ListMailPRO Email Marketing Software Forums
ListMailPRO Email Marketing Software Forums => General Help & How-To => Topic started by: bposton on June 13, 2006, 05:35:34 pm
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Here is my problem:
My host support folks tell me that my php script can run for no longer than 300 seconds. When I send an email out to any size list it always stops mailing after the first 500 emails at which point I manually resume the mailing. This works OK except I have to babysit the mailing.
So - I just upgraded to 1.85 and I added the cronjob to setup autoresume. I setup the autoresume job to check every 15 minutes. I sent an email out to my list and it stopped after the first 500 emails. I logged out and then logged back in and the queue size never changed - even after waiting for 30 minutes or longer.
So I need to know - is the auto resume supposed to work when my host times out my scripts? Is the timeout of my script by my host the real issue? Is the setup of the cronjob correct? I've listed exactly the way the cronjobs (autoresume and dailymail) are setup below (domain and password have been edited for obvious reasons):
crontab -l
*/15 * * * * /usr/bin/wget -O /dev/null -T 0 http://mydomain.com/listmail/resume.php?pw=mypassword 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null0 0 * * * /usr/bin/wget -O /dev/null -T 0 http://mydomain.com/listmail/dailymail.php?pw=mypassword 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null
Any help from Dave or other gurus would be appreciated!!
Thanks
Ben
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Hi Ben,
So I need to know - is the auto resume supposed to work when my host times out my scripts? Is the timeout of my script by my host the real issue? Is the setup of the cronjob correct? I've listed exactly the way the cronjobs (autoresume and dailymail) are setup below (domain and password have been edited for obvious reasons):
Auto-resume should work even with your host's 300 second time limit. The limit is annoying but not overly (it's better than 30 seconds:). Your tasks look good... Are you sure dailymail runs successfully each day? Do you receive the report? If so, auto-resume should work too.
You may want to try an alternative to wget, "curl":
0 0 * * * curl -o /dev/null http://mydomain.com/listmail/dailymail.php?pw=mypassword 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null
If you don't have any followups on live lists you can set the timing to * * * * * temporarily to run dailymail once a minute and see if you receive the dailymail report.
Note that in recent versions the "Do not allow dailymail to be run automatically until 23 hours 55 minutes has elapsed. (Recommended)" option, found on the ListMail "Dailymail" page, should be UNchecked in order to be able to continually run the test.
Regards,
Dean
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Thanks Dean
Acutally, I've never received a dailymail report except for one that I got the morning after I created the dailymail cronjob.
Instead of doing your test, I went and ran dailymail manually and I did get a report.
So I'm not sure why I don't get a dailymail report. If I remember wasn't there an issue with dailymail not creating a report if it timed out because of my host's time limit?
Anyway, it appears that dailymail will run if I do it manually so I might try to test it as you described. However, I'm a little confused about the Dailymail option to uncheck that you mentioned. On my dailymail page I see the note that dailymail will not run until 23
But the only checkbox I see is labeled:
"Update last execution time. I understand that dailymail may not run at the next scheduled execution"
Is this the checkbox that is supposed to be unchecked for my test of dailymail running every minute?
Thanks again Dean!
Ben
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One of the keys to getting auto-resume working is the same as will get dailymail working - we need to figure out how to set up working 'web-page-grabbing' cron tasks on your server.
If I remember wasn't there an issue with dailymail not creating a report if it timed out because of my host's time limit?
Yes, this was an issue until v1.86 where the report is now saved until the mailing is completed, even if by resuming.
Is this the checkbox that is supposed to be unchecked for my test of dailymail running every minute?
No, that checkbox won't help. What you'll need to do is upgrade to v1.86 where the following option is now available on the dailymail page:
- added ability to disable new dailymail 'once every 23h55m' protection
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance!
Regards
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Thanks Dean
I assume that trying the "curl" method is one way to see if we can get working 'web-page-grabbing' cron tasks on the server?
If so I'll probably upgrade to 1.86 this weekend and change over to CURL.
If that doesn't work, can I create a paid support request?
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Yes, curl is a popular and often available alternative to wget. Something like this might work:
0 0 * * * curl -o /dev/null http://example.com/mail/dailymail.php?pw=YourDailyMailPass 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null
If that doesn't work, can I create a paid support request?
Yes, of course :D - I'm there if you need me.
Regards
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Dean,
I have been trying many different ways to get the resume.php (auto-resume) to work. My "Dailymail" works fine and has been working fine for a long time. I use the same command line as dailymail except replace the dailymail.php with resume.php...shouldn't this work?
What can I try to make things work. I have to manually resume about every 50-100 emails and I don't know why...luckily I have a small email list.
Thanks for any suggestions.
~Don
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Don,
Yes, you're right it should work with the same commandline as dailymail except replacing dailymail.php with resume.php. Of course the timing will be different, every half hour is */30 * * * *.
You're a big contributor around here - why don't you let me take a look at it? Submit your info (http://listmailpro.com/support?t=other)
Regards
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Dean,
I submitted my info, have you had a chance to take a look?
Thanks,
~Don
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Dean,
I upgraded to 1.86b and updated the cron jobs to curl as you suggested. But I'm still not getting dailymail reports nor do I see the auto resume working. Here is the cronjob details:
*/15 * * * * curl -o /dev/null http://XXXXXXXX.com/listmail/resume.php?pw=XXXXX 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null0 0 * * * curl -o /dev/null http://XXXXXXXXX.com/listmail/dailymail.php?pw=XXXXXX 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null
Looks like I need to bring in the big guns (you) to take a look. Let me know if you agree and I'll setup a paid support request.
Thanks
Ben
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bp, feel free to request support.
Don - this is next on my to-do list you'll hear back via email or support ticket soon.
Regards
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Hi DW,
Regarding autoresume, this number you have such as:
every half hour is */30 * * * *.
I'm finding this is severely slowing my mailings, is there any problems with changing this to every 2 minutes, or at worst every 3 minutes?
Right now I'm at every 5 minutes, but it's hitting so many bad emails it's slowing things down quite a bit.
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Please login and view your support ticket, Don. Thanks, DW
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Dean
I placed a tech order today for you to look at my setup and get autoresume / dailymail working correctly.
However I got an error at your site once the payment went through
I have the invoice details from 2checkout.com. but I'm not sure if I should put them in the forum for security reasons. Here is the order idbelow:
ListMailPRO Order ID: 182632a8cbfde9d0943cc87cdd6a1751
where do I find the support ticket for this?
Thanks
Ben
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The reason for the error is 2CheckOut has a very strict fraud checking system. Unless the order passes right away there is an error. I'm going to have to fix the process to be less-confusing. I'm checking into your request now. At first glance I see you may be using 1&1 shared hosting, which unfortunately (in my experience) is not 100% compatible with ListMail. I'll see what I can do and let you know.
Regards
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Hi Dean
It looks like the line break you put into the cronjobs is letting autoresume work fine.
However, I'm still not getting a dailymail message.
Any ideas? - should I try to test it where dailymail runs every minute?
Many many thanks
Ben
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Ben,
Due to the server's 300 second time limit and your using the "bounce via mailbox" feature it's possible/probable that your dailymail script is timing out before getting to followup sending.
You will either have to disable bounce processing (make sure Admin email is on the ListMail domain for best results) or have your host increase or remove the script time limit.
You might also try running dailymail manually a few times with everything except "bounce via mailbox" disabled. (From within ListMail browse to the "Dailymail" page) This should clear out the mailbox which will shorten the time it takes to process future bounces.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance!
Regards