Customizing the CSSMTP configuration file to try mail again

When mail servers reply to commands that resources are temporally unavailable, CSSMTP can try sending mail messages again. CSSMTP implements the following two types of retry:

• Long retry, defined by the RetryLimit statement

  When you configure long retry, mail messages are saved in CSSMTP memory while they await retry. The originating spool file is also held by CSSMTP until every mail message is delivered or until an undeliverable notice is sent. Because the originating spool file is held during retry processing, you should configure the RetryLimit statement to a time span that is shorter than the time span that you configure for extended retry. For example, the time span on the RetryLimit statement might be several hours.

• Extended retry, defined by the ExtendedRetry statement

  When you configure extended retry, mail messages that were undeliverable at the end of the long retry period are tried again for an extended period after the originating spool file is released. During the extended retry period, mail messages are saved in a z/OS® UNIX file system directory. Because the originating spool file is released during extended retry processing, you can configure the ExtendedRetry statement to a longer time span than the time span that you configure for long retry. For example, the time span on the ExtendedRetry statement might be several days.

You can use these statements individually or at the same time to provide the best system environment for mail processing.

For example, the following statements set long retry to 1 hour and extended retry to 3 days:

RetryLimit
  {
  Count 6
  Interval 10
  }
ExtendedRetry
  {
  Age   3
  Interval 60
  MailDirectory /var/cssmtp/CSSMTP/mail/
  }