Maximum attachment size for Emails - why, and do you agree with me?

[bazil2]

(Elementary user)

Our mailserver (Sendmail) has a limit in both sending and receiving emails that have an attachment size exceeding 6MB.

I know that this is correct practise i.e. that allowing the sending of attachments exceeding this is simply not acceptable and is not professional in the business world.

My arguments are that attachments exceeding 6MB should be sent using other protocols like FTP or HTTP. Further, due to the constant forwarding of mails internally there is a danger of the mailserver becoming full.

Is my line of thinking now somewhat outdated?

Best regards

 

[psi07004]

Somewhat.... It is not difficult to exceed 6MB with say a pdf version of a contract. Having such sent by ftp or http is typically not practical. Given internet speeds, it would not be unusual to allow up to 50MB. With that said, if you are in an environment where you "know" that such things will not happen or be necessary, limiting to 6MB should not be an issue.

Regarding sendmail, you only really get into trouble if your mqueue area is not large enough, or someone sends an email with a large attachment to a list, where one or more of the recipients cannot receive the email.