Modify Number of SpamAssassin Processes for Plesk

For Plesk 8.0

Up to Plesk version 8.0, Parallel's did not include any method to manage the limit of processes, referred to as "Children", for Spam Assassin. So all accounts that predate Plesk 8.1, in which Parallel's finally included the ability to manage the Spam Assassin processes via the control panel, were left with no way to modify the number of processes for Spam Assassin.

However it is still possible to modify this limit, which will help with both memory and CPU resources for your Plesk server. In order to do this, you will need to log into your server via SSH/Shell, so you will need to be familiar with either Nano, Pico or VI to make these changes.

To make the changes, follow the directions below.

1. Log into your Plesk server by user SSH. If you are using a Mac OS you can use the terminal funcation to do this. You can refer to http://www.hosting.com/support/linux/general/sshmac. If you are using a Windows OS, you can use putty to log into the server. If you are not familiar with doing this, you can refer to http://www.hosting.com/support/linux/general/sshwindows.


2. Once you have logged into the server, you will need to locate "SPAMASSASSIN_MAX_CHILDREN" value. This will be set in the "/etc/psa/psa.conf" file. Locate the following setting and make the following change.

Locate: 

SPAMASSASSIN_MAX_CHILDREN 20

Change to:

SPAMASSASSIN_MAX_CHILDREN

For Plesk 8.1 to 9.X

Parallel's has revised the process for making changes to Spam Assassin in version 8.1 and up. Now all you need to change is Spam Assassin setting that is located under the Spam Filter Settings.

1. Log into the Plesk control panel and then navigate to the Spam Filter Setting.


2. Once there you can will need to change the number of Spamd processes. The default value is 5, however you can change this is you would like to lower it.





3. Once you make the change you will get a confirmation message show the change was made successfully.