Topic: Email only sent out on server reboot

[DAM]

Hello Everybody,

   I have an interesting issue with my new 6.0 install.  

The server receives emails sent from the internet quickly, but will only send emails to the internet when the server is rebooted?!?

Has anyone seen this before or can they offer some advice as to what the problem may be?

Thanks... Newbie!

[mike_mattos]

I've seen servers stop sending e-mail on two or three occasions, not sure why.  I suspected a loss of internet connectivity for an extended period.

In all cases normal operation resumed after a reboot.

[DAM]

Let me rephrase the problem...

If I send an email to an address on the internet, the email is spooled on the SME Server until the server is rebooted.

When the server is rebooted, all emails destined for the internet are sent out.

Then SME Server continues to spool emails until the server is rebooted again.

It appears that whatever task sends emails (a qmail task of some sort) only seems to run on reboot and then shuts down.

[CharlieBrady]

If I send an email to an address on the internet, the email is spooled on the SME Server until the server is rebooted.

When the server is rebooted, all emails destined for the internet are sent out.

Then SME Server continues to spool emails until the server is rebooted again.

It appears that whatever task sends emails (a qmail task of some sort) only seems to run on reboot and then shuts down.

This should be obvious, but have you looked in any of the log files?

There are also mail log analysis tools, which will tell you, for instance, how many messages are waiting in the queues, and what reasons the have been for message delivery deferral.

[DAM]

I have now downloaded and installed 6.0.1 and have the same issue.  I wonder if I am doing something wrong during the out-of-the-box basic install.

I have had a look at the mail log analysis reports and the only place my outgoing emails appear is on the "List outgoing and recipients" report.  The "Reasons for deferral" has nothing in it.

Something that might be of interest in analysis of this problem (and perhaps an obvious answer) is that there are a number of tasks that come up as "disabled" when the machine is booted.  They are:
 - nut
 - dhcpcd
 - diald
 - pppoe
 - ntpd
 - sshd

Does something obvious spring to mind?  Why do these tasks not start at boot?

Thanks

[MSmith]

Most of the tasks you cite won't start unless you've configured them; for instance, ntpd won't start until you configure the machine to stay synced with an Internet time server, from the Server Manager.  As for your email issue, are you specifying a DNS server during the config part, and have you configured your ISP's SMTP server in the Email portion of Server Manager?

[CharlieBrady]

I have had a look at the mail log analysis reports and the only place my outgoing emails appear is on the "List outgoing and recipients" report.  The "Reasons for deferral" has nothing in it.

In that case, presumably all messages have been delivered, and aren't stuck in your mail queue.

[DAM]

MSmith,
   Thanks for the info on the tasks, I wasn't sure if this was normal or not.

   I didn't specify a DNS when configuring the system.  Everything else behind the SME Server (two laptops and a PDA) doesn't have an issue resolving names.

   I haven't specified an ISP SMTP server as it is my understanding that the SMEServer is an SMTP server and specifying an ISP's SMTP server is only required when the ISP blocks port 25?  Is that correct?

   I'll give a little background as to my setup.

- ADSL connection
- ADSL Modem + Router (SpeedTouch 510) (IP: 10.0.0.138)
- SME Server (External IP: 10.0.0.1, Internal IP 192.168.0.1, DHCP 192.168.0.100 -> 192.168.0.255)
- DLink DWL-2000AP Wireless AP
- 2 X Laptops + 1 x PDA (DHCP from the SME gives these devices a DNS of 192.168.0.1)

As emails are sent out during restart of the machine, I am sure there is not an issue in the way I have my hardware setup or configured.

[DAM]

CharlieBrady,
   It is my understanding of the analysis log files that emails can be in three phases (Not yet attempted to be sent, Attempted to sent and sent) resulting in 4 states for an email:
 - Not yet attempted send
 - Sent - Success
 - Sent - Failure
 - Sent - Deferred

"List outgoing and recipients" shows emails that have been added to the outgoing queue, but no attempt to send has been made.  When an attempt to send them is made, they go to one of the three "Sent" states (Success, Failure or Deferred).

My emails sit in the "List outgoing and recipients" report (ie no attempt to send yet) until I reboot the machine and then they appear in the Success, Failure or Deferred reports.

Any further thoughts?

[MSmith]

Yes, SME's built-in SMTP server can usually handle the job ... but have you *tried* specifying your ISP's SMTP server and seeing what happens?