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Troubleshooting message queues not processing consistently

Author: Andrei Bogdan Apostol Updated

Overview

This guide is intended to troubleshoot message queues not processing consistently, causing delays in the mail flow and emails not be released in a timely manner.

Information

The list below presents the steps to be taken in order to troubleshoot the issue:

Initial steps

  1. Ensure that there are no DNS errors, that may cause the emails to be processed slowly.
  2. Ensure that there is enough disk space available in the installation drive
    • If the Exchange queue location has been moved from its default location, check that there is enough disk space on that drive.
    • If there is not enough space on the drive, free space or increase the storage size in order to overcome this issue. Afterward, proceed with the steps in the Check for errors in the Exchange server section, as the Exchange server will delay or stop mail flow when the disk reaches 10% or lower of free disk space. 
  3. Make sure that any antivirus and backup solutions installed on the MailEssentials server have exclusions properly configured.
  4. Recreate SpamRazer rule files.

Purge mail queues and recreate the reporting database

  1. Open the Windows Services Manager by navigating to Start > Run > services.msc and stop the following services:
    • Microsoft Transport Agent service
    • GFI List Server
    • GFI MailEssentials Attendant
    • GFI MailEssentials AS Scan Engine
    • GFI MailEssentials Autoupdater
    • GFI MailEssentials AV Scan Engine
    • GFI MailEssentials Backend
    • GFI MailEssentials Legacy Attendant
    • GFI POP2Exchange
    • GFI MailEssentials Quarantine Action Services
  2. Navigate to the location of the queues as described in the Private Queues Used by GFI MailEssentials (MSMQ) article, the perform the following:
    • Expand a queue and two new nodes will appear Queue Messages and Journal Messages.
    • Right-click Queue Messages, select All Tasks > Purge.
  3. Recreate the Reporting Databases.
  4. Start the services stopped in step 1.

Check for errors in the Exchange server

  • Check for any back pressure errors. For more information about this process, please visit https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/mail-flow/back-pressure
  • Open Exchange Management Shell as administrator, and run the following command:
    Set-TransportConfig -SafetyNetHoldTime 2.00:00:00

    This will set the Safety Net hold time to 2 days. If encountered by an error while running the command, ignore the error, and proceed to execute the command.

  • Verify that the safety net hold time has been changed to 2 days by running the command:

    Get-TransportConfig | Select SafetyNetHoldTime

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