On Oct 10, 2:08, John Lawson wrote:
> On Fri, 10 Oct 2003, Pete Turnbull wrote:
> > On Oct 9, 22:24, John Lawson wrote:
> > >
> > > I am moderately curious why it is taking one to five (or more)
> > When did you post this one? The headers show when it passe through
> > each MTA along the way (in reverse order):
>
> This one 'cleared' fairly quickly, as you point out. Vide my
previous
> message "Scrapping Tape Drive" for an example of a 'delayed' post.
Well, I no longer have that particular message...
> What I am still asking is why it sometimes takes hours for a post
to
> propagate - not how to read / interpret routing info. I don't care
much
> about the data per se, just trying to understand the *algorithm*.
My point is that unless you can see *where* the delay is, you won't be
able to guess *why*. If a server is busy, it might queue mail up; mail
queues are normally run at regular intervals but the size of the
interval depends on the sysadmin who set it up (15 minutes is common).
If there's a temporary DNS failure, mail might be queued for longer.
There are various other things that might delay mail -- on a busy
server, set up to use idents, mail from a PC might get delayed long
enough to be deferred until the next queue run (and then deferred
again, and...)
Next time you see a delay, look at the headers in that message (or send
them to me -- I tend to delete mail as I read it, so telling me which
message, after the event, isn't going to be helpful :-))
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Fri Oct 10 2003 - 01:54:16 BST