PHPList: Throttling Outgoing Mail
PHPList is a mailing list script that can be installed using Softaculous. For installation instructions, see this article.
- Find the configuration file for your PHPList installation. The directory you installed PHPList to will have a folder in it called "config", and within that you will find the "config.php". An example path might look like "home/user/public_html/list/config/config.php".
- Edit this file with cPanel or download the file and edit it on your computer using a simple text editor (notepad, wordpad, etc).
- Find the section called "batch processing".
- The area after "batch processing" will look like this:
# define the amount of emails you want to send per period. If 0, batch processing
# is disabled and messages are sent out as fast as possible
define("MAILQUEUE_BATCH_SIZE",0);
# define the length of one batch processing period, in seconds (3600 is an hour)
define("MAILQUEUE_BATCH_PERIOD",3600);
# to avoid overloading the server that sends your email, you can add a little delay
# between messages that will spread the load of sending
# you will need to find a good value for your own server
# value is in seconds (or you can play with the autothrottle below)
define('MAILQUEUE_THROTTLE',0); - To throttle the mailing list, you will be changing the "('MAILQUEUE_THROTTLE',0)" value. A value of 8, for example, will limit PHPList to 450 emails per hour. You can adjust this setting to determine what works best for you and your server load.
- Save the file. If using cPanel, you are done. If you downloaded the file, you will need to replace the file on your website with the newly edited file. Rename the old file and keep it as a backup for possible troubleshooting in the future.
