Demo
Demo

Knowledge base

PMTA knowledge base›Command§ 6.3.25

pause queue

critical

Pause a queue
Stop delivery without touching the messages

Stops delivery for the selected queues until they are resumed with resume queue. Messages stay in place.

The target is a domain[/address] queue, stars are allowed: the manual’s example */customer1 stops all queues of one sending address.

A paused queue and a queue in backoff mode look alike but are treated differently: show queues with –paused=yes shows the pause.

The main trap is a pause without a deadline. A pause itself is never lifted: the queue stands until someone remembers, while the bounce-after lifetime of the messages keeps running.
What the Hub does. It calls it — the “Pause queue” operation in control goes through POST /command with the node key. Policies set it too — for example, stopping all queues of a sending address with the */address target. The “IP in a blocklist” policy takes an address out entirely this way: it pauses all sending addresses that send from it — disable source is no good for this, it takes one queue.

A pause can be given a deadline: when it expires the Hub calls resume queue itself. The result is checked with a snapshot of paused queues before and after.

Recommended values

When to call it:

Question This command or not
stop sending to one receiver yes — domain or domain/address
stop one sending address everywhere yes — */address
stop one campaign no — pause job
hold back without stopping no — set queue to backoff mode
The action, the target form and the example with a star come from the manual (§ 6.3.25). The analysis of deadlines is ours.
Example configuration
# stop and resume all queues of one sending address
pmta pause queue */customer1pmta resume queue */customer1
The manual’s example: stopping and resuming with the same target.
yellow — — directive names, blue — blocks. They are highlighted the same way in the text of the card.
Compatibility
PowerMTA 6.0
described in the manual of this version · platform: any
The vendor does not state the first version for every directive — there is no note here. The name also appears in the 5.0 edition of the manual.
⇄

Related entries

2 relations

Can be replaced by

Resume a queueA neighboring command: the same subject from another side. § 6.3.27Delete messages from the queueA neighboring command: the same subject from another side. inference

Referenced from

Pause a jobA neighboring command: the same subject from another side. § 6.3.26

How to check on the node
Check that the queues are paused:
pmta show queues --paused=yes --no-rcpt-events --maxitems=1000
The command has its own ceiling of twenty lines, so the length is set explicitly.
◇

What else to read

2 articles

◇How to name a queue in a commandHow to name a queue in a command argument: the same “receiving server and sending address” pair with asterisks added.◇Two tags the sender puts on a messageA job groups messages, an envelope identifier identifies one; the submitting side sets both, and only by them can you later select your mail in the node’s queue.

In the Hub
Cost of a mistake
reversible: harms only while it is set
Scenarios
Emergency stop
Priority
critical