[exim] Exim spawning too many processes

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Author: Pat Lathem
Date:  
To: exim-users
Subject: [exim] Exim spawning too many processes
What causes exim to spawn so many processes? These options are set:

queue_run_max = 32
remote_max_parallel = 5
smtp_accept_max = 300
smtp_accept_max_per_host = 50
smtp_connect_backlog = 200
recipients_max = 200
recipients_max_reject = TRUE
smtp_accept_max_per_connection = 20
smtp_receive_timeout = 30s
auto_thaw = 2h
smtp_accept_reserve = 50

Running Exim 4.63. Is there an option I'm missing that can prevent this?
Some have a parent pid of 1, any idea why that happens? There is
currently a queue of 30k messages outgoing. Here are a few example
processes, exim has currently spawned 3500 processes:


mail     25689 21864  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDS-0005gF-Td
mail     25690 22178  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005kI-81
mail     25691 22451  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005jF-JC
mail     25692 22190  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005kp-9k
mail     25693 22155  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005jF-19
mail     25694 22096  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDW-0005jy-3a
mail     25695 22172  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005l1-4g
mail     25696 21860  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDS-0005dS-Rn
mail     25697 22182  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005jE-8r
mail     25698 22185  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005hf-8x
mail     25699 22139  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDW-0005jC-UC
mail     25700 22162  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005lA-5B
mail     25701 22103  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDW-0005kH-8y
mail     25702 22143  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDW-0005hm-UX
mail     25703 22124  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDW-0005jE-Nr
mail     25704 22074  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDV-0005jE-RZ
mail     25705 21995  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDU-0005eX-6s
mail     25706 22081  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDW-0005jj-1f
mail     25707 22142  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDW-0005jD-UV
mail     25708 22008  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDU-0005hc-Q7
mail     25709 22198  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005hj-9h
mail     25710 21870  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDS-0005g0-Qt
mail     25711 22403  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005hb-Kq
mail     25712 22199  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005hb-9l
mail     25713 22193  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005lA-DP
mail     25714 22009  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDT-0005hq-VH
mail     25715 22170  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPDX-0005l0-3r
mail     25716 15526  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQP97-0001e3-4N
mail     25717 22192  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-t -oem -oi -f <> -E1LQPDX-0005lA-C0
root     25718     1  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPEA-0006GX-9n
root     25719     1  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPEA-0006GN-9k
root     25720     1  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPEA-0006L7-9e
root     25721     1  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPEA-0006M8-9r
root     25722     1  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPEA-0006LX-9o
root     25723     1  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPEA-0006L4-9q
root     25724     1  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPEA-0006H3-V7
root     25725     1  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPEA-0006GP-9v
root     25726     1  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00 /usr/local/exim/bin/exim
-Mc 1LQPEA-0006Gq-V1
mail     25727 16237  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00
/usr/local/exim-in/bin/exim -bd -q 10m
mail     25728 16237  0 10:50 ?        00:00:00
/usr/local/exim-in/bin/exim -bd -q 10m


If you need the full list of processes you can see it here:
http://fuse1.fusemail.net/ps.txt

How can I specify a limit on the # of processes that exim spawns?

Thanks
Pat