06/02/2003 Mail server changes.

[prime]

I'm wondering if it might be possible in the future to implement major changes to the system over the weekend or outside of business hours. That way if things go wrong they can hopefully be fixed or the changes removed before people who do business on the web are left without e-mail during business hours.

I realize this may be a cost issue, but for one I'd be willing to pay for it. What good is all this other stuff we get with our accounts if basic services aren't stable?

Thanks for your consideration, Vortec.

[HerComServ]

The problem usually occures anywhere between 9:30am and 5:00pm during a week day.
This is when everybody is in the office checking their mail. Does that mean that your email server capacity is overloaded during this time period of the day. Can that be solved by adding another mail server?
Something has to be done soon.

Originally posted by prime
I'm wondering if it might be possible in the future to implement major changes to the system over the weekend or outside of business hours. That way if things go wrong they can hopefully be fixed or the changes removed before people who do business on the web are left without e-mail during business hours.

I realize this may be a cost issue, but for one I'd be willing to pay for it. What good is all this other stuff we get with our accounts if basic services aren't stable?

Thanks for your consideration, Vortec.

It is always business hours for someone somewhere. Some companies do function on the weekend. We have customers located all over the world. So it is impossible to do it at a time that would not affect anyone. The web never closes up shop.

[Vixen]

Heck, we function 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It just isn't possible to do modfications when NO ONE is using the system. We are a world wide provider, not just the US.

[somereseller]

Every mail server in the world has spam problems, but not all reject passwords at random, every day between 9am and 5pm US ET.

Spam is not a justification for this and it sure does not work as an excuse for my customers when they can check their mail from their ISP just fine...

[jmbeach]

Originally posted by HerComServ
Does that mean that your email server capacity is overloaded during this time period of the day. Can that be solved by adding another mail server?

From what I see, another server has been added (mail2) but the problem will not go away unless if a large portion of users are willing to delete and remake their email accounts - only new accounts will/may get routed to mail2.

Knock wood, no password prompts this morning, and seems like I'm getting my mail, even if last night my incoming mail was heavily delayed.

Oh no, did I just jinx it?

[blackops]

Still getting constant username/password prompts. Is any admin/tech willing to tell us what the load on the mail servers is during PST business hours? This seems like the probable culprit...and it sure would be nice to have it taken care of.

[jmbeach]

Originally posted by blackops
Is any admin/tech willing to tell us what the load on the mail servers is during PST business hours? This seems like the probable culprit

Well, since they have customers over the globe (and I believe I've heard it said that the majority is overseas) then most likely it's not our local hours that have a lot to do with it. I'm probably wrong though.

Me, I think part of my own issue with Matrix is that I have to sludge through a Cogent network to get to them, which causes my speed to be pitiful. I've been lucky over the last couple of days, no password promts, and consitent mail deliveries.

Knock wood for me I suppose.

We managed to get something installed on each mail server tonight that should help track down the cause of heavy load and stop it... The new stuff has been on for only a couple hours and I've already banned one IP address... =)

[DVHost]

That is excellent news, I hope the new additions bear fruit.

Also, in the past two days, spam to my accounts has been on the rise. Are we still using a filter (spamhaus)?

[somereseller]

Thanks for the update Bladesnitz, that's the sort of news that I like to get so that I can pass it on to my customers

[blackops]

Okay, so I solved the password prompt problem. Maybe I missed the "notification email" for this one, but all of a sudden, it seems the mail servers require a fully-qualified email account name. In other words, my client USED to use "username", but NOW is required to use "username@domain.com" as the user name for the POP3 client.

At least it's fixed now...

[admin]

blackops, it should of always been that way, but in fixing the spam issue we found out Psoft did not even install qmail right so POP before SMTP was not fully working right.

But its fixed now.. Thank god..

Also remember you must send any and all emails from an domain we host here. If you don't your going to get an error.. If you have forms on your web site make sure the from address is a domain hosted here not a yahoo.com, aol.com or any thing else address its not going to get sent by our mail servers..


Also see this post:
http://matrixwebhosting.net/forum/sh...&threadid=4475

Everyones email should work 100% now as long as your from is a domain hosted here.. Also you should not get a password error or any thing else now..

[DVHost]

Brad, thanks for the announcement. I look forward to Monday to see the results of all your hard work!

[blackops]

Thanks for the explanation, Brad. We really appreciate that, in addition to working hard, you guys also try to keep us in the loop.