Kavi Help CenterKavi Mailing List Manager Help
| Chapter 20. Email Seems Slow, What Is Going On? | ||
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Part II. Troubleshooting Guide | 
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Table of Contents
The first step in problem solving is to be sure you have correctly identified the problem. Review the problem statements listed below to see if one of them fits your situation before proceeding. If you aren't sure any of the statements fit, see How to Use the Email Troubleshooting Flowcharts for a list of other problem statements and flowcharts.
I sent an email a while ago but it hasn't been posted yet.
I just got an email that was sent a long time ago.
More than a day has gone by, and a message I sent or expected to receive has not been delivered. Where Is this Message?.
A message was delivered, but one of the people who should have received it says it never arrived. Why Didn't Bob Get this Message?.
Email is working properly but it's slow due to a large volume of email in the queue. It is processing a message sent to a large number of recipient addresses.
The server is processing a large volume of email because a large attachment was sent.
A message is delayed because there is a high-volume message ahead of it in the queue.
A message was sent to a large number of recipients using a stale address list containing a great number of invalid addresses. It takes extra time to process messages with invalid addresses, so these messages are clogging the mail queue and slowing the mail delivery rate.
The email isn't actually slow. Someone tried to verify whether the message was posted to a mailing list by looking for the message in the archives. But the archives are only updated periodically so even though the message was posted, it won't be added to the archives until the next scheduled archive update.
The message hasn't been posted to the list because the sender doesn't have direct posting privileges. The message was either rejected or sent to a moderation queue where it is awaiting moderator attention.
The message was rejected by a mailing list or classified as spam because it wasn't properly constructed (e.g., it had an empty 'Subject:' field). Depending on the filter, the message may be returned to the sender with a rejection notice or it may simply be deleted without notifying the sender or administrators.
The address is invalid, so the message is undeliverable. It takes extra time to process messages with bad addresses, but the mail server will eventually send a notification that it is unable to deliver the message.
The email is slow because something is actually wrong with the mail server.
When email is slow, it's generally because the mail server is processing a high volume of email. The culprit may be the message in question or it may be a message ahead of it in the mail queue.
Users tend to assume email is slow whenever a message isn't posted or received immediately, so it's wise to take a skeptical approach when troubleshooting this kind of issue. If a message sent to a mailing list isn't posted immediately, it's usually because it was sent from an address that hasn't been granted direct posting privileges, so it is languishing in the moderation queue. When someone doesn't receive a message immediately it often turns out that their address was entered incorrectly or they are looking for the message in the wrong place (e.g., in the wrong email account, or in archives that are between update cycles, or their email client filtered the message into a different mailbox or folder).
Collect the following information (or as much of it as possible):
A copy of the message (or at minimum: the date, time, timezone and subject).
Did this message have an attachment? If so, what was its file type and and how large was it?
Is there a particular individual who reports not receiving the message? If so, at what email address was the message expected?
Any other potentially pertinent information provided by the reporter (such as whether the message was posted to a mailing list or alias, why the reporter thinks the message should have been delivered but wasn't, etc.).
If the email really is slow, this is the most common cause. View the Web Response Times graph on the Site Usage Reports and Tools page. A spike or intermittent high load level on the graph indicates email is working properly but the mail server is processing a high volume load.
If you know the message had a large attachment or was sent to a large recipient list, then you can provide this information to the querant.
Results
- Yes
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Resolution: The server is processing a high volume of messages. If you'd like to confirm whether this message has been received and is in the mail queue awaiting delivery, go to Step 2. You are welcome to copy and paste the following message into your response. You may want to edit it to include the results of any other research you've done, such as confirming the message was received.
Our research indicates the mail server is working properly:
Mail is slow because the mail server is currently processing a high volume of mail.
The unusually high volume is due to a message that had a large attachment, was sent to a large number of recipients, or both.
This may be your message, or a message ahead of it in the queue.
If this message isn't received within the next two hours, please contact system support.
- No
Go to Step 2.
How to locate a message in the mail logs:
Use the Kavi Mailing List Manager Mail Logs tool to retrieve your web site's mail logs.
