[Dovecot] Error: Maximum number of mail processes exceeded (see max_mail_processes setting)

[Jack Stewart]

Frank Bonnet wrote:
> Hello
> 
> I have this message repeated several times each *seconds* in 
> /var/log/dovecot/dovecot.log
> 
> the  max_mail_processes is set to 8192 and I can see an average of 500 
> imap processes
> on the machine , I think there is a problem somewhere ...
> 
> Debian 64 bits , IBM X3650 biproc , 7 Gb RAM , RAID5 disks , 2 ethernet 
> Gb ports bonded.
> 
> Dovecot 1.1.11 has been compiled from scratch on the machine
> 
> Thanks for any info.
> 

Hi Frank,

Your system is plenty powerful - no issues there.

What are your settings in the init script? I found that putting in a 
ulimit -n 8192 and ulimit -f 16384 prior to invoking dovecot was 
worthwhile on my system.

I would first try tweaking these settings in a root shell and then 
invoke  dovecot with a -c conf make sure it is picking up the right conf 
file.

I'm sure the list will ask for the dovecot -n -c ... output as well.

---Jack