[SOLVED] Is there a way to suspend emails temporarly in the mail queue

[velocity08]

Hi All

We would like PMG to suspend email delivery temporary to back end servers while maintenance is carried out.

Is there a way to pause the mail queue from delivering emails in/out during a back end mail server maintenance window?

if PMG can hold the emails for a given amount of time then deliver once the server is restored.

if not what other options are there?

""Cheers
G

 

[Stoiko Ivanov]

depending on how long the downstream/back end servers are down and if you need to stop delivery to them before shutting them down it can be as simple as doing nothing.

SMTP servers usually do defer delivery if a destination server is not configurable and they queue the mail and try delivery after a certain time has passed. PMG would do the same (and has a default maximal_queue_lifetime of 5 days).

if you need to stop delivery before the server is shut down or becomes unrechable I would probably simply insert a firewall rule (on PMG, or some firewall inbetween, or the destination server) preventing PMG from reaching the server.

once the server is back up PMG would eventually send the mails in one of it's queue runs. You should be able to trigger one by running `postqueue -f` on the command line

I hope this helps!

 

[velocity08]

thank you great tips.

i followed your lead and blocked a port on the firewall until services where restored

""Cheers
G

 

[Stoiko Ivanov]

Glad that worked.
Thanks for marking the thread as solved