Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 14:53:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Doug Barton <DougB@gorean.org> To: Matt Dillon <dillon@earth.backplane.com> Cc: Bill Fumerola <billf@chimesnet.com>, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.org, cvs-all@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/etc inetd.conf Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0010121438170.17795-100000@dt051n37.san.rr.com> In-Reply-To: <200010121857.e9CIvAi30686@earth.backplane.com>
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On Thu, 12 Oct 2000, Matt Dillon wrote:
> A couple of points on sendmail -q30m
Wow.... Remind me not to make "simple" suggestions anymore. But
seriously folks, can we all take a deep breath here? I was not suggesting
that the crontab solution be used for any sort of default installation. My
point was merely that there are alternatives to leaving the sendmail
process running with -qFOO. Sorry if I wasn't clear.
> First, if you are going to run the sendmail queue the best way to do it
> is via 'sendmail -q30m' or 'sendmail -q5m' or whatever, because sendmail
> will be a whole lot more efficient running the queue AND because you can
> tell sendmail to limit the total number of sendmails forked at any
> given moment (-O MaxDaemonChildren=N).
Sure, if mail delivery is an important function on the machine in
question, you want to take appropriate steps. No argument there.
> If you use cron, sendmail
> processes can build-up due to network or DNS failures or large mail
> queues or a combination.
But you're talking about a whole different situation here. Large
mail queues aren't going to be an issue in the scenario I was commenting
on, because we're talking about a few log reports and periodic mails. If
the machine is being used for some kind of "real" mail delivery, see
above. If there are large scale, long term network problems already in
existence, we have MUCH bigger problems than the mail queue.
> Second, running sendmail -q30m or -bd or in any manner at all without
> first setting it up isn't going to work very well...
Well duh. :) I would have thought this point could be
stipulated, but I guess you have a point to consider. By default all the
system mail is "delivered" locally, so even setting up 'sendmail -q30m' or
similar as an installation default is fine, however the one thing about
this that I AM serious about is removing the default -bd.
> (B) make sure the machine's hostname, forward, AND reverse DNS is setup
> 100% properly. One mistake and a good bit of the internet will
> bounce your email.
Ah, for the days when you didn't really have to tell people stuff
like this because they just did it.
Finally, I (and I suspect Bill F. too) DO realize that cron'ing
sendmail -q can be more expensive than keeping it running. But, I would
almost be willing to put money on running it once a day from cron using up
less system resources in a 24 hour period than keeping it running
does. But even if I'm wrong, it still gives ME control over when I run it,
which means I can schedule it for a period that suits my needs without
having to worry about it being running all the time when I know it's not
needed.
In the end, we're talking about style issues. I agree that it's
important to know the facts that you are basing your decisions on, but
once I know the facts, it's still my decision. And isn't that "The Unix
Way?" {TM} This trend of freebsd project leaders berating one another (and
the users) in public is disturbing to say the least. Maybe we should have
a dunk tank at the 'con or something.
Doug
--
"The dead cannot be seduced."
- Kai, "Lexx"
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