[!Urgent!] Sendmail maintenance question

[bhxiaogui]

Hi to all the experts/members here,

I currently having some problems that when I mass send email to others, using Sendmail MTA, my company server will run out of memory and hang.

Is there any method to solve this problem?

FYI:
I had search for a few solution, they ask me to adjust the "Max Connections / Seconds" in the configuration of Sendmail.
BUT.... I can't find the linux command for adjusting it.

Any experts can help me on that??
Thanks.


Best regards,
Xiaogui

[Juan Pablo]

You must edit the configuration file with a text editor like vi, nano or pico, I have no experience with sendmail but the file is probably in /etc as almost all config files are there

just found that the configuration files are in /etc/mail and are named

/etc/mail/access sendmail access database file
/etc/mail/aliases Mailbox aliases
/etc/mail/local-host-names Lists of hosts sendmail accepts mail for
/etc/mail/mailer.conf Mailer program configuration
/etc/mail/mailertable Mailer delivery table
/etc/mail/sendmail.cf sendmail master configuration file
/etc/mail/virtusertable Virtual users and domain tables

I hope you are not trying to send spam
(just kidding)

[bhxiaogui]

Thanks a lot, partner.

For sure I am not trying to spam

[Mistoffeles]

You could always switch to an MTA that is not so complex that it requires its own scripting language to create its configuration files.

[Roxoff]

It looks like you're encountering one of the weaknesses of sendmail - as suggested above try something else, there are several options.

If you have the original M4 config files for your sendmail config, then there are switching tools around too to help you migrate your config over. I've never used any of these, though, so you're at the mercy of Google I'm afraid (or anyone else here who can suggest something to help).

[Mistoffeles]

I have tried Qmail and Postfix, both come with or can be easily added to most major distros. Postfix is the easiest, but also the least flexible; however, it should meet the needs of most individual users and small to medium businesses.

It is sendmail's extreme flexibility that makes it so complex and arcane, which is why most other major *nix-based mailers are more limited (although many of the limits can be removed if you want to get deep into the works of the program). At least with a *nix MTA you have the ability to do that, instead of being locked into the fisher-price "we'll take care of everything complicated for you" mentality of certain Windows-based MTAs.