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Using SSH to View the Mail Queue on Dedicated or VPS

Overview

This article will explain how to view the outgoing email queue or exim queue in SSH.

Click on any of the sections to jump to that point in the guide.

What You Need

  • The password for the root user on your server.
  • An SSH client like Terminal (Mac, Linux) or Putty (Windows).
  • A domain name that points to your server or your servers IP address.

Login through SSH

These instructions require knowing the root password for your server. If you don't know the root password or haven't set one up please see https://my.Bluehost.com/hosting/help/whm-login#root-password.

Using Terminal (Mac, Linux)

  1. Open Terminal
  2. Type the following command to login into your server through SSH:
    ssh root@exampledomain.com
    Note: Replace exampledomain.com with your domain or IP address.
  3. If you receive a message about the authenticity of the host, type yes to continue connecting.
  4. When it asks for your password, enter the root password to your server.
    Note: It's normal not to see anything on the screen change as you enter your password.

Using Putty (Windows)

To make an SSH connection on Windows, you must have a compatible SSH client such as putty. You can download putty from http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html.

  1. Open Putty
  2. Enter your domain or IP address as the hostname.
  3. Enter 22 for the port number.
  4. Protocol should be set to SSH.
  5. Click the Open button.
  6. If you receive a message about the authenticity of the host, type yes to continue connecting.
  7. When it asks for the username type:root
  8. When it asks for the password, enter the password for the root user Note: It's normal not to see anything on the screen change as you enter your password.

Checking the Queue

To see the number of emails in queue enter:
exim -bpc

To print a list of messages in queue enter:
exim -bp

Clearing the Queue

To remove a single message from the queue, enter:
exim -Mrm MessageID
Note: replace MessageID with the ID of the message you want remove.

To clear out the entire mail queue please see: Clearing the Mail Queue on VPS and Dedicated Servers

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