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OQMGR(8)		    System Manager's Manual		      OQMGR(8)

NAME
       oqmgr - old Postfix queue manager

SYNOPSIS
       oqmgr [generic Postfix daemon options]

DESCRIPTION
       The  oqmgr(8)  daemon  awaits the arrival of incoming mail and arranges
       for its delivery	via Postfix delivery processes.	 The actual mail rout-
       ing strategy is delegated to the	trivial-rewrite(8) daemon.  This  pro-
       gram expects to be run from the master(8) process manager.

       Mail  addressed	to  the	local double-bounce address is logged and dis-
       carded.	This stops potential loops caused by undeliverable bounce  no-
       tifications.

MAIL QUEUES
       The oqmgr(8) daemon maintains the following queues:

       incoming
	      Inbound  mail  from  the network,	or mail	picked up by the local
	      pickup(8)	agent from the maildrop	directory.

       active Messages that the	queue manager has opened for delivery. Only  a
	      limited  number of messages is allowed to	enter the active queue
	      (leaky bucket strategy, for a fixed delivery rate).

       deferred
	      Mail that	could not be delivered upon  the  first	 attempt.  The
	      queue  manager  implements  exponential  backoff by doubling the
	      time between delivery attempts.

       corrupt
	      Unreadable or damaged queue files	are moved here for inspection.

       hold   Messages that are	kept "on hold" are  kept  here	until  someone
	      sets them	free.

DELIVERY STATUS	REPORTS
       The oqmgr(8) daemon keeps an eye	on per-message delivery	status reports
       in the following	directories. Each status report	file has the same name
       as the corresponding message file:

       bounce Per-recipient  status  information  about	 why  mail is bounced.
	      These files are maintained by the	bounce(8) daemon.

       defer  Per-recipient status information	about  why  mail  is  delayed.
	      These files are maintained by the	defer(8) daemon.

       trace  Per-recipient  status  information as requested with the Postfix
	      "sendmail	-v" or "sendmail -bv" command.	These files are	 main-
	      tained by	the trace(8) daemon.

       The  oqmgr(8)  daemon is	responsible for	asking the bounce(8), defer(8)
       or trace(8) daemons to send delivery reports.

STRATEGIES
       The queue manager implements a variety of strategies for	either opening
       queue files (input) or for message delivery (output).

       leaky bucket
	      This strategy limits the number of messages in the active	 queue
	      and  prevents the	queue manager from running out of memory under
	      heavy load.

       fairness
	      When the active queue has	room, the queue	manager	takes one mes-
	      sage from	the incoming queue and one from	 the  deferred	queue.
	      This prevents a large mail backlog from blocking the delivery of
	      new mail.

       slow start
	      This  strategy  eliminates  "thundering herd" problems by	slowly
	      adjusting	the number of parallel deliveries to the same destina-
	      tion.

       round robin
	      The  queue  manager  sorts  delivery  requests  by  destination.
	      Round-robin  selection  prevents one destination from dominating
	      deliveries to other destinations.

       exponential backoff
	      Mail that	cannot be delivered upon  the  first  attempt  is  de-
	      ferred.	The time interval between delivery attempts is doubled
	      after each attempt.

       destination status cache
	      The queue	manager	avoids unnecessary delivery attempts by	 main-
	      taining  a  short-term,  in-memory  list of unreachable destina-
	      tions.

TRIGGERS
       On an idle system, the queue manager waits for the arrival  of  trigger
       events, or it waits for a timer to go off. A trigger is a one-byte mes-
       sage.   Depending  on  the message received, the	queue manager performs
       one of the following actions (the message is followed by	 the  symbolic
       constant	used internally	by the software):

       D (QMGR_REQ_SCAN_DEFERRED)
	      Start  a	deferred  queue	scan.  If a deferred queue scan	is al-
	      ready in progress, that scan will	be restarted  as  soon	as  it
	      finishes.

       I (QMGR_REQ_SCAN_INCOMING)
	      Start  an	 incoming queue	scan. If an incoming queue scan	is al-
	      ready in progress, that scan will	be restarted  as  soon	as  it
	      finishes.

       A (QMGR_REQ_SCAN_ALL)
	      Ignore  deferred queue file time stamps. The request affects the
	      next deferred queue scan.

       F (QMGR_REQ_FLUSH_DEAD)
	      Purge all	information about dead transports and destinations.

       W (TRIGGER_REQ_WAKEUP)
	      Wakeup call, This	is used	by the master  server  to  instantiate
	      servers  that should not go away forever.	The action is to start
	      an incoming queue	scan.

       The oqmgr(8) daemon reads an entire buffer worth	of triggers.  Multiple
       identical trigger requests are collapsed	into one, and trigger requests
       are sorted so that A and	F precede D and	I. Thus, in order to  force  a
       deferred	 queue	run,  one  would request A F D;	in order to notify the
       queue manager of	the arrival of new mail	one would request I.

