Hi,

We have lotus Notes email server at Head Office and we were connecting in replication mode from local office through VPN. Now, we have setup an IT helpdesk system in fedora 4. In this system when user create a ticket an automatic email has be sent to the concerned person using sendmail from Linux box (contains apache, php, mysql) which is not happening. Checked and found sendmail is running. I want to troubleshoot why the email is not sending from linux box.

regards,

T. Saravana.

Are there any errors reported in sendmail's log (probably /var/log/maillog)? If so, can you post them here please? If not, have you checked apache's logs for error messages?

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

The following is the log of maillog which i am not sure, because i have created ticket through helpdesk software where email did not send and after that i checked maillog which has not updated. The following entries are the same before i created a ticket.

Oct 24 04:02:14 neptunelinux sendmail[3488]: l9NMWESN003488: from=root, size=37285, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<200710232232.l9NMWESN003488@localhost.localdomain>, relay=root@localhost
Oct 24 04:02:14 neptunelinux sendmail[3489]: l9NMWEV9003489: from=<root@localhost.localdomain>, size=37591, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<200710232232.l9NMWESN003488@localhost.localdomain>, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=neptunelinux [127.0.0.1]
Oct 24 04:02:14 neptunelinux sendmail[3488]: l9NMWESN003488: to=root, ctladdr=root (0/0), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=67285, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (l9NMWEV9003489 Message accepted for delivery)
Oct 24 04:02:15 neptunelinux sendmail[3490]: l9NMWEV9003489: to=<root@localhost.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@localhost.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=local, pri=67819, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent


Further, no errors are found in error_log under httpd.

regards,

T. Saravana

Hi

I forgot to mention that the helpdesk software uses smtp class file to send email. Do you think the problem could be related to this.

regards,

T. Saravana

Hi,

I was trying using class.phpmailer.php where i could not succeed and the following is the log of maillog

Oct 24 11:14:48 neptunelinux sendmail[8415]: l9O5imlV008415: from=apache, size=411, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<0ac9fd9955091849fc9b470146ddaecb@192.168.0.2>, relay=apache@localhost
Oct 24 11:14:48 neptunelinux sendmail[8415]: l9O5imlV008415: to=tsaravan@teri.res.in, delay=00:00:00, mailer=esmtp, pri=30411, dsn=4.4.3, stat=queued
Oct 24 15:21:11 neptunelinux sm-msp-queue[11022]: l9O5imlV008415: l9O9pAVD011022: sender notify: Warning: could not send message for past 4 hours
Oct 24 15:21:11 neptunelinux sendmail[11023]: l9O9pBDT011023: from=<>, size=2185, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<200710240951.l9O9pAVD011022@localhost.localdomain>, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=neptunelinux [127.0.0.1]
Oct 24 15:21:11 neptunelinux sm-msp-queue[11022]: l9O9pAVD011022: to=apache, delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=31593, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (l9O9pBDT011023 Message accepted for delivery)
Oct 24 15:21:12 neptunelinux sendmail[11024]: l9O9pBDT011023: to=root, delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=local, pri=32396, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent

That log output shows the message queued after not being able to send after a 4 hour delay. Delays like that are usually caused by the receiving server not being available to accept the mail. Have you checked that you can resolve and connect to the receiving server? You can also use tools like tcpdump and wireshark to examine the traffic leaving your server to see what is happening to it.

Tsaravan - It could have to do with SMTP. By default, Notes replication takes place under its own protocol when done between servers or a server and client. If you are using SMTP on the Linux computer, you will want to make sure that SMTP is enabled on the Lotus Notes email server. If this particular Notes server routes your mail to the Internet, then SMTP should already be active, but I wanted to make you aware of this.

If SMTP is running on the Lotus Notes server, there are a couple things to check. First check the server log (log.nsf) on the Notes server and under messaging you should see some reference to the Linux server trying to connect to the server. If not, then try a manual telnet test (telnet <ip address of Notes server> 25) from the Linux box to the Lotus Notes server to further diagnose the issue.

If you are seeing references in the Notes log that the Linux server is connecting, see if there is an error message. Most Notes mail servers are set to deny an email if one of the addresses do not contain a reference to your domain. So for instance on the Helpdesk software, you may want to set it so that it sends with an address of helpdesk@yourdomain.com.

If the Notes logs show that the Linux server connected successfully and transferred the message, but you can't find it then on the Notes server check the mailbox file (mail.box) to see if it is residing there with an error as to why it can't be delivered.

Hi,

I think your reply indicates i am near to the problem. Can u please let me know how to check whether i am able to resolve and connect to the receiving server. My linux box is being configured as follows:

1) having two NICs, LAN on eth0 (192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.2, 192.168.0.244) and eth1 (Internet broadband connection with static public ip)

2) DNS Configuration

//
// named.conf for Red Hat caching-nameserver
//

options {
directory "/var/named";
dump-file "/var/named/data/cache_dump.db";
statistics-file "/var/named/data/named_stats.txt";
/*
* If there is a firewall between you and nameservers you want
* to talk to, you might need to uncomment the query-source
* directive below. Previous versions of BIND always asked
* questions using port 53, but BIND 8.1 uses an unprivileged
* port by default.
*/
// query-source address * port 53;
// forward first;
// forwarders {
// 61.1.96.69;
// 61.1.96.71;
// };
};

//
// a caching only nameserver config
//
controls {
inet 127.0.0.1 allow { localhost; } keys { rndckey; };
};

zone "." IN {
type hint;
file "named.ca";
};

zone "localdomain" IN {
type master;
file "localdomain.zone";
allow-update { none; };
};

zone "localhost" IN {
type master;
file "localhost.zone";
allow-update { none; };
};

zone "0.0.127.in-addr.arpa" IN {
type master;
file "named.local";
allow-update { none; };
};

zone "0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.ip6.arpa" IN {
type master;
file "named.ip6.local";
allow-update { none; };
};

zone "255.in-addr.arpa" IN {
type master;
file "named.broadcast";
allow-update { none; };
};

zone "0.in-addr.arpa" IN {
type master;
file "named.zero";
allow-update { none; };
};

zone "teri.res.in" IN {
type slave;
file "slaves/teri.res.in.hosts";
masters {
172.16.0.41;
};
};
zone "src.teri.res.in" IN {
type slave;
file "slaves/src.teri.res.in.hosts";
masters {
172.16.0.41;
};
};
include "/etc/rndc.key";

3) resolv.conf
nameserver 127.0.0.1

Further we have VPN box configured another ISP's broadband connection whose private ip is 192.168.0.3 and this has been assigned to all the users in our LAN as gateway for accessing internal services provided by Head Office such as Intranet, ESS etc. Hence linux box is serving as squid proxy where all the users browser is being configured this IP as a proxy.

I hope, i am not confusing or diverting by giving above details. This is just to diagonise the problem if i am wrong in anything else.

regards,

T. Saravana