Enter the sender's email address in the 'Search' text box and be sure to set the 'Search Time' parameter to 'Today' (unless you need to search back farther for some reason, since mail log searches can be quite time consuming), then click the Search button.
Keep this results page open for use in the next part of the troubleshooting process.
If you aren't sure how to read the mail log entries, click the Help icon on the Mail Log tool page for instructions.
Results
- Yes
Go to Step 3.
- No
Go to the flowchart for Where Is this Message?.
Determine whether the message is being processed correctly by checking the mail logs.
Track the delivery process through the mail logs:
Since the mail logs indicate the message was received by the Web site mail server, you can use the IDs assigned by qmail to follow the message through the different stages of delivery.
If the message was rejected for any reason, the answer is 'no'.
If the message entered the system and the logs indicate drops are occurring but are not yet complete, everything is normal, the answer is 'yes'.
If the message entered the system but the logs indicate a time lag of more than an hour between drops, the answer is 'no'.
If all drops have been performed, the delivery process is complete. The answer is 'yes'. However, if a particular individual indicates they still haven't received the message, see the flowchart for Why didn't Bob get this message?.
Results
- Yes
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Resolution: Everything is working normally. If you like, you can copy and paste the following information into your response.
Our research indicates email is working normally but your message is still in the delivery process.
The message has been received by the Web site mail server and is in the process of being delivered to the addresses on the recipients list.
If you do not receive this message within an hour, please contact system support for assistance.
If you are a digest subscriber, look for this message in the next digest.
- No
Go to Step 4.
Determine whether the message is being processed correctly by checking the mail logs.
Track the delivery process through the mail logs:
Since the mail logs indicate the message was received by the Web site mail server, you can use the IDs assigned by qmail to follow the message through the different stages of delivery.
If the message was rejected because it was.
If the message entered the system and the logs indicate drops are occurring but are not yet complete, everything is normal, the answer is 'yes'.
If the message entered the system but the logs indicate a time lag of more than an hour between drops, the answer is 'no'.
If all drops have been performed, the delivery process is complete. The answer is 'yes'. However, if a particular individual indicates they still haven't received the message, see the flowchart for Why didn't Bob get this message?.
Results
- Yes
Our research indicates email is working normally and the delivery process is complete.
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If you do not believe you have received this message, please double check the following:
Are you trying to verify message delivery by looking in the archives? Since many archives are only updated periodically, this isn't a reliable way to verify delivery.
Are you a digest subscriber? Check the next digest for this message.
Perhaps the message was delivered to but you didn't immediately recognize it by subject line or because your mail client unexpectedly filtered the message into the wrong mailbox or folder? Double check to see if you have it.
If you have more than one email address, are you looking for the message in the correct email account? Is your address entered correctly in the database? You can double check by logging into the My Account page.
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If none of these common situations apply, please contact support with the following information:
I was expecting to receive an email message, but it hasn't arrived.
My name is:
The email address where I expected to receive the message is:
The email message was sent (time, date, timezone):
The email message's subject line was:
Support has verified that message delivery was complete, but I don't have the message.
I have logged into the My Account page and verified that my email address is correct and that I'm checking for the message in the right account.
I have thoroughly checked my mail client and to the best of my knowledge, I do not have this message.
I am not a digest subscriber.
Please help me determine why I didn't get this message.
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- No
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Our research indicates your message was undeliverable.
The message was rejected because it wasn't properly addressed or wasn't well constructed.
You may receive a rejection notice, or your message may simply have been deleted.
Please correct and resend your message.
If this message was rejected by a mailing list, see Composing Email to Send to a List.
Stop S-4: Contact system support.
Provide the following information to support:
A copy of the message (or at minimum: the date, time, timezone and subject).
If this message had an attachment, what was its file type and and how large was it?
Is there a particular individual who reports not receiving the message? If so, at what email address was the message expected?
Please forward the email you received from the person reporting the issue, along with any other potentially pertinent information you have.
Your location on this flowchart: Email Seems Slow, What Is Going On? Stop S-4
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| Chapter 19. Why Didn't Bob Get this Email? |  |
Chapter 21. How Did this Message Get Through? |