Re: PostOffice major failure!

Hi Alexei,

It seems like someone is trying to use your system as a relay server to send out massive amount of messages. It could be either a local user spamming other people, or someone from the net trying to spam. The SMTP traffic is so overwhelming that your server started to choke once Post.Office is started. I would suggest you to empty out /var/spool/post.office/messages and disconnect your mail server from the net. Then block IP addresses that is trying to spam your server, then reconnect the server to the net.

regards,
Eric

On Oct 19, 2003, at 5:03 PM, Alexei Zoubov wrote:

Another addition: here are a few entries from the last PO log. I just took a few lines, but there are tens if not hundreds of them for every time I started with PO again!

20031019140638-0700:SMTP-Accept:Received:[213.196.43.215]: 20031019210422.AAA899@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@mail6.mevershosting.nl:2585: 137:<auto1266@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:<safelister@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 20031019140638-0700:SMTP-Accept:Received:[209.123.255.92]: 20031019210408.AAE848@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@server145.ultimatesafelists.com :2084:150:<bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:<safelister@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 20031019140651-0700:SMTP-Accept:Received:[65.57.110.50]: 20031019210448.AAC873@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@server3.byteworks.ca:2465:123: <safepro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:<safelister@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 20031019140652-0700:SMTP-Accept:Received:[65.57.110.50]: 20031019210555.AAA924@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@server3.byteworks.ca:1788:84: <sweet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:<safelister@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 20031019140651-0700:Mailbox-Deliver: 20031019210448.AAA886@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@addurl.entireweb.com: A_Z_Systems1 20031019140720-0700:SMTP-Accept:Received:[64.239.177.38]: 20031019210555.AAA927@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@bebop.myultimatehosting.com: 1985:85:<mg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:<safelister2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 20031019140706-0700:SMTP-Accept:Received:[65.57.110.50]: 20031019210421.AAC863@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@server3.byteworks.ca:2579:165: <sweet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:<safelister2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 20031019140720-0700:Mailbox-Deliver: 20031019210637.ABW664@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@server145.ultimatesafelists.com :Alexei_Zoubov9 20031019140720-0700:Mailbox-Deliver: 20031019210652.AAG848@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@server145.ultimatesafelists.com :Alexei_Zoubov9

On Sunday, October 19, 2003, at 04:43 PM, Alexei Zoubov wrote:
Thanks for your reply!

You are way over my head with this - sorry! If you mean filters that let the messages through or stop them - I don't have any at all, at least I didn't set any myself!

What exactly ps -jax I grep smtp does?

I didn't set any filters, because my business is exactly to receive a lot of "junk mail" from hundreds of mailing lists. That wasn't any problem before - my email client (mail from Apple) was set to get mail messages every 15 minutes and immediately delete them on the server.

My problem is amplified by the fact that when I put PO folder in the Startupitems folder and then reboot, the server is practically down and stays down. Last time I tried to open the terminal, I waited more than 10 minutes for the system to react! After I take PO out it takes another 30 minutes or so to do single user repair - otherwise the server doesn't start at all!

I didn't make any changes in the set-up in the last 3-4 weeks and this situation just hit from nowhere!

Would re-installing PostOffice help? What is the easiest way to do it while saving all settings? I don't need to save anything in the mailboxes!

Last question - I know how to stop PostOffice from the terminal, is there a command to start it? Thanks again, Alexei

On Sunday, October 19, 2003, at 03:55 PM, John Sievert wrote:
The fact that everything slows down to a grind first is really  interesting.
This sort of indicates that the CPU is getting more and more bogged  down.
One scenario were this can happen is if your SMTP-Accept processes stack up. This usually happens because of a filter that is bogging the system down. Boot up the system then watch through the terminal by doing repetitive ps -jax | grep smtp.

If the number of processes keeps climging, then that is probably the problem. The remedy, is to delete filters one by one until you get rid of them. Generally, though this is related to body filters since they can take a long time to execute. These body filters would be my choice for first deletions.
If you can boot this and then limit incoming connections - you can  do that
through the personal firewall by shutting down ports 25 and 110  (can't
remember which is which for POP and SMTP) so that nothing can reach
post.office.
My bet is that this is the problem.  Post.office has been shown to be
exceptionally stable in almost everyone's installation EXCEPT with  the case
described above.
J

On 10/19/03 4:26p, "Alexei Zoubov" <azstech@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Addition - it looks like it is definitely PostOffice!
If I  boot with the PO folder in Startup items in about 5-10 minutes
computer slows down and responds to everything with a few minutes  delay
or just turns the ball!
After taking PO out of Startup items, I have to reboot in single  mode,
run fsck -y for diagnostics and small repair, then iTools, Apache  and
everything else starts to work.
It seems that the problem is in writing to some files! Looked into
PostOffice manual index - couldn't find where to look for error  log. In
trouble shooting - just notes on undelivered messages, this and  that.
So, what do I do next? Should  I just run the PO installer again?  How
do I clean PO mailboxes and/or logs?  Where do I find error log to  see
what exactly went wrong?
Desperate Alexei

On Sunday, October 19, 2003, at 12:26 PM, Alexei Zoubov wrote:
PstOffice was behaving decently lately and suddenly the whole  computer
with itools 6.7 and PostOffice just  stopped working. The mouse  would
move, but either would not have any effect or turn into rolling  ball
for a few minutes - then back.
I restarted in single mode and checked with fsck -=y, there were  some
minor errors that were repaired. Computer still wouldn't start.
Then I used single user mode to move PostOffice out of Startupitems
folder. This time computer started, loaded iTools and started  serving
pages OK, but without the PostOffice, naturally.
I couldn't find any hint on how to start PostOffice manually, so I  put
the PO folder into Startupitems again and rebooted - computer  wouldn't
start again.
After several unsuccessful tries, I managed to get computer up  without
PO, but now it started to act strangely even without PO - it looks
that some work is going on that is preventing it from functioning
normally. The mouse either doesn't work or works with a several
seconds delay, or turns into the ball for 10-15 seconds!
It may be overflooded logs, I would really appreciate any hints on  how
to empty them and where they are!
I don't think the mailboxes are full - they have been cleaned
regularly.
I tried to find any troubleshooting hints but it looks that there  is
no advice on how to deal with such global failures!
Anybody with an experience?

Alexei
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