STANDARDS
       RFC 3463	(Enhanced status codes)
       RFC 3464	(Delivery status notifications)

SECURITY
       The oqmgr(8) daemon is not security sensitive. It reads	single-charac-
       ter messages from untrusted local users,	and thus may be	susceptible to
       denial  of  service  attacks.  The oqmgr(8) daemon does not talk	to the
       outside world, and it can be run	at fixed low privilege in  a  chrooted
       environment.

DIAGNOSTICS
       Problems	 and  transactions are logged to the syslogd(8)	or postlogd(8)
       daemon.	Corrupted message files	are saved to  the  corrupt  queue  for
       further inspection.

       Depending  on the setting of the	notify_classes parameter, the postmas-
       ter is notified of bounces and of other trouble.

BUGS
       A single	queue manager process has to compete for disk access with mul-
       tiple front-end processes such as cleanup(8). A sudden burst of inbound
       mail can	negatively impact outbound delivery rates.

CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
       Changes to main.cf are not picked up automatically, as  oqmgr(8)	 is  a
       persistent process. Use the command "postfix reload" after a configura-
       tion change.

       The  text  below	provides only a	parameter summary. See postconf(5) for
       more details including examples.

       In the text below, transport is the first field in a master.cf entry.

COMPATIBILITY CONTROLS
       Available before	Postfix	version	2.5:

       allow_min_user (no)
	      Allow a sender or	recipient address to have  `-'	as  the	 first
	      character.

       Available with Postfix version 2.7 and later:

       default_filter_nexthop (empty)
	      When  a  content_filter  or FILTER request specifies no explicit
	      next-hop destination, use	$default_filter_nexthop	instead;  when
	      that value is empty, use the domain in the recipient address.

ACTIVE QUEUE CONTROLS
       qmgr_clog_warn_time (300s)
	      The  minimal  delay between warnings that	a specific destination
	      is clogging up the Postfix active	queue.

       qmgr_message_active_limit (20000)
	      The maximal number of messages in	the active queue.

       qmgr_message_recipient_limit (20000)
	      The maximal number of recipients held in memory by  the  Postfix
	      queue manager, and the maximal size of the short-term, in-memory
	      "dead" destination status	cache.

DELIVERY CONCURRENCY CONTROLS
       qmgr_fudge_factor (100)
	      Obsolete	feature:  the  percentage of delivery resources	that a
	      busy mail	system will use	up for delivery	 of  a	large  mailing
	      list message.

       initial_destination_concurrency (5)
	      The  initial  per-destination concurrency	level for parallel de-
	      livery to	the same destination.

       default_destination_concurrency_limit (20)
	      The default maximal number of parallel deliveries	 to  the  same
	      destination.

       transport_destination_concurrency_limit ($default_destination_concur-
       rency_limit)
	      A	 transport-specific  override for the default_destination_con-
	      currency_limit parameter value, where transport is the master.cf
	      name of the message delivery transport.

       Available in Postfix version 2.5	and later:

       transport_initial_destination_concurrency ($initial_destination_concur-
       rency)
	      A	transport-specific override for	 the  initial_destination_con-
	      currency	parameter value, where transport is the	master.cf name
	      of the message delivery transport.

       default_destination_concurrency_failed_cohort_limit (1)
	      How many pseudo-cohorts  must  suffer  connection	 or  handshake
	      failure  before a	specific destination is	considered unavailable
	      (and further delivery is suspended).

       transport_destination_concurrency_failed_cohort_limit ($default_desti-
       nation_concurrency_failed_cohort_limit)
	      A	transport-specific override for	 the  default_destination_con-
	      currency_failed_cohort_limit parameter value, where transport is
	      the master.cf name of the	message	delivery transport.

       default_destination_concurrency_negative_feedback (1)
	      The  per-destination  amount  of	delivery  concurrency negative
	      feedback,	after a	delivery completes with	a connection or	 hand-
	      shake failure.

       transport_destination_concurrency_negative_feedback ($default_destina-
       tion_concurrency_negative_feedback)
	      A	 transport-specific  override for the default_destination_con-
	      currency_negative_feedback parameter value, where	 transport  is
	      the master.cf name of the	message	delivery transport.

       default_destination_concurrency_positive_feedback (1)
	      The  per-destination  amount  of	delivery  concurrency positive
	      feedback,	after a	delivery completes without connection or hand-
	      shake failure.

       transport_destination_concurrency_positive_feedback ($default_destina-
       tion_concurrency_positive_feedback)
	      A	transport-specific override for	 the  default_destination_con-
	      currency_positive_feedback  parameter  value, where transport is
	      the master.cf name of the	message	delivery transport.

       destination_concurrency_feedback_debug (no)
	      Make the queue manager's feedback	algorithm verbose for  perfor-
	      mance analysis purposes.

RECIPIENT SCHEDULING CONTROLS
       default_destination_recipient_limit (50)
	      The default maximal number of recipients per message delivery.

       transport_destination_recipient_limit ($default_destination_recipi-
       ent_limit)
	      A	transport-specific override for	the default_destination_recip-
	      ient_limit  parameter  value,  where  transport is the master.cf
	      name of the message delivery transport.

