Outgoing mail settings

[waterman34]

Hi all, I have 2 questions regarding outgoing mail.

1. In outgoing mail under 'queue', the lifetime of messages is set too 180 mins, then under static routes for domains we provide backup email for, I have the lifetime set too 4320 mins (3 days), just need to check that this lifetime setting under static routes overrides the general one?

2. The primary mail server for a domain name we provide backup for has died and it looks like it' going to be offline for longer than the 3 days we provide the backup for, what are my options in this scenario, a) could I zip up a copy of all the mail in the queue then quietly delete them or b) is there another option?

[waterman34]

BTTT

[rob]

1. That is indeed true, the static route life time and resend delay settings both override the general outgoing settings, and is designed just for this purpose, to extend the lifetime of mails in the queue if the mail server is acting as a backup server.
2. One simple method to adjust the life time to accomodate this period. However, the zipping method will work, but you would firstly need to close the mail server, zip up the files, reload the mail server. Then at the point of restoring the mails, extend the queue life of for that domain then restore the mails, a reload will also be required. The reason the queue life needs to be extended is because the expiring of mails is based on the the modified date of the queue files. If you don't have a large enough queue life, the mails would simply be failed and deleted after you restore them.