Phplist Throttling :: How To ::

[Russell Services]

To throttle emails, out of everything I read above, I liked the following recommendation best by 'newview' and tried it:

define("MAILQUEUE_BATCH_SIZE",3);
define("MAILQUEUE_BATCH_PERIOD",60);
define('MAILQUEUE_THROTTLE',19);

However, although this seemed to work, it actually appeared to take another minute to restart each batch job... then it would fail. Other restarts would then struggle... all for no real reason of course.

So I tried the following ONE SIMPLE SETTING:

define('MAILQUEUE_THROTTLE',20);

Leaving the other two settings as:

define("MAILQUEUE_BATCH_SIZE",0);
define("MAILQUEUE_BATCH_PERIOD",0);

And it worked perfectly. Each send initiates ONE batch job, and it ran thru 2500 emails without interruption, maintaining a 179 msgs/hr rate.

Such a simple solution to a frustrating problem.

[brad]

MAILQUEUE_THROTTLE is mutually exclusive of MAILQUEUE_BATCH_SIZE and MAILQUEUE_BATCH_PERIOD.

The former simply dictates how long it should wait between each message, so it requires a little math if you're trying to limit to X per hour. The current maximum for HG is 500 per hour, so a throttle time of 20 seconds is pretty long. a setting of 10 will do about 360 per hour. a setting of 8 will effectively do 450 per hour which leaves you up to 50 more emails per hour.

The latter settings just allow you to bluntly say no more than 450 per hour for example.

[mibcons]

Just a small adding in favor of Hostgator.

The free services are for groups that want to have regular and multiple messages per day. I have been using PHPList on Gator's and another hosting company and the rules are everywhere the same. If you run a shared outfit there are restrictions (both in services and in price that you pay.)

My list was over 1000 (could be easily over 10,000) and my mailings were once a month. With the throttling and cron job and proper settings it takes a day to send out one mailing for 4500 - 4800 members and a little over two days for 10,000 members.

The nice difference between yahoo.groups and PHPList is the template setting so you brand the letter for your purpose. And even when you do an mailing every week, you would still be safe. If you go over the 10,000 members start thinking of a commercial mail program...

Cheers

Michel

[Rockoids]

Originally Posted by mibcons

Just a small adding in favor of Hostgator.

The free services are for groups that want to have regular and multiple messages per day. I have been using PHPList on Gator's and another hosting company and the rules are everywhere the same. If you run a shared outfit there are restrictions (both in services and in price that you pay.)

My list was over 1000 (could be easily over 10,000) and my mailings were once a month. With the throttling and cron job and proper settings it takes a day to send out one mailing for 4500 - 4800 members and a little over two days for 10,000 members.

The nice difference between yahoo.groups and PHPList is the template setting so you brand the letter for your purpose. And even when you do an mailing every week, you would still be safe. If you go over the 10,000 members start thinking of a commercial mail program...

Cheers

Michel

Apropos of nothing, while this won't effect HG's mail throttling, which makes perfect sense to me, another list manager you might try is poMMo. Check it out at www.pommo.org, and see if it meets your needs. It's a lightweight program, easy to learn and easy to use. I like it much better. I think PHPList's documentation is dense and the learning curve is difficult. While I can certainly use it, poMMo is neat.

Give it a try.

Moderators: If you don't like me giving the location for the poMMo product, just remove the URL. You can always use Google

[Quads]

Originally Posted by GatorShashank

Hello Folks,

I hope all of you must be aware of Hostgator's Mail policy. The policy urges all you phplist/mailing lists users to throttle your mailing lists to keep them under the 500 emails/hour limit.

I am presenting specific instructions on how you can tweak PHPList available through fantastico to obey the limit while sending mails preventing legitimate domains like "yahoo.com" from being bouncing back as "unroutable domains"

Here we go :

1. Locate the config file for your phplist installation.

If you have installed the script on your domain with URL like http://www.domain.com/list/ then the physical path will be :

/home/username/public_html/list/config/config.php

In FTP you could see

/public_html/list/config/config.php

2. Download this file to your local PC.

3. Edit the file in a text editor like notepad or wordpad.

4. Locate the section called as "batch processing".

5. Just below you will see some code like :

# define the amount of emails you want to send per period. If 0, batch processing
# is disabled
define("MAILQUEUE_BATCH_SIZE",0);

# define the length of one batch processing period, in seconds (3600 is an hour)
define("MAILQUEUE_BATCH_PERIOD",3600);

These are the default settings. We will be replacing those to keep the mails under 200/hour.

Here is the code I suggest :

# define the amount of emails you want to send per period. If 0, batch processing
# is disabled
define("MAILQUEUE_BATCH_SIZE",480);

# define the length of one batch processing period, in seconds (3600 is an hour)
define("MAILQUEUE_BATCH_PERIOD",3600);

These settings tell phplist to send 480 mails per hour. The remaining 20 emails per domain can be used for normal mailing operations if needed.

6. Save the file and ftp it back to its original location. Remember to take a backup of the original file just in case you mess up.

Now you should be able to send mails without any bounces and not overloading the mailserver.

Any additions to this article are always welcome :-)

This is >2 years old.
I'm in the process of setting up a somewhat small list on a shared server. While I don't anticipate I'll hit the cap, I'd like to be absolutely sure should the list grow, or ___ (insert reason here)

So, with a list of 300 or so, I'd still like to make sure that I'm throttling the send properties through phpList. Our anticipated mailing is about one newsletter per week.

Could someone from HG comment on this, and it (still) being valid and current to todays environment.

