On Mon, 2 Feb 1998, John Horne wrote:
> We have configured (Exim 1.82) 'ignore_errmsg_errors_after' to 1 day in order
> to not keep error messages too long on the queue. However, we notice that
> whilst errors with the error messages themselves such as 'unknown user' are
> correctly frozen and retried after 1 day, others such as 'connection refused'
> are not frozen and undergo the usual retry rules.
>
> Is this correct? Whilst it is not too much of a problem, in order to try and
> cut down the amount of time all these error messages sit on the queue I don't
> see how I could configure the retry rules for error messages either (hence
> they have to sit on the queue for 4 days - our default rule).
Yes, it is correct. "Connection refused" is a temporary error, and just
means that the host at the other end isn't currently accepting mail. You
can't read any special meaning into this. It is the state when a machine
is rebooting and hasn't started its mail listener yet, for example. Of
course, it is also the state when a message is addressed to a PC that is
never going to listen.
You can cut down on such things by making use of the error-specific
testing in retry rules. For example, if you set up
* refused F,2h,15m;
as the first retry rule, then any "connection refused" would give up
after two hours. I wouldn't advise making it this short though, and of
course this will apply to all messages, not just error messages.
--
Philip Hazel University Computing Service,
ph10@??? New Museums Site, Cambridge CB2 3QG,
P.Hazel@??? England. Phone: +44 1223 334714
--
*** Exim information can be found at
http://www.exim.org/ ***
