mail() versus direct SMTP session

nnichols

Hi guys,

I've been doing some simple tests and wondered what experiences other peeps may have had with this issue.

I have various low volume (<1,000) mailing lists which run quite happily off my usual mailing list manager which uses the PHP mail() function, but some of the lists take a while to run. So I started having a look at using direct SMTP sessions over a socket connection. At the moment all indications point to this being significantly quicker (about 1/200) and using less system resources. (The tests were done on my ISPs box, which is almost an antique.)

Anyone else had any previous experience in this arena?

dalecosp

Not exactly. I am guessing that your benchmarks mean you're on to something - I seem to remember reading something to that effect somewhere.

I do remember "mail() speed" being discussed around here --- here's the thread ... there might be some stuff there you can use ....

HTH,

nnichols

Cheers for that.

I have read similar comments elsewhere but nobody seems to have known much about the causes and internal workings of the function. I know that it opens and closes the socket to the smtp server for every mail sent which is a big, and unnecessary, overhead - but it would still seem very slow.

Using a direct smtp session with the socket opened at the very start and then closed after sending them all has given an amazing speed increase with less system load. Lists that used to take minutes are now completing in seconds.

When I have managed to find out more about the whys and wherefores I shall write a quick tutorial/article, which may be of use to some people. There are some articles on here and devshed already, but none of them are particularily comprehensive.