OTHER RESOURCE AND RATE	CONTROLS
       minimal_backoff_time (300s)
	      The minimal time between attempts	to deliver a deferred message;
	      prior to Postfix 2.4 the default value was 1000s.

       maximal_backoff_time (4000s)
	      The maximal time between attempts	to deliver a deferred message.

       maximal_queue_lifetime (5d)
	      Consider a message as undeliverable, when	delivery fails with  a
	      temporary	error, and the time in the queue has reached the maxi-
	      mal_queue_lifetime limit.

       queue_run_delay (300s)
	      The  time	 between  deferred  queue  scans by the	queue manager;
	      prior to Postfix 2.4 the default value was 1000s.

       transport_retry_time (60s)
	      The time between attempts	by the Postfix queue manager  to  con-
	      tact a malfunctioning message delivery transport.

       Available in Postfix version 2.1	and later:

       bounce_queue_lifetime (5d)
	      Consider	a bounce message as undeliverable, when	delivery fails
	      with a temporary error, and the time in the  queue  has  reached
	      the bounce_queue_lifetime	limit.

       Available in Postfix version 2.5	and later:

       default_destination_rate_delay (0s)
	      The  default amount of delay that	is inserted between individual
	      message deliveries to the	same destination  and  over  the  same
	      message delivery transport.

       transport_destination_rate_delay	($default_destination_rate_delay)
	      A	  transport-specific   override	  for	the   default_destina-
	      tion_rate_delay parameter	value, where  transport	 is  the  mas-
	      ter.cf name of the message delivery transport.

       Available in Postfix version 3.1	and later:

       default_transport_rate_delay (0s)
	      The  default amount of delay that	is inserted between individual
	      message deliveries over the same message delivery	transport, re-
	      gardless of destination.

       transport_transport_rate_delay ($default_transport_rate_delay)
	      A	transport-specific override for	the default_transport_rate_de-
	      lay parameter value, where the initial transport in the  parame-
	      ter  name	 is  the master.cf name	of the message delivery	trans-
	      port.

SAFETY CONTROLS
       qmgr_daemon_timeout (1000s)
	      How much time a Postfix queue manager process may	take to	handle
	      a	request	before it is terminated	by a built-in watchdog timer.

       qmgr_ipc_timeout	(60s)
	      The time limit for the queue manager to send or receive informa-
	      tion over	an internal communication channel.

       Available in Postfix version 3.1	and later:

       address_verify_pending_request_limit (see 'postconf -d' output)
	      A	safety limit that prevents address verification	requests  from
	      overwhelming the Postfix queue.

MISCELLANEOUS CONTROLS
       config_directory	(see 'postconf -d' output)
	      The  default  location of	the Postfix main.cf and	master.cf con-
	      figuration files.

       defer_transports	(empty)
	      The names	of message delivery transports that should not deliver
	      mail unless someone issues "sendmail -q" or equivalent.

       delay_logging_resolution_limit (2)
	      The maximal number of digits after the decimal point  when  log-
	      ging sub-second delay values.

       helpful_warnings	(yes)
	      Log  warnings about problematic configuration settings, and pro-
	      vide helpful suggestions.

       process_id (read-only)
	      The process ID of	a Postfix command or daemon process.

       process_name (read-only)
	      The process name of a Postfix command or daemon process.

       queue_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
	      The location of the Postfix top-level queue directory.

       syslog_facility (mail)
	      The syslog facility of Postfix logging.

       syslog_name (see	'postconf -d' output)
	      A	prefix that  is	 prepended  to	the  process  name  in	syslog
	      records, so that,	for example, "smtpd" becomes "prefix/smtpd".

       Available in Postfix version 3.0	and later:

       confirm_delay_cleared (no)
	      After  sending  a	"your message is delayed" notification,	inform
	      the sender when the delay	clears up.

       Available in Postfix 3.3	and later:

       service_name (read-only)
	      The master.cf service name of a Postfix daemon process.

       Available in Postfix 3.5	and later:

       info_log_address_format (external)
	      The email	address	form that will be used	in  non-debug  logging
	      (info, warning, etc.).

FILES
       /var/spool/postfix/incoming, incoming queue
       /var/spool/postfix/active, active queue
       /var/spool/postfix/deferred, deferred queue
       /var/spool/postfix/bounce, non-delivery status
       /var/spool/postfix/defer, non-delivery status
       /var/spool/postfix/trace, delivery status

SEE ALSO
       trivial-rewrite(8), address routing
       bounce(8), delivery status reports
       postconf(5), configuration parameters
       master(5), generic daemon options
       master(8), process manager
       postlogd(8), Postfix logging
       syslogd(8), system logging

README FILES
       Use  "postconf readme_directory"	or "postconf html_directory" to	locate
       this information.
       QSHAPE_README, Postfix queue analysis

LICENSE
       The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.

AUTHOR(S)
       Wietse Venema
       IBM T.J.	Watson Research
       P.O. Box	704
       Yorktown	Heights, NY 10598, USA

       Wietse Venema
       Google, Inc.
       111 8th Avenue
       New York, NY 10011, USA

								      OQMGR(8)

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