Conrolling delivery via SMTP_MAILER_MAXRCPTS *and* MAX_RCPTS_PER_MESSAGE

[juswu...@gmail.com]

I need to be able to accept a large XXX number of recipients in a single message from some email enabled legacy applications and split them into smaller YYY batches at an internal relay/gateway before delivering to the next destination. Several of our work groups use old code/applications (some developed in house, some commercial) that are hardcoded (java, C, etc.) to send email directly to the internal relay. At times, an application may send to >2500 recipients in a single, large message. (note: all the recipients are in the same destination subdomain that uses MX records; e.g. @internal.domain.com) This causes a sudden unpredictable load and (ultimately) delivery delays on the single "lucky" MX identified destination server/IP. The most obvious answer is to simply have the sending applications use MX records and/or send the email in smaller batches, but it is impractical/impossible (politically, co$t$, timing, etc) to get the numerous work groups to modify their applications on the different platforms involved (Windows, Unix, Linux, VMS, etc). Consequently, for now, I need to continue to accept the large, ridiculous number of recipients in a single message, while attempting to distribute the delivery load from the internal sendmail relay across the multiple servers identified in the destination MX record.

So, the question is ... if I limit the number of envelope recipients in a single outgoing message by setting the SMTP_MAILER_MAXRCPTS value on the internal relay, will this allow me to achieve what I want by splitting the envelopes or will the current setting of MAX_RCPTS_PER_MESSAGE which controls incoming number of recipients override/impact the value I set in SMTP_MAILER_MAXRCPTS?

Thanks!

[Claus Aßmann]

> So, the question is ... if I limit the number of envelope recipients in a single outgoing
> message by setting the SMTP_MAILER_MAXRCPTS value on the internal relay, will this allow me
> to achieve what I want by splitting the envelopes or will the current setting of
> MAX_RCPTS_PER_MESSAGE which controls incoming number of recipients override/impact the
> value I set in SMTP_MAILER_MAXRCPTS?

cf/README:

SMTP_MAILER_MAXRCPTS [undefined] If defined, the maximum number of
recipients to deliver in a single connection for the
smtp, smtp8, esmtp, or dsmtp mailers.

confMAX_RCPTS_PER_MESSAGE MaxRecipientsPerMessage
[infinite] If set, allow no more than
the specified number of recipients in
an SMTP envelope. Further recipients
receive a 452 error code (i.e., they
are deferred for the next delivery
attempt).

The doc isn't particularly clear (enhancements always welcome),
but IMHO it looks like the former is for outgoing mail,
the latter for incoming.

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