In default vBulletin if you send a large number of e-mails, vbulletin either puts them in it's queue and then attempts to send them as each user visits a page, or just simply tries to send them straight away (This is the case when you use the Administrators email users inteface).
As a result of this your server can become seriously overloaded very quickly - so sending several thousand e-mails (like a newsletter) can become very difficult (hours spent clicking 'next' in the ACP) - as a result of these problems, this very simple modification was born.
This modification does two things ;
1. E-mails from the ACP inteface are sent to the mail queue, not straight to the mail system.
2. The processing of the mail queue is set-up as a vb cron item.
Obviously for this to work, you must turn on e-mail queuing in the ACP options - set 'Use Mailqueue System' to 'Yes', and 'Number of Emails to Send Per Batch' to a realistic value (based on the cron setting, as below).
There are two realisitc options for the cron job, you can either set it to run every minute, and set the items to be processed to something small (like 10), or you can do what this modification does by default and set it to run every 10 minutes, and set the items to be processed to something larger (like 100).
Remember, 10 per minute = 600 per hour, 100 per 10 minutes is also 600 per hour. The numbers really depend on how quick you want large queues processed, and how much your mail server can handle in one go.
Once working, when using the ACP mail users inteface, remember you can set it to process 9999 at once (not 500 or whatever) as the mails will now go into the queue, not be sent directly.
Note: This modification will affect any queued e-mails such as subscription e-mails. It will not affect registration e-mails as they bypass queuing anyway.
Upgrading from the 3.5 version.
If you have the 3.5 version installed then you don't need to upgrade - however if you decide to upgrade then you need to delete the current cron job in the Scheduled Tasks Manager and then import the product xml via the ACP Product Manager. The file edits do not need to be changed.
Queue Size
Antivirus has posted a nifty little addon that displays the current size of the mail queue here.
History:
v1.12 : First Release for vB 3.6.
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This modification may not be copied, reproduced or published elsewhere without author's permission.
I am so glad I found this hack, It will save me from having to upgrade my hosting to a VPS account to get around my host's 25/minute 600/hour outgoing messages limit and it has stopped my yahoo bounces overnight.
Hi Paul
i have a problem using this. I have it installed perfectly and it runs without a problem however my host says it is straining the server when it sends emails.
Basically I had it set to email 10 (batch) ever 10 minutes, basically though it is sending 10 at the same time which is what they are complaining about, basically they dont want me sending more than 1 per second. Sorry if this sounds gibberish but how do i set it to send them by seconds, or cant it be done, I have 2500 members, if i set it to send 1 every 10 minutes it will take forever to email my members.
Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.
Hi thanks for the reply, they have told us that we can send 3600 per hour but no more than 1 per second. Unfortunately this system sends them all together, whatever the batch is set at, this is the problem unable to solve
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04-13-2008, 09:02 PM
