Topic: Sending mail from Clients Problem

[Wooderson]

I think I'm seeing the same issue with a client here too.

Contribs.org 6.0 release.
Securemail conrib, clam av and spam assassin are installed.
ALL the clients with outlook 2000 work fine, however the clients with Outlook XP will time out every time.

Tomorrow I'm going to run a "netsh int reset c:\resetlog.txt" on one of the problem clients and then pull Outlook XP and replace it with Outlook 2000 (since all the other OL2000 clients work fine) if that doesn't do it.

I haven't checked the logs to see if the error is exactly the same, but I will.

[Brenno]

I've done more testing in an effort to fix this, and I will continue to post progress on this forum in case it's of benefit to anyone else (which is what this forum is for, IMHO.)

So, I brought the old 5.6 server online again and began using it for testing.  Immediately, I noticed that I was not having any of the problems using this server as IMAP as I am with the 6.0b3 machine!

Therefore, I must conclude that this is either:

a) a problem with 6.0b3 itself not found in 5.6, or,
b) a problem with my installation/configuration.

Unfortunately, determining which option it is will be difficult as it will require significant work to prove either case.

[Jon_Reynolds]

Hey Brenno,

Is there a reason why you are using the 6.0b3 instaed of 6.0.1-01?

Jon

[Brenno]

Jon,

Good question.  I'm using 6.0b3 as it's the last version I downloaded and burned as an ISO for installation.

Do you feel that 6.01-01 would be more reliable?  I'm open to suggestion at this point.

My current plan of action is to move all email to the 5.6 server and go live with it until I can figure out the best option with the 6.0b3 machine.  I am considering installing 5.6 on it, too, and going from there - but I am starting carte blanche.  And I'm going to test the new machine to death before I implement it - that was likely my problem with the last time.  Had I been more patient, I may have done things differently and avoided this.

I gave some thought to the possibility that the problem has something to do with the fact that I have 4 drives in the 6.0b3 machine.  2 are as RAID1, the other two I added as per a howto listed within the forums here, one drive mounted at /home/e-smith/files/users the other at /home/e-smith/files/ibays.  This provides maximum space for data as I couldn't get it to install as a RAID5 using the hardware in the machine. The install saw right through it and only installed on one drive.  The catch with this setup is that quotas just aren't working properly, but that didn't seem significant at the time.  I considered simply reversing the procedure in the howto, but didn't want to do something so big while the server was live.  Maybe this has some bearing on it?

[Jon_Reynolds]

Well the latest one is 6.0.1-01 from the download page, so that is what I would use. The b3 means obviously beta and I wouldn't want to use a beta version in production.

I went back and re-read your posts, is mail working to some locations and not to others? What do the mailer-daemon messages tell you? Can you see your message leave your network through the logs?

SSH into your SME box and do a 'tail -f -n 30 /var/log/smtp-qmail/current' and watch as each message. Then, while monitoring that send out 3 emails one to someone internally, externally and to your ISP where you have an account, which messages show up?

Did they all leave your server and only a few show up at their intended destinations?

Is this the problem you are having or is it just trying to get your IMAP to sort messages correctly?

Jon

[Brenno]

Jon,

I guess it boils down to getting IMAP to sort messages correctly.  Actual delivery of mail to remote/local recipients was never really an issue; neither was receipt of mail from remote/local senders.  I've used two 6.0b3 machines as POP servers for the last year and half or so (since that version came out,) and have never had a problem.  I haven't tried IMAP on the other 6.0b3 server yet, though.

The next question is: what is easier - migrating the data from an existing 5.6 to a fresh 5.6 and then upgrading to 6.01-01, or migrating the data from an existing 5.6 to a freshly 6.01-01?

The answer to that will govern my next move, really.  I don't want to continue using the existing 5.6 for long because I don't trust the hardware - that's why I bought the new hardware!

[Jon_Reynolds]

Hmmm, that is the question. I have never had to upgrade from 5.6 because when I found SME it was in the progress of moving to a new version so I waited it out.

Whatever you do, make sure you have complete backups to restore from and that they work. If it were me I would setup my new server how I want it then migrate everything over. I wouldn't trust a script to migrate it over because then if something is not right I would always doubt the script and maybe miss the real problem.

What would probably be the best way is to either clone or configure another 5.6 that exactly resembles your current box. Then throw the 6.0.1-01 cd in and upgrade the 5.6 and see if anything breaks, if not, then thats the way to go.

Jon

[precisenz]

I dont think its specifically an IMAP problem as my clients are using POP with this issue.  Oddly enough if the client machine is rebooted 2-3 times it works fine without problem for the rest of the day.  Only seems to affect users that take their machines off the network overnight (Laptop users).

Since so many seem to have this problem and to begin reducing this problem down, can ppl post what they are trying so others can test it on their systems too so we all don't just hit our heads against a brick wall trying the same ol' same ol'?!

[tpearsall]

Any updates on this issue?  I have timeout errors on secure smtp connections periodically with the same 2 users out of about 12.  Inside the network the secure mail works fine, from the outside it timeouts on occassion.

I thought it may have been an MTU issue and tried lowering the MTU to 1300 on one of the laptops having trouble, but to no avail.  

Config:
- SME 6.0.1
- Secure mail smtps/pops/ssmtp
- spam assasin
- avmailgate

Thanks,
Todd

[Brenno]

As a really late followup to my initial series of posts, I have resolved all the issues I was having with IMAP and 6.0b3 by upgrading the machine in question to 6.0 final.  It's working beautifully now.

To migrate between the old and new server, I first upgraded the old server to 6.0 to ensure the file structures were the same, and I recreated the user accounts on the new machine manually.  Then I just used rsync to copy all of their content (email, files, etc,) from the old machine to the new machine.

Lastly, I shut down the old machine and reset the IP of the new one to match that of the old one.  (This meant I wouldn't have to reconfigure the external firewall's port fowarding rules or the workstation's email client settings.)

I guess it was just a flaw in 6.0b3's packages.