I have a customer hosted here who sends out periodic mass mailings using phpList. His mailing list has grown to roughly 9,000 names (double-opt-in). I have the script configured to send in batches of 50 messages with a delay of 90 seconds between batches, which means it takes a minimum of 4.5 hours to send to the entire list.*
Would a batch size of 100, 200, or 500 messages be too large? What would be the minimum delay between batches? I want to optimize the sending without overloading the servers.
Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Tim
Actual performance varies a bit and ends up being quite a bit slower than what you think you should get. His last mailing took nearly eight hours to fully complete.
50-100 mails a time is fine and 90 seconds is not really a big relief to the mailserver. 9000 is a problem here on shared server and I would say get a VPS and use it with even 500-1000 a time.
Thanks for the reply. He’s not going to go for a VPS all on his own (too expensive for his budget). I guess I don’t have other sites that I’d put on it to justify me paying that expense either. Plus, his site runs ColdFusion which means buying a license, probably a multi-user license ($$$$$$).
I guess if his site becomes a performance issue, you guys will tell me. In that case, I’ll move his mailing operations elsewhere. (At least I hope you will tell me before kicking me or him off the server.)
I didnt mean a Windows VPS, but a Linux one that you can do for free to almost no cost with your reseller account. Plus it can be used for other tasks as well.
We sure will tell in case of any issue.
I get a Linux VPS as part of my reseller package? I guess I missed that. I’ll have to re-read the package details page. … Oh, there, I see it in my reseller control panel. Cool!
And, I misspoke about the ColdFusion. His mailer script runs on a separate domain from his primary and the mailer domain is running on web4 (Linux).