There are a few things that slow down email:
in /etc/xinetd.d/smtp_psa - disable reverse dns lookups when sending mail:
    server_args     = -Rt0 ...
Take a close look at the server_args line.. is it referencing a defunct RBL?

Make sure there isn't a mail box corruption issue (Restore settings for 
all mailboxes):
/usr/local/psa/admin/bin/mchk --with-spam

Likely qmail-scanner or spamassassin are chewing up your CPU.
Consider installing greylisting (qgreylist), it will reduce your email 
load significantly.
You can get plesk specific RPM's here: http://www.atomicorp.com

JD
Jeremy C. Reed wrote:
> I have an old plesk system where it continually has many "messages in 
> queue but not yet preprocessed" and the messages in queue gets more and 
> more behind. It accpets mails, but doesn't handle them quickly.
>
> It doesn't have any noticable bottlenecks.
>
> It appears to start doing this when ever the load average gets above 
> three. When I stop jobs and the load goes below, it starts delivering 
> again.
>
> My questions:
>
> - how to get qmail to report why the mail is "not yet preprocessed"? (This 
> is not indicated in my logs.)
>
> (In the past I have had same problem due to lack of disk space -- but 
> qmail never logged about that either.)
>
> - any config to look at that tells qmail to not preprocess based on some 
> condition?
>
> Since this is plesk, it is not a DJB-standard system.
>
> It has qmail-send running:
>
> It uses xinetd to to handle smtp connections which then runs:
>
> /var/qmail/bin/tcp-env  -R /var/qmail/bin/relaylock \
> /var/qmail/bin/qmail-smtpd /var/qmail/bin/smtp_auth /var/qmail/bin/true \
> /var/qmail/bin/cmd5checkpw /var/qmail/bin/true
>
> Any suggestions to look at would be appreciated.
>
>   Jeremy C. Reed
>
> p.s. We are migrating from this system, but in the meanwhile I need to 
> keep it alive.
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-- 
JD Austin
Twin Geckos Technology Services LLC
email: jd@twingeckos.com
http://www.twingeckos.com
phone/fax: 480.288.8195 


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