Demo
Demo

Knowledge base

PMTA knowledge base›Command§ 6.3.39

set priority

Change the order of messages
What goes out first

Sets the priority of messages matching the filter: queue, sender, recipient, job, envelope identifier.

Helps when something urgent is stuck behind a large regular campaign. It does not increase throughput — it only reorders. The current recipient priority is shown by list with –priority.

The main trap is expecting immediate sending. Priority changes the order within a queue, not the limits: if the queue has hit its rate or connection limit, the urgent message still waits for its window.
What the Hub does. It does not call it.
Recommended values

When to use it:

Question This command or not
let one message jump ahead yes — –rcpt
speed up the whole queue no — the limits are set by the configuration
look at the priority no — list with –priority
The filter options and the example come from the manual (§ 6.3.39); showing the priority is list –priority (§ 6.3.29). The trap analysis is ours.
Example configuration
# raise the priority of a message to one recipient
pmta set priority --rcpt=ceo@example.com 100
An example from the manual: the number is the new priority of the selected messages.
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.
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Related entries

1 relation

Works together with

The list of recipients in a queueA neighboring command: the same subject from another side. § 6.3.29

Referenced from

Two priorities, and which of them winsA third path, not a setting: reorder messages already sitting in a queue. § 11.9.1

How to check on the node
Check the priority:
pmta list --rcpt=ceo@example.com --priority
The recipient’s line should show the new priority.
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What else to read

3 articles

◇Four ways to say “slower”Messages, data volume, connection rate and number of connections — each has its own limit, and each has a “per source address” variant and a backoff mode twin.◇Warm-up built into the engineA warmed-up address hands the first N messages of the day for each receiver to its cold partner; the partner sends them itself and builds history.◇The sending address — what it is made ofA named set of everything that is a property of the address: which IP the message leaves from, how the node introduces itself, what it signs with and how fast it sends.

In the Hub
Cost of a mistake
reversible: harms only while it is set
Scenarios
Address warm-up