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+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
+
+<html>
+
+<head>
+
+<title>Postfix Performance Tuning</title>
+
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
+
+</head>
+
+<body>
+
+<h1><img src="postfix-logo.jpg" width="203" height="98" alt="">
+Postfix Performance Tuning</h1>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h2>Purpose of Postfix performance tuning </h2>
+
+<p> The hints and tips in this document help you improve the
+performance of Postfix systems that already work. If your Postfix
+system is unable to receive or deliver mail, then you need to solve
+those problems first, using the <a href="DEBUG_README.html">DEBUG_README</a> document as guidance.
+
+<p> For tuning external content filter performance, first read the
+respective information in the <a href="FILTER_README.html">FILTER_README</a> and <a href="SMTPD_PROXY_README.html">SMTPD_PROXY_README</a>
+documents. Then make sure to avoid latency in the content filter
+code. As much as possible avoid performing queries against external
+data sources with a high or highly variable delay. Your content
+filter will run with a small concurrency to avoid CPU/memory
+starvation, and if any latency creeps in, content filter throughput
+will suffer. High volume environments should avoid RBL lookups,
+complex database queries and so on. </p>
+
+<p>Topics on mail receiving performance: </p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <a href="#server_tips">General mail receiving performance tips</a>
+
+<li> <a href="#speedup">Doing more work with your SMTP server processes</a>
+
+<li> <a href="#slowdown">Slowing down SMTP clients that make many errors</a>
+
+<li> <a href="#conn_limit">Measures against clients that make too many connections</a>
+
+</ul>
+
+<p>Topics on mail delivery performance: </p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <a href="#mailing_tips">General mail delivery performance tips</a>
+
+<li> <a href="#hammer">Tuning the frequency of deferred mail delivery attempts</a>
+
+<li> <a href="#rope">Tuning the number of simultaneous deliveries</a>
+
+<li> <a href="#rcpts">Tuning the number of recipients per delivery</a>
+
+</ul>
+
+<p>Other Postfix performance tuning topics: </p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <a href="#proc_limit">Tuning the number of Postfix processes</a>
+
+<li> <a href="#proc_sys">Tuning the number of processes on the system</a>
+
+<li> <a href="#file_limit">Tuning the number of open files or
+sockets</a>
+
+</ul>
+
+<p> The following tools can be used to measure mail system performance
+under artificial loads. They are normally not installed with Postfix.
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <a href="smtp-source.1.html">smtp-source, SMTP/LMTP message
+generator</a>
+
+<li> <a href="smtp-sink.1.html">smtp-sink, SMTP/LMTP message dump
+</a>
+
+<li> <a href="qmqp-source.1.html">qmqp-source, QMQP message generator
+</a>
+
+<li> <a href="qmqp-sink.1.html">qmqp-sink, QMQP message dump </a>
+
+</ul>
+
+<h2><a name="server_tips">General mail receiving performance
+tips</a></h2>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <p> Read and understand the <a href="QSHAPE_README.html#maildrop_queue">maildrop queue</a>, <a href="QSHAPE_README.html#incoming_queue">incoming queue</a>,
+and <a href="QSHAPE_README.html#active_queue">active queue</a> discussions in the <a href="QSHAPE_README.html">QSHAPE_README</a> document. </p>
+
+<li> <p> Run a local name server to reduce slow-down due to DNS
+lookups. If you run multiple Postfix systems, point each local name
+server to a shared forwarding server to reduce the number of lookups
+across the upstream network link. </p>
+
+<li> <p> Eliminate unnecessary LDAP lookups, by specifying a domain
+filter. This eliminates lookups for addresses in remote domains,
+and eliminates lookups of partial addresses. See <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap_table(5)</a> for
+details. </p>
+
+</ul>
+
+<p> When Postfix responds slowly to SMTP clients: </p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <p> <a href="DEBUG_README.html#logging">Look for obvious signs
+of trouble</a> as described in the DEBUG_README document, and
+eliminate those problems first. </p>
+
+<li> <p> Turn off your <a href="postconf.5.html#header_checks">header_checks</a> and <a href="postconf.5.html#body_checks">body_checks</a> patterns and
+see if the problem goes away. </p>
+
+<li> <p> <a href="DEBUG_README.html#no_chroot">Turn off chroot
+operation</a> as described in the DEBUG_README document and see
+if the problem goes away. </p>
+
+<li> <p> If Postfix logs the SMTP client as "unknown" then you have
+a name service problem: the name server is bad, or the resolv.conf
+file contains bad information, or some packet filter is blocking
+the DNS requests or replies. </p>
+
+<li> <p> If the number of <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> processes has reached the process
+limit as specified in <a href="master.5.html">master.cf</a>, new SMTP clients must wait until
+a process becomes available. See the <a href="STRESS_README.html">STRESS_README</a> and <a href="POSTSCREEN_README.html">POSTSCREEN_README</a>
+documents for measures that help to prevent SMTP server overload. </p>
+
+</ul>
+
+<h2><a name="speedup">Doing more work with your SMTP server
+processes</a></h2>
+
+<p> With Postfix versions 2.0 and earlier, the <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server
+pauses before reporting an error to an SMTP client. The idea is
+called tar pitting. However, these delays also slow down Postfix.
