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Posted to users@spamassassin.apache.org by Jean-Paul Natola <jn...@familycareintl.org> on 2008/03/14 00:08:43 UTC
Plugin eval failed
Hi all,
I upgraded to sa 3.2.4
And I've been restarting spamd every 15 minutes just to keep mail coming in,
This is what is constantly coming up in the maillog
plugin: eval failed: child processing timeout at /usr/local/bin/spamd line
1259.
Any help would be appreciated
Running
Freebsd 6.2
SA 3.2.4
Exim 4.68
Perl 5.8.8
Clamav 92.1
JP
RE: Plugin eval failed
Posted by Michael Hutchinson <mh...@manux.co.nz>.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jean-Paul Natola [mailto:jnatola@familycareintl.org]
> Sent: Friday, 14 March 2008 12:09 p.m.
> To: SpamAssassin
> Subject: Plugin eval failed
>
> Hi all,
>
> I upgraded to sa 3.2.4
>
> And I've been restarting spamd every 15 minutes just to keep mail
coming
> in,
>
> This is what is constantly coming up in the maillog
>
>
> plugin: eval failed: child processing timeout at /usr/local/bin/spamd
line
> 1259.
>
> Any help would be appreciated
>
> Running
>
> Freebsd 6.2
> SA 3.2.4
> Exim 4.68
> Perl 5.8.8
> Clamav 92.1
>
>
>
> JP
Hi JP,
I had this problem when I upgraded to 3.2.3 temporarily, and for a while
after the downgrade to 3.1.7.
I had not done enough research and found that I had installed 3.2.3 with
a different method than what the original package was installed with.
This caused install paths to change for various files, and I ended up
with 2 different versions of some files spread over the system.
This was causing all sorts of errors, but mainly the having to restart
SA constantly as it was falling over.
Whilst this may not be your issue, it is worth checking that all of your
.cf and pre files are sane, as well as any Perl CPAN modules. I removed
all of my CPAN modules, and installed them via apt-get in Debian
instead. I then removed all instances of every Spamassassin file on the
system, and reinstalled from scratch. (keeping local.cf and user_prefs
of course).
Hope this is some help,
Cheers,
Mike
RE: Plugin eval failed
Posted by SM <sm...@resistor.net>.
At 18:38 13-03-2008, Jean-Paul Natola wrote:
>1.We have a sitewide config
>2.Startup parameters are
>command_args="-d --min-children=2 --max-children=10 --min-spare=2
>--max-spare=3 --max-conn-per-child=100 -r ${pidfile}"
>
>3.I do not scan messages over 250 k
>
>4.We process roughly 5k messages daily
>
>5. the hardware is ehh kinda crappy, but we don't really process that much
>PIII 550 448 ram
You did not mention how much memory each spamd process takes. With
that amount of RAM, a max-children of ten may be too high. Basically
you should see whether the maximum number of spamd processes
(max-children) fits in available RAM.
Regards,
-sm
RE: Plugin eval failed
Posted by Jean-Paul Natola <jn...@familycareintl.org>.
>1) Reduce max-children to 8 or less. (Use 6 if you can).
When I go lower, I get "server has reaacehd max children, consider raising
it"
>2) Eliminate pre-forking (--round-robin option).
Do no know how to this, do i just add "--round-robin option" to my rc.d
script?
>3) Set a timeout option (--timeout-child=60).
>4) Reduce message size passed to SpamAssassin to
32K or less. There is a cost/benefit ratio to
consider here. What percentage of your spam is
greater than 32K?
>5) Reduce stack size (ulimit) for the spamd process
(if you can) to improve memory efficiency.
Do not know how to set this either--
>6) Pray that some botnet doesn't latch on to you
and obliterate your server!
But that's me. I am assuming your system had a
working configuration with a stock SA installation.
Good luck.
Jean-Paul Natola wrote:
1.We have a sitewide config
2.Startup parameters are
command_args="-d --min-children=2 --max-children=10 --min-spare=2
--max-spare=3 --max-conn-per-child=100 -r ${pidfile}"
3.I do not scan messages over 250 k
4.We process roughly 5k messages daily
5. the hardware is ehh kinda crappy, but we don't really process that
much
PIII 550 448 ram
And this machine does not "hold" any mail , it process it, then , if
clean
and spam free it goes right to our exchange server
-----Original Message-----
From: Daryl C. W. O'Shea [mailto:spamassassin@dostech.ca]
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 8:44 PM
Cc: SpamAssassin
Subject: Re: Plugin eval failed
On 13/03/2008 8:02 PM, Jean-Paul Natola wrote:
What other info should I post?
The output of vmstat while this is happening.
A definition of "constantly". Every message, some % of messages?
For
some common size of messages? Whether it happens when scanning mail
for
a subset of users or for all users. Relevant spamd log output.
spamd debug output.
Your spamd startup parameters along with a description of the
hardware
you're running.
A summary of any non-default rulesets you're using.
A comment regarding the validity, in this instance, of my comment
about
the common causes of the child processing timeout symptom.
Daryl
Re: Plugin eval failed
Posted by Jared Hall <jh...@tbi.net>.
Seems a little underpowered to me.
10 children w/ 448M is pushing it, IMHO.
Same opinion of a 550 P3 scanning EMail with
SA and clamAV.
Given your system, I would:
1) Reduce max-children to 8 or less. (Use 6 if you can).
2) Eliminate pre-forking (--round-robin option).
3) Set a timeout option (--timeout-child=60).
4) Reduce message size passed to SpamAssassin to
32K or less. There is a cost/benefit ratio to
consider here. What percentage of your spam is
greater than 32K?
