Re: exim hogging upstream on debian

[Paul E Condon <pecondon@peakpeak.com>]

On Wed, Dec 10, 2003 at 07:24:14PM -0700, Thanasis Kinias wrote:
> scripsit Paul E Condon:
> > On Wed, Dec 10, 2003 at 03:14:20PM -0000, Colin Davis wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > > I am in a small office that uses an adsl connection for its internet
> > > access.  We have a debian box with exim installed to send mail. When
> > > a large email is send (anything over 1mb really) it hogs all of the
> > > upstream, disconnects my ssh sessions etc and making using the
> > > internet impossible until the email has gone.
> > > 
> > > I am looking for a way to limit exims use of the available
> > > bandwidth.  Anybody got any ideas for a quick fix?
> > > 
> > > Any help much appreciated - its driving me mad :-)
> > > 
> > > Col.
> > 
> > Look at www.bandwidtharbitrator.com. Linux Bandwidth Arbitrator is
> > software developed by a guy in the town where I live (Lafayette, CO).
> > He made a presentation at a local LUG ~6m ago. He seemed to know what
> > he was doing, and interested in helping small users. Its not free, but
> > its not expensive, and you can try it for free. I think his deal is
> > that you pay for the User Manual.
> 
> It seems strange to me that there doesn't seem to be a free tool for
> this.  I've had similar problems just with scp over cable modem -- I
> don't care if it takes it an hour to make the transfer, but I don't want
> to lose my ssh sessions completely while it copies...
> 
> Bandwidth management stuff I've come across seems to focus more on
> keeping one machine from hogging a network rather than keeping one
> process from hogging eth0 on a single machine...
> 
> Are we missing something obvious?
> 

I don't want to be a shill for this software, but the guy did make a
nice presentation and it seems like it would solve the problem.
Also, I think the software is 'free' in the 'free speach' sense. But
he does charge for a book of documentation. Since, I've never used the
software, I can't say what your chances of getting it working are, if
all you have is the setup screens. The impression he gave was that you
can get it working with just the screens, but to tune it well, to your
situation, you will benefit from the book. 

And, since I've never used it, I may be wrong as to its usefulness. 

YMMV

-- 
Paul E Condon           
pecondon@peakpeak.com