SpamAssassin stopped working

[Jackiegoal]

Hi,

Occasionally SpamAssassin just seems to stop working. Normally restarting Exim does the trick, but not this time. It happened for all clients. I've already tried downloading a new exim.conf this way: http://help.directadmin.com/item.php?id=51 with no result.

Any ideas? Thank you!

[Jackiegoal]

Well, I've had DA support look into it to finally give up after a few attempts to find the cause of all this. It appears spamd just stops working after some time and the only way to fix it is restarting exim/spamd. But that only works for a few minutes.

Any ideas would be welcome!

[nobaloney]

Are you running all or most of your domains through SpamBlocker (in other words, are they listed in /etc/virtual/use_rbl_domains)?

Generally this happens when SpamAssassin is overloaded.

Jeff

[Jackiegoal]

That file's empty .. ?

[nobaloney]

If thaqt file is empty, then you're not using SpamBlocker and your SpamAssassin install is most likely overloaded.

You should probably read up on SpamBlocker, and then make the decision to run all email for all domains through SpamBlocker.

That will take a lot of load off SpamAssassin, and it will probably then start working properly.

A few years ago we recommended everyone give their clients the option of using SpamBlocker blocklists or not, but today we no longer believe it should be a client option. There's so much spam we believe the only way to head it off is to use SpamBlocker for all clients.

Once you're using SpamBlocker for all clients you probably will be able to run SpamAssassin successfully.

Jeff

[Jackiegoal]

I've looked into SpamBlocker once, but it was unclear to me what it did and how to install it.

[Jackiegoal]

Right, I replaced exim.conf with the (altered) SpamBlocker v3.1 exim.conf and now cannot receive any e-mail anymore :/

I've sent two test e-mails and I can find them in the exim mainlog, just not in my inbox. The mainlog gives (altered for privacy):


2008-05-17 15:25:56 1JxMQ8-0003Hl-F1 <= *********@gmail.com H=fg-out-1718.google.com [72.14.220.159] P=esmtp S=2327 id=431fb0f10805170623s7c869049ob24415125ad410c@mail.gmail.com T="Even een vraag" from <********@gmail.com> for ****@relywebsolutions.nl
2008-05-17 15:26:01 1JxMQ8-0003Ho-Gn <= *********@gmail.com U=mail P=spam-scanned S=2736 id=431fb0f10805170623s7c869049ob24415125ad410c@mail.gmail.com T="Even een vraag" from <***********@gmail.com> for ****@relywebsolutions.nl
2008-05-17 15:26:01 1JxMQ8-0003Ho-Gn => **** <****@relywebsolutions.nl> F=<*********@gmail.com> R=virtual_user T=virtual_localdelivery S=2866
2008-05-17 15:26:01 1JxMQ8-0003Ho-Gn Completed
2008-05-17 15:26:01 1JxMQ8-0003Hl-F1 => **** <****@relywebsolutions.nl> F=<**********@gmail.com> R=spamcheck_director T=spamcheck S=2605
2008-05-17 15:26:01 1JxMQ8-0003Hl-F1 Completed

[Jackiegoal]

Okay, I placed back my old exim.conf and am back to square one. It appears that (even though you state otherwise in the Spam Blocker 3 topic) I can't use this with the original mail file system supplied with DirectAdmin/Exim?

[Jackiegoal]

I did a big update this weekend, switching to Dovecot/Maildir being able to install Spam Blocker 3.1. Great, but I still get quite some spam e-mails in my inbox. Is this normal?

[nobaloney]

I never stated in the SpamBlocker 3 topic that you can use SpamBlocker Version 3.1-beta with mbox; it requires Maildir/Dovecot.

By default NO domains on your server are using SpamBlocker.

Only domains listed in your /etc/virtual/use_rbl_domains file are using SpamBlocker.

If you want to use SpamBlocker on all your domains you may want to remove the file and replace it with a link to /etc/virtual/domains.

Jeff

[Jackiegoal]

Yes, the domains I'm testing with are added to the use_rbl_domains file, still, I'm getting spam.

And I quote:


SpamBlocker3 exim.conf file is now ready for Beta testing. Please feel free to give it your best shot, to try it, or just to look at it.

There are four versions, one each for:

DA with original style mailboxes.

DA with original style mailboxes and ClamAV support.

DA with Dovecot Maildir mailboxes.

DA with Dovecot Maildir mailboxes and ClamAV support.

What are "original style mailboxes" then?

[nobaloney]

Yes, the domains I'm testing with are added to the use_rbl_domains file, still, I'm getting spam.
SpamBlocker3 should be blocking between 90&#37; and 98% of spam hitting your server, though it's possible the numbers could be different on your server.

Without seeing your logs it would be impossible to determine why spam is getting through (please don't expect me to read log files posted here).

You can see what SpamBlocker is blocking by looking at your /var/log/exim/rejectlog file.

What are "original style mailboxes" then?
Thank you for bringing the gaffe to my attention. The original SpamBlocker Version 3-beta file did employ separate versions. The 3.1-beta file which I wrote earlier this year does not; it requires Dovecot/Maildir, and works with or without SpamAssassin/ClamAV depending on settings within the file.

I've edited the original file a few minutes ago to show this information:

Note that SpamBlocker version 3.1-beta works only on DirectAdmin servers running Maildir. For more information see the Important Note at the top of this page (http://www.nobaloney.net/downloads/spamblocker/DirectAdminSpamBlocker3/), and also the MUST-READ-FIRST.txt file, the ReadMe-SpamBlocker.3.1.txt file, and line three of the download file itself: exim.conf.3.1-beta, all linkable from that page.
Jeff

[Jackiegoal]

I've found the problem. I have about 10 domains currently parked on my domain for a client setup as an alias to our homepage, so info@parkeddomain.ext goes to info@maindomain.ext. Adding these domains to the use_rbl_domains list does the trick. I now only get a few spam e-mails a day (and before I got >100 when SpamAssassin decided not to function!).

Thank you for your help!