Regards-
~Q

[Pitrow]

I'm looking to setup a mailing list for a client also, and I'm afraid I haven't been able to positively get the answer to this question out of this thread:

IF the list has more than 500 emails, even with throttling, will those emails over 500 get dropped?

Seems like there are answers both ways.

Thanks.

[GvilleRick]

If you have more than 500 in your list then you would need to use a program to limit the number of emails sent out so that no more than 500 are sent in an hour. All of the messages should get sent as long as you stay under the limit.

[Pitrow]

Originally Posted by GvilleRick

If you have more than 500 in your list then you would need to use a program to limit the number of emails sent out so that no more than 500 are sent in an hour. All of the messages should get sent as long as you stay under the limit.

Well, that's my question, does the throttling that's shown in this thread actually hold over any messages over 500 to the next hour, or does it just simply drop them? Can't seem to find a straight answer.

[GvilleRick]

This thread discusses using PhpList to throttle the sending and if you use PHPList with the settings as described you should have no problems. The PHPList script will hold emails until it is time to send the next batch. HG does not throttle sending, you must use a program or script to do so. I have used DadaMail in the past and it works fine allowing you to control the email by sending in batches.

[Pitrow]

Thank you, that's what I was looking for!

I guess I got confused by this exchange...

Me: there was also some discussion on the hostgator forums to whether or not emails over the 200 limit were sent with the throttling in place
Me: ie, if i have 600 emails on the list and i throttle it to 200 per hour, will it stop after an hour or send all 600 after 3 hours?
HG: They are not sent and the server gives you an error message if you try to send
HG: It will reject any past 200
Me: it doesn't just space out the 600 over a longer period?
HG: Not at all
Me: and by using a remote smtp with no restrictions is a way around that problem, i could send all 600 with no problems?
HG: Correct that will work

Seems to be saying that even with the throttling any emails past the (then) 200 email/hr limit get dropped.

[slapshotw]

Remember that the throttling discussed here is specific to the phplist software. PHPlist holds the messages back from hitting the HG email server so that HG never sees more than the amount you're supposed to get.

On the other hand, were phplist (or any software) to try and go over the limit, HG's server would just cut it off.

In other words, the HG server doesn't throttle. Your software (in this case, phplist) must.

[Quads]

Still hoping to get some input on post 30 where I asked a few questions of the admins at HG.

Much thanks-
~Q

[Prezadent]

Help me out here, i'm a bit slow...

If I have a registration page that sends out email verification using mailto, and I have 3 people send in registration at the same time (within a 6 sec timeframe) 2 will get dropped or no?

[slapshotw]

No-- if 501 people register in the course of one hour, 1 will get dropped.

[Rockoids]

Then again if you have that many people signing up -- and I wish I did -- you want to consider upgrading the hosting plan. Or use a commercial mailing list service.

[richard@divsix.com]

I managed to figure it out to throttle at one every 7 secs. I am now wondering if they are getting out!

[GvilleRick]

I always add one or two of my email accounts to the mailing list so that I can see a delivered copy.

[Rockoids]

Originally Posted by GvilleRick

I always add one or two of my email accounts to the mailing list so that I can see a delivered copy.

I do as well when I do a mailing. I also use widely disparate addresses, such as one of my regular business accounts, my AOL address and/or my .Mac address. That covers a few variables.

For mailing list software, I use poMMo (check www.pommo.org for more). It's not fully developed, but simple to use and you can easily work around its missing features until the final version appears. In fact, it's probably about 20% as difficult as phplist, which makes it great in my book.

[tcibah]

Just installed Drupal Messaging Module (http://drupal.org/project/messaging)
I have noticed that it has features related to "Limits for queue processing" as seen below.

Has anyone used it yet?

Could it provide the throttling required by HG shared hosting?



Home » Administer » Site configuration . Messaging - Settings

Limits for queue processing
These are the limits for each cron run on queue processing. The process will stop when it first meets any of them. Set to 0 for no limit.
Number of messages sent: 0
Time (seconds): 0
Time (% of cron time): 0
Maximum percentage of cron time the process may use.

[josey]

I'm on a standard dedicated, moving down to a basic, and working with phplist.

I'm looking for someone available for consulting on this throttling issue, if you are available please PM me. I have a deadline, and just want to make sure all is set up properly.

Thanks
Matt

[slapshotw]

Originally Posted by hostchecker

Thanks this helped a lot

We don't allow hidden image spam here. I'm also reporting your affiliate ID of herbal209 to Hostgator affiliate support.

[mjochagavia]

I'm trying to configure my phpList, but I have some problems like:

Database error 1146 while doing query Table 'pescando_plst1.phplist_user_user' doesn't exist

Today I don't have good ideas

Thanks

[genecap]

I am still confused, what is the final answer for the throttle value if

define("MAILQUEUE_BATCH_SIZE",480);
define("MAILQUEUE_BATCH_PERIOD",3600);

# to avoid overloading the server that sends your email, you can add a little delay
# between messages that will spread the load of sending
# you will need to find a good value for your own server
# value is in seconds (or you can play with the autothrottle below)
define('MAILQUEUE_THROTTLE',0);

[odingalt]

Hostgator sucks. Fantastico installs don't work. Period. I've tried about a dozen Fantastico installs and nothing works. Including PHP list.

[quietFinn]

Originally Posted by odingalt

Hostgator sucks. Fantastico installs don't work. Period. I've tried about a dozen Fantastico installs and nothing works. Including PHP list.

Interesting.... but what does that have to do with "Phplist Throttling :: How To :: "?