Topic: possible looping problem with spam assassin (Swerts-Knudsen)

[ltc6netspec]

This is really 'spamc'.  

Use ps -ef | more

It will show that spamc may be defunct

look at

Email slipping through without being scanned by SA
 
in the forums.

Pico'ed /home/e-smith/configuration

should have

|qmail-queue|/var/qmail/bin/qmail-queue|

amavis-ng= line

May email server is working now

[raem]

cmwi96

> I do believe enableing SA from the pannel changes
> this property however I have tried changing it
> manually and it just causes SA to start working
> but not correctly....

How about you actually enable spamassassin using the panel and then see what the qmail-queue settings are. No point assuming that they are something.

[cmwi96]

It wasn't an assumption I actually did this
It does indeed change to qmail-spamc when Spam filter is activated through the pannel. Then its chaged back when its disabled.

[cmwi96]

This is really 'spamc'.  

Use ps -ef | more

It will show that spamc may be defunct

look at

Email slipping through without being scanned by SA
 
in the forums.

Pico'ed /home/e-smith/configuration

should have

|qmail-queue|/var/qmail/bin/qmail-queue|

amavis-ng= line

May email server is working now

I think all you are doing by changing from qmail-spamc to qmail-queue is bypassing the spam scanner. Passing mail to spamc is how it works. This is how I have my mail server running as well. But I dont think you SA is actually working. Do your mail headers have a spam score?

[ltc6netspec]

I had to remove spamassassin by using knudsen script.  this then let me see what was creating the PERL5.6.1 (top -i & ps -ef |more)

That is when we noticed (spamc)defunct

I do not know enough to say if the /var/qmail/bin/qmail-spamc file is corrupted.  But when I did have the new spamassassin installed & enabled that is when I started to get the PERL5.6.1 and running out of memory.

Now should I delete this file so that I can reinstall spamassassin?  That is the question?

[meanlocha]

I had a similar problem recently. It seemed
to be caused by a SPAM email with more than 20 recipients.
I dont have an output of "ps ax" right now
but I recall there were multiple instances
of /usr/bin/smtpfront-qmail and suidperl.
Since my server is a low volume email server,
I did the following:

/sbin/e-smith/db configuration setprop smtpfront-qmail Instances 5

/sbin/e-smith/expand-template /var/service/smtpfront-qmail/runenv

/etc/init.d/smtpfront-qmail restart


Anthony

[cmwi96]

I had a similar problem recently. It seemed
to be caused by a SPAM email with more than 20 recipients.
I dont have an output of "ps ax" right now
but I recall there were multiple instances
of /usr/bin/smtpfront-qmail and suidperl.
Since my server is a low volume email server,
I did the following:

/sbin/e-smith/db configuration setprop smtpfront-qmail Instances 5

/sbin/e-smith/expand-template /var/service/smtpfront-qmail/runenv

/etc/init.d/smtpfront-qmail restart


Anthony

This is an easy fix so I will give it a try though I'm not sure that its that same issue. The user I am seeing is qmailq and it happens even if the message is NOT spam and is form a known user.

[cmwi96]

Changing the number of instances in smtpfront-qmail does not fix the issue. Amavis is still processing the message multiple times and I still have instances of perl that seem to hang open intil I disable the spam filter altogether. Its definatly looping.

[raem]

cmwi96

> I recently upgraded from older versions....

So it seems that you have NEVER got the newer version of spamassassin to work correctly.
What were the older versions you were using eg rpm name & number ?
There may be a clash with remnants of the older rpms eg an inappropriate custom template and/or configuration ??

Perhaps you should uninstall all rpms associated with antivirus, spam filter and any earlier spamassassin versions. You may also need to manually delete any custom templates associated with earlier versions that should not be there now, and any db's in /home/e-smith that should not be there.
When your system is "clean", then do a reinstall.

What system spec do you have, processor, RAM etc ?
Low end stuff can very quickly suffer when using spamassassin.

You may also want to look at these suggestions, although I don't think they are your current problem, see
http://mirror.contribs.org/smeserver/contribs/rmitchell/smeserver/howto/Mail%20system%20tweaks%20HOWTO%20for%20sme%20server.htm

[cmwi96]

You are correct I NEVER have got the newest version to work.
I uninstalled all the spam filter related packages and re installed with the current script. I noticed that in your post you mentioned un/re innstalling the ClamAV stuff as well. Can you or someone geive me a list or RPMs or keywords to grep for in order to try and uninstall both packages?

[raem]

Look here for clues, although these are for newer versions.
http://www.pagefault.org/code/e-smith/antivirus/
and
http://sme.swerts-knudsen.com/downloads/AntiVirus/

[Brenno]

I'm starting to encounter this too... fully upgraded SpamAssassin and ClamAV packages running on SME 6.01.  Hardware is a dual P4 1Ghz with 1GB RAM.  Box runs fine for 20-some hours, then grinds to a halt with all mail being dumped in the problems directory.

A check of "top" during slowdown shows >96% CPU load on both CPUs.  If I kill spamassassin, CPU usage returns to normal and mail flows.  I can then restart SpamAssassin and get another 20 - 26 hours of trouble-free working.

I even remember receiving an admin email saying something about something being defunct - listed over and over.  Sorry to say I didn't keep the email for posting:(

Any thoughts as to why this machine never had problems before, but now suffers under this config?  We're only processing 500 - 600 email/day for about 42 users.

[raem]

Brenno

> I'm starting to encounter this too

Check all the settings in configuration db for smtpfront-qmail and amavis-ng and comfirm correct.
See this thread
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=27599.0

also try these suggestions
http://mirror.contribs.org/smeserver/contribs/rmitchell/smeserver/howto/Mail%20system%20tweaks%20HOWTO%20for%20sme%20server.htm