+When the <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server replies slowly, sessions take more time,
+so that more <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server processes are needed to handle the
+load. When your Postfix <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server process limit is reached,
+new clients must wait until a server process becomes available.
+This means that all clients experience poor performance. </p>
+
+<p> You can speed up the handling of <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server error replies
+by turning off the delay: </p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+/etc/postfix/<a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a>:
+ # Not needed with Postfix 2.1
+ <a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_error_sleep_time">smtpd_error_sleep_time</a> = 0
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p> With the above setting, Postfix 2.0 and earlier can serve more
+SMTP clients with the same number SMTP server processes. The next
+section describes how Postfix deals with clients that make a large
+number of errors. </p>
+
+<h2><a name="slowdown"> Slowing down SMTP clients that make many errors</a></h2>
+
+<p> The Postfix <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server maintains a per-session error count.
+The error count is reset when a message is transferred successfully,
+and is incremented when a client request is unrecognized or
+unimplemented, when a client request violates <a
+href="SMTPD_ACCESS_README.html">access restrictions</a>, or when
+some other error happens. </p>
+
+<p> As the per-session error count increases, the <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server
+changes behavior and begins to insert delays into the responses.
+The idea is to slow down a run-away client in order to limit resource
+usage. The behavior is Postfix version dependent. </p>
+
+<p> IMPORTANT: These delays slow down Postfix, too. When too much
+delay is configured, the number of simultaneous SMTP sessions will
+increase until it reaches the <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server process limit, and new
+SMTP clients must wait until an <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server process becomes available.
+</p>
+
+<p> Postfix version 2.1 and later:</p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <p> When the error count reaches $<a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_soft_error_limit">smtpd_soft_error_limit</a>
+(default: 10), the Postfix <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server delays all non-error and
+error responses by $<a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_error_sleep_time">smtpd_error_sleep_time</a> seconds (default: 1
+second). </p>
+
+<li><p>When the error count reaches $<a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_hard_error_limit">smtpd_hard_error_limit</a>
+(default: 20) the Postfix <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server breaks the connection. </p>
+
+</ul>
+
+<p> Postfix version 2.0 and earlier:</p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <p> When the error count is less than $<a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_soft_error_limit">smtpd_soft_error_limit</a>
+(default: 10) the Postfix <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server delays all error replies by
+$<a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_error_sleep_time">smtpd_error_sleep_time</a> (1 second with Postfix 2.0, 5 seconds with
+Postfix 1.1 and earlier). </p>
+
+<li> <p> When the error count reaches $<a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_soft_error_limit">smtpd_soft_error_limit</a>,
+the Postfix <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server delays all responses by "error count"
+seconds or $<a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_error_sleep_time">smtpd_error_sleep_time</a>, whichever is more. </p>
+
+<li><p>When the error count reaches $<a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_hard_error_limit">smtpd_hard_error_limit</a>
+(default: 20) the Postfix <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server breaks the connection. </p>
+
+</ul>
+
+<h2><a name="conn_limit">Measures against clients that make too many connections</a></h2>
+
+<p> Note: these features use the Postfix <a href="anvil.8.html">anvil(8)</a> service, introduced
+with Postfix version 2.2. </p>
+
+<p> The Postfix <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server can limit the number of simultaneous
+connections from the same SMTP client, as well as the connection
+rate and the rate of certain SMTP commands from the same client.
