Author Topic: Newbie question about sending emails (Read 2730 times)

bposton · « **on:** February 12, 2006, 01:07:35 pm »

Hi
Just installed and tested the LMP configuration, and loaded my users.
I had the config set to the standard "reconnect after 2500"
When I started the send process to send emails to a list of 2400, I received an error after 500
were loaded that said something like the loading had stopped and I
needed to change my configuration.
I resumed the process and it seemed to stop again after another 500
I did not get the message, but it seemed to be stopped or stalled
I then changed the config setting to "reconnect after 500"
When I resumed again, it stopped after 450.
So I'm wondering if this is a problem with my host...
I sent them an email and they sent me to a page that stated they have
some sort of spam bloker on their mailservers. They say that they will
block Mails from a specific sending IP address for 15 minutes if Number of recipients (not mails) >= 100.
Does anybody know what this means exactly? Does it mean I need to reconnect after 99? Or does it mean that no matter how many I load it will not send more than 100 emails every 15 minutes?
Or are the techies at my host confused and this really is talking about inbound mails to the mail server, not outbound?
Bonus question - I am on version 1.84 - is the auto-resume feature active in this version, and if so can I use this to overcome this limitation?
Sorry for the novel - thanks!

DW · « **Reply #1 on:** February 13, 2006, 04:14:02 am »

Greetings,

You did what I would do, decreased the reconnect to the number it often failed at. Since this didn't help, it's also possible that your server has a strict limit on script execution time.

The following code, when pasted into a .php file, uploaded, and browsed to, should indicate whether or not your server has a time limit:

Code: [Select]

<?phpini_set('max_execution_time',0);   function timeWait($microtime)   {       $timeLimit = $microtime + array_sum(explode(" ",microtime()));       while(array_sum(explode(" ",microtime())) < $timeLimit)       {/*nothing*/}       return(true);   }   echo "Testing 1s...<br>Process started at " . date("H:i:s") . " and " . current(explode(" ",microtime())) . " nanoseconds.<br>";flush();   timeWait(1);   echo "Process completed at " . date("H:i:s") . " and " . current(explode(" ",microtime())) . " nanoseconds.<br><br>";   echo "Testing 5s...<br>Process started at " . date("H:i:s") . " and " . current(explode(" ",microtime())) . " nanoseconds.<br>";flush();   timeWait(5);   echo "Process completed at " . date("H:i:s") . " and " . current(explode(" ",microtime())) . " nanoseconds.<br><br>";   echo "Testing 35s...<br>Process started at " . date("H:i:s") . " and " . current(explode(" ",microtime())) . " nanoseconds.<br>";flush();   timeWait(35);   echo "Process completed at " . date("H:i:s") . " and " . current(explode(" ",microtime())) . " nanoseconds.";?>

If all goes well and your server does not have a strict time limit, you will see 3 copies of "Testing ..." and "Process completed".

It did sound like your host was talking about inbound email, but I'm not sure.  ListMail personalizes each message and doesn't set more than one recipient per message, but some spammers might...

I would ask your host if there are any daily or hourly limits on outgoing email and whether or not there is a strict time limit on PHP scripts.  On many hosts they can allow scripts to run as long as necessary by disabling PHP "safe mode" for your domain.

Regards, DW

bposton · « **Reply #2 on:** February 13, 2006, 06:21:58 pm »

Thanks Dean, I'll give this a try and let you know.
On another but related subject:
I noticed that the last dailymail notice I received was 3 days ago (2/10).
Am I supposed to get a dailymail notice everyday?
If so, can you tell me if this may be the problem:
When I was going through help after the install I came across the section on auto-resume. So I inserted this cron job in front of the dailymail cron job. Since I am on version 1.84, was it correct to do this? Is this maybe the reason why I'm not getting a dailymail?
I know very little about cron jobs so I don't know if there was another way to enter the auto-resume job other than to insert it in front of the daily mail job
If this not correct, how do I delete the auto-resume cron job?
Also - I scheduled an email to go out today (2/13) but after 1pm (Eastern US time) it was still listed in the scheduled mail, so I deleted it.
Is this related to the dailymail problem?
As always - THANKS!!

DW · « **Reply #3 on:** February 14, 2006, 02:08:37 am »

You should receive a dailymail report every day, providing the cron task is set to run once per day and nothing has changed on the server.

There is a known issue when a mailing 'fails' (or times out) during dailymail - it results in the report not being sent. On these days you didn't receive the expected repot did you have to login and resume a queue of messages started by dailymail?

The auto-resume feature is not a part of v1.84 but setting up the cron task will not have any effect other than possibly a "page not found" error returned to 'wget', which is a command-line 'web-browsing' tool used by dailymail.

Yes, your scheduled email not sending could be related to dailymail. It's possible your web host disabled wget - you'd have to ask them about that.

Are you sure the cron task was set up and working at one time? Is it possible you received the report simply be running dailymail manually? If this is the case we would need to take a look at redoing your cron task.

If you ask your host to set up a daily cron job to "browse" to your dailymail URL with password they should be able to assist directly and ensure the task is set up correctly.

Regards, DW

bposton · « **Reply #4 on:** February 14, 2006, 10:11:52 am »

Hi Dean
I think I know why the scheduled email did not work - the user selection I was using was not set up right, and here were no users selected (duh)
So I assume that's why it was still on the list of scheduled emails? Maybe not - now that I think about it.
Anyway - yes, the dailymail did work on it's own - I got the report the day after I installed LMP and setup the cron job. Then I added the auto-resume cron job and dailymail has not worked since. I had no followups or scheduled mail for dailymail to do (other than the one I mentioned above). I have never run dailymail manually.
I setup the cron jobs myself so I'd rather try to fix it myself rather than geting my host techies involved (which could take forever, and I'm not sure of the results...) so is there a way that you could help me? I can get a screen shot or copy of how the cron jobs are setup and send them to you if that's what you need...
Thanks

bposton · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2006, 09:16:03 am »

Dean
I found out that my host does have time limit for PHP scripts of 300 seconds. Is there anyway I can configure LMP to overcome this?

DW · « **Reply #6 on:** February 17, 2006, 11:21:46 pm »

For optimal results ListMail requires a server with no time limits on script execution.

Your host can disable PHP "safe_mode" for your domain, which should allow your scripts to run indefinitely.

Regards

bposton · « **Reply #7 on:** February 19, 2006, 02:59:23 pm »

OK, I'll ask, but I'm not sure they'll do it
Would the auto-resume feature in 1.85 be a work-around for this?
Also, can you respond to the post regarding dailymail? It hasn't run since i added the autoresume cron job, and I haven't run it manually.
Can I send you the cron jobs for you to look at?

DW · « **Reply #8 on:** February 20, 2006, 03:00:37 pm »

Yes, while this will not be priority support I will take a look. Please submit all relevant details here.

Regards

bposton · « **Reply #9 on:** March 05, 2006, 06:45:11 am »

Sorry it took so long, but I have created a support ticket. I deleted all the cronjobs and re-entered the dailymail job.
I am still not getting dailymail reports, however I did notice this morning that i have lot of emails regarding removals due to bouncing, which I haven't been getting before. Is the dailymail job performing the task of sending me these emails?

DW · « **Reply #10 on:** March 08, 2006, 04:42:10 am »

Yes, if you are using mailbox processing dailymail will process bounces and send the bounce notification messages. There is a known issue with the dailymail report not being sent if the process fails such as if the script reaches a strict server time limit. I suspect an investigation will not yield any new results. I hope to fix this in a near future update. I've copied this to this post in the development forum.

Regards, DW