Webserver email queue

[Yuka]

Hi all,

I run a webserver that hosts a ton of websites and they are getting busier. I don't run my own mail server and instead have PHP configured to send email via my ISPs SMTP server.

I'm now facing a problem where some of these websites send out email too fast and my ISPs server is dropping the messages because I have reached a threshhold.

I'd like to set up an SMTP "relay" daemon locally that the webserver will send the emails to and then this relay daemon will send the emails out at a steady pace. This will hopefully defeat the problem, although delaying emails at peak times which is totally acceptable.

What's the best way to set this up? Any suggestions on mailservers/smtp agents? I'm only asking because I've seen quite a few of them and they all advertise themselves as being "the best" for the job... which doesn't help me! So please, speak from experience, as I have none.

[J65nko]

Simplest way is to talk to your ISP, explain the situation and ask them to be more liberal in accepting connections from your webserver.

[stukov]

You could also install postfix from ports. There is an option that will allow you to throttle outgoing messages. I cannot speak for other MTA because I haven't played much with other, as I have always been satisfied with postfix.

Once your MTA is configured properly, simply change your php.ini to make your mail function relay mail through your own MTA.

Of course, that is if your ISP does not want to help you with your issue.

[Yuka]

I think I'm going to install postfix to do this. I called my ISP but they told me, "There is a limit for a reason" and that was the end of the call pretty much.

UPDATE: I have postfix installed and sending email via my ISP's SMTP server just fine and dandy.

What do I look for to throttle outgoing email (email going from my postfix to the ISP's SMTP server)?

I saw the in_flow_rate setting in the postfix conf but from my understanding of the explanation it just throttles inbound email (to the postfix server)? That doesn't sound like it will help me, but I could very well be wrong.

UPDATE 2:

Would I have to modify default_destination_concurrency_limit ? Would that decrease the rate at which the SMTP server could send emails?

[J65nko]

You forgot how to google? See http://www.postfix.org/qmgr.8.html

[Yuka]

Originally Posted by J65nko

You forgot how to google? See http://www.postfix.org/qmgr.8.html

Sorry, I haven't had much luck with google + open source in recent years... most things I find are hack jobs that rarely work or outdated documentation.