+These statistics are maintained by the <a href="anvil.8.html">anvil(8)</a> server (translation:
+if <a href="anvil.8.html">anvil(8)</a> breaks, then connection limits stop working). </p>
+
+<p> IMPORTANT: These limits must not be used to regulate legitimate
+traffic: mail will suffer grotesque delays if you do so. The limits
+are designed to protect the <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server against abuse by
+out-of-control clients. </p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<dl>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_client_connection_count_limit">smtpd_client_connection_count_limit</a> (default: 50) </dt> <dd>
+The maximum number of connections that an SMTP client may make
+simultaneously. </dd>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_client_connection_rate_limit">smtpd_client_connection_rate_limit</a> (default: no limit) </dt>
+<dd> The maximum number of connections that an SMTP client may make
+in the time interval specified with <a href="postconf.5.html#anvil_rate_time_unit">anvil_rate_time_unit</a> (default:
+60s). </dd>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_client_message_rate_limit">smtpd_client_message_rate_limit</a> (default: no limit) </dt> <dd>
+The maximum number of message delivery requests that an SMTP client
+may make in the time interval specified with <a href="postconf.5.html#anvil_rate_time_unit">anvil_rate_time_unit</a>
+(default: 60s). </dd>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_client_recipient_rate_limit">smtpd_client_recipient_rate_limit</a> (default: no limit) </dt>
+<dd> The maximum number of recipient addresses that an SMTP client
+may specify in the time interval specified with <a href="postconf.5.html#anvil_rate_time_unit">anvil_rate_time_unit</a>
+(default: 60s). </dd>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_client_new_tls_session_rate_limit">smtpd_client_new_tls_session_rate_limit</a> (default: no limit)
+</dt> <dd> The maximum number of new TLS sessions (without using
+the TLS session cache) that an SMTP client may negotiate in the
+time interval specified with <a href="postconf.5.html#anvil_rate_time_unit">anvil_rate_time_unit</a> (default: 60s).
+</dd>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_client_auth_rate_limit">smtpd_client_auth_rate_limit</a> (default: no limit) </dt> <dd>
+The maximum number of AUTH commands that an SMTP client may send
+in the time interval specified with <a href="postconf.5.html#anvil_rate_time_unit">anvil_rate_time_unit</a> (default:
+60s). Available in Postfix 3.1 and later. </dd>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_client_event_limit_exceptions">smtpd_client_event_limit_exceptions</a> (default: $<a href="postconf.5.html#mynetworks">mynetworks</a>)
+</dt> <dd> SMTP clients that are excluded from connection and rate
+limits specified above. </dd>
+
+</dl>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<h2><a name="mailing_tips">General mail delivery performance tips</a></h2>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <p> Read and understand the <a href="QSHAPE_README.html#maildrop_queue">maildrop queue</a>, <a href="QSHAPE_README.html#incoming_queue">incoming queue</a>,
+<a href="QSHAPE_README.html#active_queue">active queue</a> and <a href="QSHAPE_README.html#deferred_queue">deferred queue</a> discussions in the <a href="QSHAPE_README.html">QSHAPE_README</a>
+document. </p>
+
+<li> <p> In case of slow delivery, run the qshape tool as described
+in the <a href="QSHAPE_README.html">QSHAPE_README</a> document. </p>
+
+<li> <p> Submit multiple recipients per message instead of submitting
+messages with only a few recipients. </p>
+
+<li> <p> Submit mail via SMTP instead of /usr/sbin/sendmail. You
+may have to adjust the <a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_recipient_limit">smtpd_recipient_limit</a> parameter setting.
