Exim handling e-mail to nonexistent accounts

[Jdw]

My server is running Exim 4.72 with spamassassin 3.3.1 and RBL lists enabled.

Exim is set up to fail email that is sent to nonexistent users which is working fine, but the messages are sent through the spam filter first. From my Exim rejectlog:

2011-08-31 14:58:13 F=<[email protected]> rejected RCPT <[email protected]>: Email blocked by SPAMHAUS
2011-08-31 14:58:15 F=<[email protected]> rejected RCPT <[email protected]>:

This is causing heavy load from spamd on the server. Is it possible to fail e-mail sent to non-existing users directly, without going through spamassassin first?

 

[mr.applesauce]

Yes that is possible.

 

[nobaloney]

It's unlikely this is causing a heavy spamd load on your server, because the log examples you show indicate that the email is being blocked by a DNS-based blocklist, by way of an Access Control List (ACL) long before it gets near SpamAssassin.

Jeff