what could caused my system to retrieve pop mails very slow? Is there a way for me debug this issue? tnx in advance....

too many variables. Sometimes, POP is simply slow. Other times, the POP server is over-loaded (or under attack). Sometimes you are using your own-bandwidth servicing another request (P2P services?). Sometimes, someone has simply sent you Emails with VERY LARGE attachments.

Or maybe (but not likely) you actually have some weird config problem.

tnx

pop mail slow still happen on 1 of the servers. The other 3 servers we have both Linux and Windows do not have this problem when accessed from the same mail clients.

As far as we know their is no load issue, I do not ever remember seeing a top over .5 on
this box.

Third the logs do not show any sort of excessive pop accesses which would
indicate overloading or an attack.

Fourth bandwidth is not an issue because (a) none of the other services on the
box are running slow such as web and (b) we are on on T3 and have never
saturated.

Fifth the issue has happened after I empty the pop account and send a single
text email with no attachments and a total size on the mailbox file of under
1k.

It looks to me like something is locking the mailbox file some of the time,
when the mail is trying to be read by the pop service, the question is what.
and I need your company's help to find the issue.

POP is not simply slow, there has to be a reason for a mail client to hang for
10 to 20 minutes at a time trying to read the file, then all of a sudden the
mail will "flow". This is not normal, because it only happens to 1 of the servers.

Please advise.

Thank you.