+</p>
+
+<li> <p> Don't overwhelm the disk with mail submissions. Optimize
+the mail submission rate by tuning the number of parallel submissions
+and/or by tuning the Postfix <a href="postconf.5.html#in_flow_delay">in_flow_delay</a> parameter setting. </p>
+
+<li> <p> Run a local name server to reduce slow-down due to DNS
+lookups. If you run multiple Postfix systems, point each local name
+server to a shared forwarding server to reduce the number of lookups
+across the upstream network link. </p>
+
+<li> <p> Reduce the <a href="postconf.5.html#smtp_connect_timeout">smtp_connect_timeout</a> and <a href="postconf.5.html#smtp_helo_timeout">smtp_helo_timeout</a>
+values so that Postfix does not waste lots of time connecting
+to non-responding remote SMTP servers. </p>
+
+<li> <p> Use a dedicated mail delivery transport for problematic
+destinations, with reduced timeouts and with adjusted concurrency.
+See "<a href="#rope">Tuning the number of simultaneous deliveries</a>"
+below.
+</p>
+
+<li> <p> Use a <a href="postconf.5.html#fallback_relay">fallback_relay</a> host for mail that cannot be delivered
+upon the first attempt. This "graveyard" machine can use shorter
+retry times for difficult to reach destinations. See "<a
+href="#hammer">Tuning the frequency of deferred mail delivery
+attempts</a>" below. </p>
+
+<li> <p> Speed up disk updates with a large (64MB) persistent write
+cache. This allows disk updates to be sorted for optimal access
+speed without compromising file system integrity when the system
+crashes. </p>
+
+<li> <p> Use a solid-state disk (a persistent RAM disk). This
+is an expensive solution that should be used in combination
+with short SMTP timeouts and a <a href="postconf.5.html#fallback_relay">fallback_relay</a> "graveyard"
+machine that delivers mail for problem destinations. </p>
+
+</ul>
+
+<h2><a name="rope">Tuning the number of simultaneous deliveries</a></h2>
+
+<p> Although Postfix can be configured to run 1000 SMTP client
+processes at the same time, it is rarely desirable that it makes
+1000 simultaneous connections to the same remote system. For this
+reason, Postfix has safety mechanisms in place to avoid this
+so-called "thundering herd" problem. </p>
+
+<p> The Postfix queue manager implements the analog of the TCP slow
+start flow control strategy: when delivering to a site, send a
+small number of messages first, then increase the concurrency as
+long as all goes well; reduce concurrency in the face of congestion.
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <p> The <a href="postconf.5.html#initial_destination_concurrency">initial_destination_concurrency</a> parameter (default: 5)
+controls how many messages are initially sent to the same destination
+before adapting delivery concurrency. Of course, this setting is
+effective only as long as it does not exceed the process limit and
+the destination concurrency limit for the specific mail transport
+channel. </p>
+
+<li> <p> The <a href="postconf.5.html#default_destination_concurrency_limit">default_destination_concurrency_limit</a> parameter (default:
+20) controls how many messages may be sent to the same destination
+simultaneously. You can override this setting for specific message
+delivery transports by taking the name of the <a href="master.5.html">master.cf</a> entry
+and appending "_destination_concurrency_limit". </p>
+
+</ul>
+
+<p> Examples of transport specific concurrency limits are: </p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <p> The <a href="postconf.5.html#local_destination_concurrency_limit">local_destination_concurrency_limit</a> parameter (default:
+2) controls how many messages are delivered simultaneously to the
+same local recipient. The recommended limit is low because delivery
+to the same mailbox must happen sequentially, so massive parallelism
+is not useful. Another good reason to limit delivery concurrency
+to the same recipient: if the recipient has an expensive shell
+command in her .forward file, or if the recipient is a mailing list
+manager, you don't want to run too many instances of those processes
+at the same time. </p>
+
+<li> <p> The default <a href="postconf.5.html#smtp_destination_concurrency_limit">smtp_destination_concurrency_limit</a> of 20 seems
+enough to noticeably load a system without bringing it to its knees.
+Be careful when changing this to a much larger number. </p>
+
+</ul>
+
+<p> The above default values of the concurrency limits work well
+in a broad range of situations. Knee-jerk changes to these parameters
+in the face of congestion can actually make problems worse.
