mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Well, it's up and running, but I'm not sure if it's doing what it should.
MKB
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mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Sun Sep 27, 2015 6:08 am

I have installed MailWasher Enterprise Server (Trial) and also installed the recent update and it it working very well as far as blocking spam for my users. I have it running on a Server-2008 VM running hmailserver mail application server. My customers retrieve mail via POP3 because most are sales people out of the office. I am using Microsoft Security Essentials as server anti-virus and also using ClamWin to scrub email before being delivered. This customer of mine has 25 email users, they all use Microsoft Office Outlook 2013
I really love this application, and I will recommend we buy it after the trial expires, however one issue we are experiencing is the mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage very often and I have to VPN in and stop the service, then restart it. This is occurring multiple times per day. Sys logs don't point anything out to me. I need to resolve this issue ASAP. This began 2 days after the application was installed.
What do I need to check to resolve this?
Thank you
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nick.bolton
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Sun Sep 27, 2015 6:40 am

Hi

What are the specs on your server? We introduced SPF in this version and with this MWES does take longer to process (if using an external DNS server). We had another user with this issue and it was creating a backlog over time and so MWES throttled the connection but then it eventually grinds to a halt as there's not enough cpu to process the requests.

If you switch the logging to High (in Settings>>General) then when this problem happens again, you'll see in the logs (C:\Program Files\MailWasher Enterprise Server\logs) – max sockets reached - throttling. Solution was to increase the cpu count or you could turn off SPF in Settings>>Filters>>Settings>>Greylisting

Did any of this help?
MKB
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Tue Sep 29, 2015 1:11 am

Hello,
Just seeing this. I will review your post and implement changes in a bit, I'll update you later.

My server specks are:
Server-2008 R2
Quad core (3.2Ghz) processors
4.0 GB Ram memory
hard drive 1, 75 GB (45 GB free)
hard drive 2, 150 GB, ( 100 GB free)

(In the short term I changed processor affinity from 4 to 2 CPU's)
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nick.bolton
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Tue Sep 29, 2015 4:04 am

Thanks, in your case I'd turn off SPF for now. It does seem a reasonably powerful server but then again it depends on how busy your mail server is and if anything else is running on there? How many emails do you get per hour/day?
MKB
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Tue Sep 29, 2015 2:10 pm

Hello, I just turned of SPF,and to answer your question, we process about 2500 emails per day. The mail application is the only thing running on that server. today I had a period of heavy CPU use by the mwes.exe*32 service, however it cleared after about 45 minutes. I'll let this run for 24 hours and let you know the results.
Regards
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nick.bolton
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Thu Oct 01, 2015 10:52 am

How did you get on here?

Can you add this to the registry as it will give us more debug information about where the problem is coming from.

use_raw_mta_smtp=1

As a string value
Add it to
Windows Registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Firetrust Limited\mwes


Restart the MWES Service after. If this happens again, can you please send the logs to nick.bolton@firetrust.com
MKB
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Thu Oct 01, 2015 2:54 pm

mwes.exe*32 service pegged at 100% CPU usage again
Processor affinity @ 4 cores, will reset to 2 cores
SFS set to off
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nick.bolton
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:20 pm

Thanks for this.

Looking at the logs, it clearly shows the MTA not responding to MWES or MTA has vanished at (2015-09-30 18:37:20) and onwards.
MKB
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:41 pm

What do I have to do to resolve this issue?
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nick.bolton
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:54 pm

We'll know more when we get the logs with extra SMTP information, but since you're running a VM there's the possibility that the CPU is time slicing with other VM's CPU's on the box, so you're not getting dedicated CPU's to manage the load of incoming emails. I'll ask the developers about MWES throttling for longer but then you'll have delays in mail deliverability.
MKB
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Thu Oct 01, 2015 4:10 pm

Understood and I have weighted resources (CPU 35% of the host total CPU processing) and dedicated/reserved 35% (4 GB) of RAM memory to this one mail server. I have web servers (2500 hits per day, WSUS server/IP Monitor, and a VM domain controller on this one host, the host CPU never gets over 75 %, and the total memory is 24 GB RAM, which I have never gotten over 15 GB total usage.
MKB
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Fri Oct 02, 2015 12:58 am

Morning, had to remote in at 5:45 am to restart the mwes.exe*32 service My network monitoring software alerts me when this service consumes over 25% CPU. I may set that to 50% CPU if this issue continues. I'll send logs this afternoon/evening. (Processor affinity at 2 of 4 cores)
Regards
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nick.bolton
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Fri Oct 02, 2015 8:29 am

If you can send the new logs it should tell us what's going on
MKB
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Sat Oct 03, 2015 6:23 am

download/sending logs now
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nick.bolton
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Re: mwes.exe*32 service pegs at 100% CPU usage

Sat Oct 03, 2015 9:35 am

I haven't received it yet.

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