Re: Problems with Mail Service on MacOSX Server Snow Leopard 10.6.8

Hi Nigel (et al),

Thanks for your post.

On 05/10/2012, at 4:22 PM, Morson wrote:

> Just spotted this thread whilst searching for info on the same =
problem.

Still happening to me, about once every three months.

> I find I can normally get the mail working again by deleting the =
offending
> message from the mail queue.

Yes, I have found that as well.

What's worrying though is a lot of entries in the mail queue (in OS X =
Server Admin at least) look completely garbled and I worry I might be =
deleting messages other than the ones I think I am.

I probably should be using the command line (but I am tired ;-).

> If you sort by date you'll probably find there
> are two messages from the same person at the top of the list. If you =
click
> on them, one will show 'trace service failure' in the info window. =
Delete
> both and hit Retry button. It might take a while to sort out, as the =
failure
> cycle has to get up to 11 (the fatal one) before it will try again. =
The
> other way I found of confirming which message caused the problem is to
> search for 'trace service' in the SMPT log and then noting the message =
ID.
> It should correspond to the message ID of one of the messages =
identified by
> the previous method.

This is VERY useful, thank you. I will try it next time it happens.

> In our case it seems to be triggered by read receipt requests. If we =
ask the
> sender to turn them off the messages get through fine.

Very interesting thanks. =20

Is there some way we can fix it at our end though - it's a bit hard to =
ask everyone else not to send read receipt requests ;-)

Thanks again for taking the time to post your solution.

Cheers,
Ashley.


>=20
>=20
>=20
> Ashley Aitken wrote:
>>=20
>>=20
>> Hi All,
>>=20
>> I'm having trouble with the Mail service on MacOSX Server Snow =
Leopard
>> 10.6.8.  A few days ago it just suddenly stopped delivering email =
both
>> ways (outgoing and incoming).  Email doesn't bounce it just seems to =
get
>> trapped in postfix.
>>=20
>> The SMTP log repeats:
>>=20
>> Oct 22 07:02:21 server postfix/qmgr[33748]: warning: connect #1 to
>> subsystem private/trace: Connection refused
>> Oct 22 07:02:31 server postfix/qmgr[33748]: warning: connect #2 to
>> subsystem private/trace: Connection refused
>> Oct 22 07:02:41 server postfix/qmgr[33748]: warning: connect #3 to
>> subsystem private/trace: Connection refused
>> Oct 22 07:02:51 server postfix/qmgr[33748]: warning: connect #4 to
>> subsystem private/trace: Connection refused
>> Oct 22 07:03:01 server postfix/qmgr[33748]: warning: connect #5 to
>> subsystem private/trace: Connection refused
>> Oct 22 07:03:11 server postfix/qmgr[33748]: warning: connect #6 to
>> subsystem private/trace: Connection refused
>> Oct 22 07:03:21 server postfix/qmgr[33748]: warning: connect #7 to
>> subsystem private/trace: Connection refused
>> Oct 22 07:03:31 server postfix/qmgr[33748]: warning: connect #8 to
>> subsystem private/trace: Connection refused
>> Oct 22 07:03:41 server postfix/qmgr[33748]: warning: connect #9 to
>> subsystem private/trace: Connection refused
>> Oct 22 07:03:51 server postfix/qmgr[33748]: warning: connect #10 to
>> subsystem private/trace: Connection refused
>> Oct 22 07:04:01 server postfix/qmgr[33748]: fatal: connect #11 to
>> subsystem private/trace: Connection refused
>> Oct 22 07:04:02 server postfix/master[21458]: warning: process
>> /usr/libexec/postfix/qmgr pid 33748 exit status 1
>>=20
>> and the IMAP log shows:
>>=20
>> Oct 21 15:00:09 server dovecot[1446]: IMAP(*): Corrupted index cache =
file
>> =
/var/spool/imap/dovecot/mail/CBAADED6-2713-11D8-94F9-00306542E9BA/.Sent
>> Messages/dovecot.index.cache: Corrupted physical size for uid=3D8712: =
527 !=3D
>> 504
>> Oct 21 15:00:10 server dovecot[1446]: IMAP(*): Corrupted index cache =
file
>> =
/var/spool/imap/dovecot/mail/CBAADED6-2713-11D8-94F9-00306542E9BA/.Sent
>> Messages/dovecot.index.cache: Corrupted physical size for uid=3D8422: =
384 !=3D
>> 369
>>=20
>> (the way to fix these seems to be deleting cache files and letting =
dovecot
>> rebuild them, but I have done that and they still seem to pop up now =
and
>> then)
>>=20
>> and Mail access shows:
>>=20
>> Oct 22 07:06:11 server push_notify[21380]: notification server =
connect
>> failed, will retry in 300 seconds
>>=20
>> There are about 200 emails in the Mail Queue and a strange one with =
id
>> FFFFFFFFFF and recipients and sender [=85] and sometimes strange =
entries pop
>> up in there the look like a mail config file.
>>=20
>> Strangely sometimes a few emails seem to get through and in my =
tinkering a
>> bunch of emails once got through.
>>=20
>> Everything was working find and I don't think I changed anything to =
cause
>> this.
>>=20
>> I've tried just about everything I know, including:
>>=20
>> 1. Stopped and started the Mail Service and rebooted the server =
multiple
>> times
>> 2. Deleted (using Server Admin) entries in the Mail Queue that look
>> problematic (there was one relatively large one 13MB and one or two
>> without recipients in the listing)
>> 3. Turned up logging but nothing new seems to be reported
>> 4. Search the web for the error message but can't find anything =
really
>> related to "private/trace"
>>=20
>> My next idea is to remove all the mail in the Mail Queue but I would
>> prefer not to do that.
>>=20
>> Any suggestions or even pointers to forums that can help with postfix
>> problems (if it is postfix causing this) would be most appreciated.  =
My
>> wife is getting impatient for her email ;-)
>>=20
>> Note this is Snow Leopard Server (running on a Mac mini Server) and =
NOT
>> Lion Server.
>>=20
>> Thanks in advance for any assistance or pointers.
>>=20
>> Cheers,
>> Ashley.
>>=20
>> PS Sending this through
>> MobileMe_______________________________________________
>> MacOSX-admin mailing list
>> [email protected]
>> http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-admin
>>=20
>>=20
>=20
> --=20
> View this message in context: =
http://old.nabble.com/Problems-with-Mail-Service-on-MacOSX-Server-Snow-Leo=
pard-10.6.8-tp32699653p34508281.html
> Sent from the OmniGroup - MacOSX-Admin mailing list archive at =
Nabble.com.
>=20
> _______________________________________________
> MacOSX-admin mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-admin

--
Ashley Aitken
Perth, Western Australia
mrhatken at mac dot com
Social (Facebook, Twitter, Skype etc.): MrHatken=20
Professional (LinkedIn, Twitter, Skype etc.): AshleyAitken

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