+Specifically, large destination concurrencies should never be the
+default. They should be used only for transports that deliver mail
+to a small number of high volume domains. </p>
+
+<p> A common situation where high concurrency is called for is on
+gateways relaying a high volume of mail between the Internet
+and an intranet mail environment. Approximately half the mail
+(assuming equal volumes inbound and outbound) will be destined
+for the internal mail hubs. Since the internal mail hubs will be
+receiving all external mail exclusively from the gateway, it is
+reasonable to configure the gateway to make greater demands on the
+capacity of the internal SMTP servers. </p>
+
+<p> The tuning of the inbound concurrency limits need not be trial
+and error. A high volume capable mailhub should be able to easily
+handle 50 or 100 (rather than the default 20) simultaneous connections,
+especially if the gateway forwards to multiple MX hosts. When all
+MX hosts are up and accepting connections in a timely fashion,
+throughput will be high. If any MX host is down and completely
+unresponsive, the average connection latency rises to at least 1/N
+* $<a href="postconf.5.html#smtp_connect_timeout">smtp_connect_timeout</a>, if there are N MX hosts. This limits
+throughput to at most the destination concurrency * N /
+$<a href="postconf.5.html#smtp_connect_timeout">smtp_connect_timeout</a>. </p>
+
+<p> For example, with a destination concurrency of 100 and 2 MX
+hosts, each host will handle up to 50 simultaneous connections. If
+one MX host is down and the default SMTP connection timeout is 30s,
+the throughput limit is 100 * 2 / 30 ~= 6 messages per second. This
+suggests that high volume destinations with good connectivity and
+multiple MX hosts need a lower connection timeout, values as low
+as 5s or even 1s can be used to prevent congestion when one or
+more, but not all MX hosts are down. </p>
+
+<p> If necessary, set a higher <a href="postconf.5.html#transport_destination_concurrency_limit"><i>transport</i>_destination_concurrency_limit</a>
+(in <a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a> since this is a queue manager parameter) and a lower
+<a href="postconf.5.html#smtp_connect_timeout">smtp_connect_timeout</a> (with a "-o" override in <a href="master.5.html">master.cf</a> since
+this parameter has no per-transport name) for the relay transport
+and any transports dedicated for specific high volume destinations.
+</p>
+
+<h2><a name="rcpts">Tuning the number of recipients per delivery</a></h2>
+
+<p> The <a href="postconf.5.html#default_destination_recipient_limit">default_destination_recipient_limit</a> parameter (default:
+50) controls how many recipients a Postfix delivery agent will send
+with each copy of an email message. You can override this setting
+for specific Postfix delivery agents. For example,
+"uucp_destination_recipient_limit = 100" would limit the number of
+recipients per UUCP delivery to 100. </p>
+
+<p> If an email message exceeds the recipient limit for some
+destination, the Postfix queue manager breaks up the list of
+recipients into smaller lists. Postfix will attempt to send multiple
+copies of the message in parallel. </p>
+
+<p> IMPORTANT: Be careful when increasing the recipient limit per
+message delivery; some SMTP servers abort the connection when they
+run out of memory or when a hard recipient limit is reached, so
+that the message will never be delivered. </p>
+
+<p> The <a href="postconf.5.html#smtpd_recipient_limit">smtpd_recipient_limit</a> parameter (default: 1000) controls
+how many recipients the Postfix <a href="smtpd.8.html">smtpd(8)</a> server will take per
+delivery. The default limit is more than any reasonable SMTP client
+would send. The limit exists to protect the local mail system
+against a run-away client. </p>
+
+<h2><a name="hammer">Tuning the frequency of deferred mail delivery attempts</a></h2>
+
+<p> When a Postfix delivery agent (<a href="smtp.8.html">smtp(8)</a>, <a href="local.8.html">local(8)</a>, etc.) is
+unable to deliver a message it may blame the message itself, or it
+may blame the receiving party. </p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <p> When the delivery agent blames the message, the queue
+manager gives the queue file a time stamp into the future, so it
+won't be looked at for a while. By default, the amount of time to
+cool down is the amount of time that has passed since the message
+arrived. This results in so-called exponential backoff behavior.
