Topic: CATCHALL ACCOUNT STATUS

[Bud]

guys one more problem

when i have a look at my catchall account from where my sme 9.2 server downloads email, i see that the catchall account does not get emptied.

it DOES download SOME Mail ( very slowly ) for some users however the mail in the catchall account just piles up and does not get emptied.

i have over 800 messages in my catchall account 

users are complaining that they are not getting any email

local mail is fine. no problems with local mail

have checked the user name and password of the catchall account. it is correct

any ideas?

[Stefano]

yes, we need more info, log's excerpts and details

no crystal ball on this side of the screen

[p-jones]

Your catchall account does not get emptied for several reasons:

1)  Mail contains invalid email addresses and emails gets rejected during the process of downloading, leaving them in the catchall mailbox

2) Mail in the catchall box does not pass the various filter criteria set up on the SME Server and it gets rejected "at the front door", leaving it behind in the catchall mailbox.

Ultimately, this will bring the mail system down. A collection cycle will not complete before the next collection cycle starts and the problem grows. The catchall mailbox size also grows and probably / possibly exceeds the storage limits set by the catchall provider.

I worked around this issue at the mail MX record level (DNS), setting the SME Server IP to priority 0 and the catchall mailbox IP to Priority 5. For me, this approach works extremely well. There are probably other ways to approach this also. I absolutely get why you like the concept of a catchall mailbox.