Too much Exim Processes.

[9xlinux]

There are too much exim process in my CentOS 5.4 + cPanel server.

exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20283
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20301
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20309
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20318
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20323
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20324
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20325
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20333
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20339
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20340
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20343
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20352
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20362
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20389
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20390
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20391
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20392
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20394
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20396
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20397
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20409
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20412
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20414
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20418
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20420
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20423
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20424
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20427
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20438
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20441
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20444
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20446
exim (/usr/sbin/exim -bd -q180m) running as mailnull with PID 20447

Email setting under Tweak Settings:
Number of minutes between mail server queue runs : 180
The maximum each domain can send out per hour : 30
csf firewall installed

The above settings were working fine from more then year buy now suddenly this issue.
Can anyone guide me in this regards?

 

[MikeDVB]

Generally that would mean that somebody is sending out a ton of email (i.e. usually spamming).

I'd look at the /var/log/exim_mainlog for clues.

 

[MaestriaNick]

Looks like spamming. You may need to check exim mail queue to get summary of messages being sent.

The following will list message summary in the queue

# exim -bp | exiqsumm

Also you can check maillogs at /var/log/exim_mainlog

 

[9xlinux]

# exim -bp | exiqsumm

Count Volume Oldest Newest Domain
----- ------ ------ ------ ------

1 1638 11m 11m xxxx.com
---------------------------------------------------------------
1 1638 11m 11m TOTAL

No email is Mail Queue Manager and no spamming activity detacted but still too much exim process.

 

[9xlinux]

I have checked no user is doing spamming.
Can anyone help??