+</p>
+
+<li> <p> When the delivery agent blames the receiving party (for
+example a local recipient user, or a remote host), the queue manager
+not only advances the queue file time stamp, but also puts the
+receiving party on a "dead" list so that it will be skipped for
+some amount of time. </p>
+
+</ul>
+
+<p> This process is governed by a bunch of little parameters. </p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<dl>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#queue_run_delay">queue_run_delay</a> (default: 300 seconds; before Postfix 2.4:
+1000s) </dt> <dd> How often
+the queue manager scans the queue for deferred mail. </dd>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#minimal_backoff_time">minimal_backoff_time</a> (default: 300 seconds; before Postfix
+2.4: 1000s) </dt> <dd> The
+minimal amount of time a message won't be looked at, and the minimal
+amount of time to stay away from a "dead" destination. </dd>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#maximal_backoff_time">maximal_backoff_time</a> (default: 4000 seconds) </dt> <dd> The
+maximal amount of time a message won't be looked at after a delivery
+failure. </dd>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#maximal_queue_lifetime">maximal_queue_lifetime</a> (default: 5 days) </dt> <dd> How long
+a message stays in the queue before it is sent back as undeliverable.
+Specify 0 for mail that should be returned immediately after the
+first unsuccessful delivery attempt. </dd>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#bounce_queue_lifetime">bounce_queue_lifetime</a> (default: 5 days, available with Postfix
+version 2.1 and later) </dt> <dd> How long a MAILER-DAEMON message
+stays in the queue before it is considered undeliverable. Specify
+0 for mail that should be tried only once. </dd>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#qmgr_message_recipient_limit">qmgr_message_recipient_limit</a> (default: 20000) </dt> <dd> The
+size of many in-memory queue manager data structures. Among others,
+this parameter limits the size of the short-term, in-memory list
+of "dead" destinations. Destinations that don't fit the list are
+not added. </dd>
+
+<dt> <a href="postconf.5.html#transport_destination_concurrency_failed_cohort_limit"><i>transport</i>_destination_concurrency_failed_cohort_limit</a>
+</dt> <dd> Controls when a destination is considered "dead". This
+parameter is critical with a non-zero
+<a href="postconf.5.html#transport_destination_rate_delay"><i>transport</i>_destination_rate_delay</a>, with a reduced
+<a href="postconf.5.html#transport_destination_concurrency_limit"><i>transport</i>_destination_concurrency_limit</a>, or with
+a reduced <a href="postconf.5.html#initial_destination_concurrency">initial_destination_concurrency</a>. </dd>
+
+</dl>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p> IMPORTANT: If you increase the frequency of deferred mail
+delivery attempts, or if you flush the deferred mail queue frequently,
+then you may find that Postfix mail delivery performance actually
+becomes worse. The symptoms are as follows: </p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <p> The <a href="QSHAPE_README.html#active_queue">active queue</a> becomes saturated with mail that has
+delivery problems. New mail enters the <a href="QSHAPE_README.html#active_queue">active queue</a> only when
+an old message is deferred. This is a slow process that usually
+requires timing out one or more SMTP connections. </p>
+
+<li> <p> All available Postfix delivery agents become occupied
+trying to connect to unreachable sites etc. New mail has to wait
+until a delivery agent becomes available. This is a slow process
+that usually requires timing out one or more SMTP connections. </p>
+
+</ul>
+
+<p> When mail is being deferred frequently, fixing the problem is
+always better than increasing the frequency of delivery attempts.
+However, if you can control only the delivery attempt frequency,
+consider using a dedicated <a href="postconf.5.html#fallback_relay">fallback_relay</a> "graveyard" machine for
+bad destinations, so that these destinations do not ruin the
+performance of normal
+mail deliveries. </p>
+
+<h2><a name="proc_limit">Tuning the number of Postfix processes</a></h2>
+
+<p> The <a href="postconf.5.html#default_process_limit">default_process_limit</a> configuration parameter gives direct
+control over how many daemon processes Postfix will run. As of
+Postfix 2.0 the default limit is 100 SMTP client processes, 100
+SMTP server processes, and so on. This may overwhelm systems with
+little memory, as well as networks with low bandwidth. </p>
+
+<p> You can change the global process limit by specifying a
+non-default <a href="postconf.5.html#default_process_limit">default_process_limit</a> in the <a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a> file. For example,
+to run up to 10 SMTP client processes, 10 SMTP server processes,
+and so on: </p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+/etc/postfix/<a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a>:
+ <a href="postconf.5.html#default_process_limit">default_process_limit</a> = 10
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p> You need to execute "postfix reload" to make the change effective.
