Issue smtpd_timeout = 3600s, why is Plesk so anxious to make that entry in main.cf???

[mr-wolf]

Plesk really likes to have smtpd_timeout = 3600s and smtpd_proxy_timeout = 3600s in its /etc/postfix/main.cf

I don't, so I have both these entries commented out.
The reason for this is that I have Postfix protected with an SMTP-proxy (ASSP). Whenever spam comes in it will, in real time, break the connection of the SMTP-session to Postfix.

With a timeout of 1h, there will soon be too many connections.

I know of course that mine is not a standard setup, but at the same time I do not see any merit in a 1 hour timeout.

Because this setting is crucial on my setup I have monitored main.cf for this entry and 2 days ago I noticed these 2 rows were added again to main.cf.
Normally these things happen at 4 in the morning due to some upgrade, but this time it was in the middle of the day.

I then remembered that I did a "Plesk repair all -y -v" on that server.

Why oh why does Plesk like to wait for an hour???

 

[IgorG]

Why oh why does Plesk like to wait for an hour???

Apparently for processing large messages.

 

[mr-wolf]

I didn't see this coming.
Large messages?
The timeout is the time postfix waits when there's no incoming data. The default setting of postfix is 5 minutes,

This is what postfix recommends when it's used in stress environment

Line 1: under conditions of stress, use an smtpd_timeout value of 10 seconds instead of the default 300 seconds. Experience on the postfix-users list from a variety of sysadmins shows that reducing the "normal" smtpd_timeout to 60s is unlikely to affect legitimate clients. However, it is unlikely to become the Postfix default because it's not RFC compliant. Setting smtpd_timeout to 10s or even 5s under stress will still allow most legitimate clients to connect and send mail, but may delay mail from some clients. No mail should be lost, as long as this measure is used only temporarily.

So 5 minutes is the normal default
10s is for stress.

But what special reason can there be to set it 1 hour?

and it's not only that, it's one of the few settings that Plesk wants to keep managing even if the user clearly wants another value.

Why not make it a managed value that can be set in the webif?

 

[mr-wolf]

Can you please bring it to the attention of the developers and maybe it was once done for some reason which does not exist anymore?
The Internet was already a bad place with all those spammers 10 years ago, but it only got worse.
A timeout of an hour is way too long nowadays to let them hog your resources.

 

[IgorG]

Can you please bring it to the attention of the developers and maybe it was once done for some reason which does not exist anymore?

Please fill detailed request here Reports

 

[obendev]

@mr-wolf I did this for you, hope this was okay. smtpd_timeout set too high
Cc @IgorG

 

[mr-wolf]

Hi Igor & Obendev,

I missed those last 2 answers... Thanks for those answers and hopefully it will change one day.

 

[pleskpanel]

Hi Igor & Obendev,

I missed those last 2 answers... Thanks for those answers and hopefully it will change one day.

I believe that it will change sooner than later per Igor's note that about the bug fix PPPM-12236. It just takes time for the Plesk Devs to wind down the clock

 

[mr-wolf]

Mmmmmm.....

I've waited 6 years for SRV-records to support more than TCP and UDP (the one asking for it in 2008 has died waiting for it).
I waited 2 years for CNAME-records to support underscores.

I'm now waiting for NS-records to support underscores. Apparently someone else asked it before I did.
I'm still waiting (3 years) for "restore" to recover a site with their original file dates (even though their original dates are in the back-up).

Sometimes you have to wait a long time to get things fixed that should have been working in the first place.