation. HOSTLOCKs are a way of reducing traffic on the internet link by not trying the destination node for every outgoing mail in parallel (which can get huge). Instead the first mail not going out because of eg. unreachable mailserver creates the .HOST_LOCK file and every other mail checks for this mail before trying it itself. With this you only check the destination mailserver 2x/hour and not every couple of seconds when you already have thousands of mail waiting for this destination. You have at least two options now. 1) Check the LOCK file and see if the contained status tell you more $ TYPE MX_ROOT:[SMTP.LOCK]*.* 2) Disable LOCK files all together (as I did). $ DEFINE/SYS/EXE MX_SMTP_LOCK_EXCLUSIONS * -- Peter "EPLAN" LANGSTOEGER Network and OpenVMS system specialist E-mail peter@langstoeger.at A-1030 VIENNA AUSTRIA I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 08:23:30 -0700 Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 10:23:21 -0500 From: Robert Alan Byer Reply-To: MX-List@MadGoat.com To: MX-List@MadGoat.com Message-ID: <00A212C2.C83B4C60.4@mail.ourservers.net> Subject: Outgoing E-Mail Queue Problems... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Lately I've been having problems with outgoing e-mail hanging in the queue and the error message is.. %MX-W-HOSTLOCK, target host is temporarily locked against connection attempts I can't find any reference to this error and I'm trying to figure it out and e-mail is piling up in the queue and I know our DNS is working and we are getting out to the net. Anyone have any ideas? +------------------+--------------------------+---------------+ | Robert Alan Byer | byer@mail.ourservers.net | ICQ #65926579 | +------------------+--------------------------+---------------+ | Send an E-mail request to obtain a copy of my PGP key. | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | "It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by | | cans of cola the thoughts aquire speed, the hands acquire | | shakes, the shakes become a warning. It is by caffeine | | alone I set my mind in motion." | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3ia Charset: noconv iQEVAwUBPuX356VSqzlBVJbBAQGS1Af/cZQDkg6xLbr0czCMTPkSkygiaIPDZG+C 5yTFWDl2jBli6O+H2Y/K797/wP2vb7h45F7w5bpZumDnb3Gbnzyo2RfTJfErs2Zw x++rx6y4WvGcaGkwtbOfFN3JRDPHTLUQxqyZdVFKL0t0ez4V0+6sX0nprP5hihdK Qsmz0DVXAX3CSRxAyJ5cqg84VMEhn4AXxxy+0n72G3av2aCoQmFwtrYjz3PFXeBW qmItNIxecdqZ+wsXOytZmN09XCKk88LKL8411Vpu0VTryDFgend3FIf6ZJzU2uju ImQmsmVecT0dxXS6IPhH7cvJddZ+hwVLO98rz7hDQlCxo64srUm89w== =mL2g -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 12:32:16 -0700 Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 14:32:05 -0500 From: Robert Alan Byer Reply-To: MX-List@MadGoat.com To: MV@PDV-SYSTEME.DE CC: MX-List@MadGoat.com Message-ID: <00A213AE.B1CE3A18.3@mail.ourservers.net> Subject: RE[2]: Outgoing E-Mail Queue Problems... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > >It all depends on the system MX shows in the "route" field if you do a >QUEUE SHOW /FULL. The warning says that MX found a lock file referring >to that system (host name or IP address) in MX_SMTP_LOCK_DIR: . The >file gets created when MX tries unsuccessfully to deliver mail to >that system. > Hmm, thought it was something like that. > >You could try a "ping " or "telnet system> /port=25" and test whether there's connectivity or an SMTP >server behind that address. > Ya, that's the first thing I did, I can ping the host and telnet to it's SMTP server just fine. What ever the problem is, it went away last night at about 10:00pm and about 100 e-mails finally went out. We've been having some ISP problems and I think they fix "something" and that solved the problem. But's its weird that the machine could get out just fine and see the e-mail target's SMTP server just and not send the e-mail. Thanks. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 23:42:28 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Subject: RE: Outgoing E-Mail Queue Problems... Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2003 08:42:22 +0200 Message-ID: From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?=22Vorl=E4nder=2C_Martin=22?= Reply-To: MX-List@MadGoat.com To: CC: "Robert Alan Byer" > What ever the problem is, it went away last night at about 10:00pm and > about 100 e-mails finally went out. >=20 > We've been having some ISP problems and I think they fix "something" = and > that solved the problem. But's its weird that the machine could get = out > just fine and see the e-mail target's SMTP server just and not send = the > e-mail. That is correct (and has nothing to do with your ISP). Quoting from the "Message Exchange Management Guide" v5.3: 4.2.4 SMTP Lock Files To prevent SMTP delivery agents from getting tied up with delivering=20 messages to sites that are unreachable, they create "lock files" to=20 track failures with specific domains and hosts that they have failed to=20 reach. These files are created in MX_SMTP_LOCK_DIR:, which by default is = located at MX_ROOT:[SMTP.LOCK].=20 Before an SMTP agent tries to contact a mail server, it first checks to=20 see if a lock file exists for that server. If so, it compares the time=20 that file was last modified against the SMTP retry interval. If the=20 retry interval has not been exceeded, it immediately returns the message = being processed to the queue for a later attempt. If no lock file=20 exists, or the lock file is older than the retry interval, the SMTP=20 agent attempts to contact the mail server. If the server is unreachable, = the SMTP agent creates a lock file to prevent other attempts to reach=20 that server until the retry interval has elapsed.=20 Lock files are used for both domain names as well as the individual IP=20 addresses that the SMTP agent tries to reach for each domain. The lock=20 file directory is automatically cleaned periodically during the message=20 queue cleanup process invoked by either the Router or the FLQ Manager=20 agent. (End Quote) cu, Martin --=20 | Martin Vorlaender | VMS & WNT programmer OpenVMS: Where do you | work: mv@pdv-systeme.de want to BE today? | http://www.pdv-systeme.de/users/martinv/ | home: martin@radiogaga.harz.de