+This limit is enforced by the Postfix <a href="master.8.html">master(8)</a> daemon which does
+not automatically read <a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a> when it changes. </p>
+
+<p> You can override the process limit for specific Postfix daemons
+by editing the <a href="master.5.html">master.cf</a> file. For example, if you do not wish to
+receive 100 SMTP messages at the same time, but do not want to
+change the process limits for other Postfix daemons, you could
+specify: </p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+/etc/postfix/<a href="master.5.html">master.cf</a>:
+ # ====================================================================
+ # service type private unpriv chroot wakeup maxproc command + args
+ # (yes) (yes) (yes) (never) (100)
+ # ====================================================================
+ . . .
+ smtp inet n - - - 10 smtpd
+ . . .
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<h2><a name="proc_sys">Tuning the number of processes on the system</a></h2>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <p> MacOS X will run out of process slots when you increase
+Postfix process limits. The following works with OSX 10.4 and OSX
+10.5. </p>
+
+<p> MacOS X kernel parameters can be specified in /etc/sysctl.conf.
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+/etc/sysctl.conf:
+ kern.maxproc=2048
+ kern.maxprocperuid=2048
+</pre>
+
+<p> Unfortunately these can't simply be set on the fly with "sysctl
+-w". You also have to set the following in /etc/launchd.conf so
+that the root user after boot will have the right process limit
+(2048). Otherwise you have to always run ulimit -u 2048 as root,
+then start a user shell, and then start processes for things to
+take effect. </p>
+
+<pre>
+/etc/launchd.conf:
+ limit maxproc 2048
+</pre>
+
+<p> Once these are in place, reboot the system. After that, the limits will
+stay in place. </p>
+
+</ul>
+
+<h2><a name="file_limit">Tuning the number of open files or sockets</a></h2>
+
+<p> When Postfix opens too many files or sockets, processes will
+abort with fatal errors, and the system may log "file table full"
+errors. </p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <p> Depending on your Postfix and operating system versions
+you may need to recompile Postfix if you need more than 1024 file
+descriptors per process: </p>
+
+<ul> <li> <p> No recompilation is needed for Postfix version 2.4
+and later, when it was compiled for systems that support BSD kqueue(2)
+(FreeBSD 4.1, NetBSD 2.0, OpenBSD 2.9), Solaris 8 /dev/poll, or
+Linux 2.6 epoll(4). </p>
+
+<li> <p> Otherwise, Postfix needs to be recompiled to override the
+default FD_SETSIZE value. </p>
+
+</ul>
+
+<li> <p> Reduce the number of processes as described under "<a
+href="#proc_limit">Tuning the number of Postfix processes</a>" above.
+Fewer processes need fewer open files and sockets. </p>
+
+<li> <p> Configure the kernel for more open files and sockets.
+The details are extremely system dependent and change with the
+operating system version. Be sure to verify the following information
+with your system tuning guide: </p>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li> <p> Some FreeBSD kernel parameters can be specified in
+/boot/loader.conf, and some can be specified in /etc/sysctl.conf
+or changed with sysctl commands.
+Which is which depends on the version.
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+kern.ipc.maxsockets="5000"
+kern.ipc.nmbclusters="65536"
+kern.maxproc="2048"
+kern.maxfiles="16384"
+kern.maxfilesperproc="16384"
+</pre>
+
+<li> <p> Linux kernel parameters can be specified in /etc/sysctl.conf
+or changed with sysctl commands: </p>
+
+<pre>
+fs.file-max=16384
+kernel.threads-max=2048
+</pre>
+
+<li> <p> Solaris kernel parameters can be specified in /etc/system,
+as described in the <a
+href="http://www.science.uva.nl/pub/solaris/solaris2.html#q3.48">Solaris
+FAQ</a> entry titled "How can I increase the number of file
+descriptors per process?" </p>
+
+<pre>
+* set hard limit on file descriptors
+set rlim_fd_max = 4096
+* set soft limit on file descriptors
+set rlim_fd_cur = 1024
+</pre>
+
+</ul>
+
+</ul>
+
+</body>
+
+</html>