5) Reduce stack size (ulimit) for the spamd process
(if you can) to improve memory efficiency.
6) Pray that some botnet doesn't latch on to you
and obliterate your server!
But that's me. I am assuming your system had a
working configuration with a stock SA installation.
Good luck.
Jean-Paul Natola wrote:
> 1.We have a sitewide config
> 2.Startup parameters are
> command_args="-d --min-children=2 --max-children=10 --min-spare=2
> --max-spare=3 --max-conn-per-child=100 -r ${pidfile}"
>
> 3.I do not scan messages over 250 k
>
> 4.We process roughly 5k messages daily
>
> 5. the hardware is ehh kinda crappy, but we don't really process that much
> PIII 550 448 ram
>
> And this machine does not "hold" any mail , it process it, then , if clean
> and spam free it goes right to our exchange server
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Daryl C. W. O'Shea [mailto:spamassassin@dostech.ca]
> Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 8:44 PM
> Cc: SpamAssassin
> Subject: Re: Plugin eval failed
>
> On 13/03/2008 8:02 PM, Jean-Paul Natola wrote:
>
>> What other info should I post?
>>
>
> The output of vmstat while this is happening.
>
> A definition of "constantly". Every message, some % of messages? For
> some common size of messages? Whether it happens when scanning mail for
> a subset of users or for all users. Relevant spamd log output.
>
> spamd debug output.
>
> Your spamd startup parameters along with a description of the hardware
> you're running.
>
> A summary of any non-default rulesets you're using.
>
> A comment regarding the validity, in this instance, of my comment about
> the common causes of the child processing timeout symptom.
>
> Daryl
>
>
>
RE: Plugin eval failed
Posted by Jean-Paul Natola <jn...@familycareintl.org>.
1.We have a sitewide config
2.Startup parameters are
command_args="-d --min-children=2 --max-children=10 --min-spare=2
--max-spare=3 --max-conn-per-child=100 -r ${pidfile}"
3.I do not scan messages over 250 k
4.We process roughly 5k messages daily
5. the hardware is ehh kinda crappy, but we don't really process that much
PIII 550 448 ram
And this machine does not "hold" any mail , it process it, then , if clean
and spam free it goes right to our exchange server
-----Original Message-----
From: Daryl C. W. O'Shea [mailto:spamassassin@dostech.ca]
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 8:44 PM
Cc: SpamAssassin
Subject: Re: Plugin eval failed
On 13/03/2008 8:02 PM, Jean-Paul Natola wrote:
> What other info should I post?
The output of vmstat while this is happening.
A definition of "constantly". Every message, some % of messages? For
some common size of messages? Whether it happens when scanning mail for
a subset of users or for all users. Relevant spamd log output.
spamd debug output.
Your spamd startup parameters along with a description of the hardware
you're running.
A summary of any non-default rulesets you're using.
A comment regarding the validity, in this instance, of my comment about
the common causes of the child processing timeout symptom.
Daryl
Re: Plugin eval failed
Posted by "Daryl C. W. O'Shea" <sp...@dostech.ca>.
On 13/03/2008 8:02 PM, Jean-Paul Natola wrote:
> What other info should I post?
The output of vmstat while this is happening.
A definition of "constantly". Every message, some % of messages? For
some common size of messages? Whether it happens when scanning mail for
a subset of users or for all users. Relevant spamd log output.
spamd debug output.
Your spamd startup parameters along with a description of the hardware
you're running.
A summary of any non-default rulesets you're using.
A comment regarding the validity, in this instance, of my comment about
the common causes of the child processing timeout symptom.
Daryl
RE: Plugin eval failed
Posted by Jean-Paul Natola <jn...@familycareintl.org>.
What other info should I post?
-----Original Message-----
From: Daryl C. W. O'Shea [mailto:spamassassin@dostech.ca]
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 7:16 PM
To: Jean-Paul Natola
Cc: SpamAssassin
Subject: Re: Plugin eval failed
On 13/03/2008 7:08 PM, Jean-Paul Natola wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I upgraded to sa 3.2.4
>
> And I've been restarting spamd every 15 minutes just to keep mail coming
in,
>
> This is what is constantly coming up in the maillog
>
>
> plugin: eval failed: child processing timeout at /usr/local/bin/spamd line
> 1259.
>
> Any help would be appreciated
You're probably either swap thrashing (or the system is otherwise under
high load causing spamd children to take forever) or you're passing
large messages to spamd to scan (which can also take forever, along with
a whole bunch of memory).
Without more info there's not much else that can be said.
Daryl
> Running
>
> Freebsd 6.2
> SA 3.2.4
> Exim 4.68
> Perl 5.8.8
> Clamav 92.1
>
>
>
> JP
>
Re: Plugin eval failed
Posted by "Daryl C. W. O'Shea" <sp...@dostech.ca>.
On 13/03/2008 7:08 PM, Jean-Paul Natola wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I upgraded to sa 3.2.4
>
> And I've been restarting spamd every 15 minutes just to keep mail coming in,
>
> This is what is constantly coming up in the maillog
>
>
> plugin: eval failed: child processing timeout at /usr/local/bin/spamd line
> 1259.
>
> Any help would be appreciated
You're probably either swap thrashing (or the system is otherwise under
high load causing spamd children to take forever) or you're passing
large messages to spamd to scan (which can also take forever, along with
a whole bunch of memory).
Without more info there's not much else that can be said.
Daryl
> Running
>
> Freebsd 6.2
> SA 3.2.4
> Exim 4.68
> Perl 5.8.8
> Clamav 92.1
>
>
>
> JP
>