Topic: Can't send or receive

[Abby]

Hi guys, on my e-smith we can't send any e-mail or receive, although when I ping the IP and th FQDN (Domain name) I get response, and we are using outlook express, the strange thing is that when you send an e-mail it shows you that it did contact the server and it even leave a copy in the sent folder (Outlook xpress) and when you check your e-mail it also contact the server but it tells me, No mail.
There is no error messages what so ever, please please help

Thanx

[Kelvin]

Abby,

Just out of curiosity, do you have a PC setup to collect mail from the admin account ? If not, set one up and try collecting any mail that might be sitting there. If all your 'missing' mail suddenly turn up in the admin mailbox, there is very likely some sort of configuration error.

You should also check the /var/log/maillog to see what's been going on.

Kelvin

[Abby]

Kelvin, Than you, I don't know what is set on the e-smith server because I inhereted it from an Admin that is no longer with us, and I'm an MS person.
All I know now is how to go to e-smith manager via HTTP and I also know that it is running in "Server mode only" the IPs are correct the gatway(router) is running, we have T1, the e-smith was working fine until yesterday, I have tried to use the IP in OutLook Xpress instead of mail.xxxx.com it didn't work.
Q: could you please tell me how:
1- I can get a list of open ports?
2- how to see in SMTP or POP3 are enabled/disabled
3- how to get to the configuration mode ie ( Alt+F2 .... etc.)

Please Help, I know it might be toooo much of your time, but hay that is why there is heaven

[Scott]

1) Go to www.grc.com and test your shields, this will tell you which ports are open. (www.firewallcheck.com will do the same)

2) .../server-manager  configuration will tell you a bit about your e-mail settings

3) At the console Alt-F1 will give you a console GUI, alternatively login as admin form the command prompt and you should get to the same place

[Kelvin]

Abby,

> 1- I can get a list of open ports?

Hmm, you are running in server only mode and you have another gateway (router ? PC running NAT software ? firewall-cum-router ?) which links you to the internet.

Depending on what sort of router you are using, you may or may not use Scott's suggestion of going to www.grc.com to check for open ports as the machine you are checking is very likely to be the router / gateway and NOT the ESSG. If the ESSG is sitting behind a firewall/router/NAT gateway then you will need port scanning software which you can run locally on the LAN. (Sorry, can't think of any as I've not personnaly used them but know about them - search www.davecentral.com or cnet.com).


> 2- how to see in SMTP or POP3 are enabled/disabled

The fact that your mail clients are not reporting ANY errors implies that the services are running (they might not be working the way you expect but they are there and accepting connections).



> 3- how to get to the configuration mode ie ( Alt+F2 .... etc.)

Let's troubleshoot a little first.

Do this from the console of the ESSG (ie. the actual K/B and Monitor attached to the ESSG - unless you have access via Telnet or ssh but I won't get into that right now). Hit Alt-F2 and you should get a login prompt. Login with the username 'root' (without quotes) and the password is the same password you use to get into the e-smith manager from a web browser. Once logged in, type in :-

cd /var/log

This puts you into the log directory. The log file to examine is maillog. To view the last few lines in the log, type :-

tailf maillog

You could view the whole maillog file from the top, one screen at a time with the cat command :-

cat maillog | more

Examine the entries in maillog and post a snippet of it for us to have a look to see if anyone can help.

Unfortunately, I'll  have to leave it here as I've had a long day and need to catch some ZZZs. I'll follow up again when next the sun shines !

Good luck !

Kelvin

[Rick]

Abby
from your windows box open internet explorer, type www and hit enter does it take you to your e-smith home page or elsewhere eg: your isp's home page? if it is taking you to the e-smith box then the fix is quite simple, if this is the case let me know and i shall point you in the right direction

Rick

[Abby]

Rick & Kelvin, when I type www in IE it does NOT take me to e-smith manager it takes me to a page that has a small box that looks like they want to sell me a domain name.
I'm sure now that our ports are open 25 and 110, there is enough space on the HD, and I'm going crazy.
Kelvin I will try to post few lines from the maillog file.
Thank you guys

[Abby]

One more thing to add guys, i tried to send and e-mail from IE using our web-based e-mail (IMP) and it gave me an error message but the message only said " there was an error sending your message" and the date.

Thanx

[Rick]

Abby, have you added a dns suffix search order on your windows boxes?