<p>This all makes sense now as I used to restart Mercury every day. Recently, I took to restarting it ony after a configuration change or server restart. I'll make a note to clear the logs folder when this happens. FWIW Windows 2008 does not have problems with a large number of files created by our server. I've had over 10,000 in the folder and have been able to view, move them without issue. Mind you, your definition of 'many files' may be higher than mine :)</p><p>Thanks again for the help.</p>

<P>Hi again</P> <P>I have noticed for some time now that the logs created by mercury are not consistent.</P> <P>For example, today I was looking at a file named TCP0A1F.MS created on the 10 Aug and modified on the 21 Aug. The file contained transaction details for connections made on the 10 and 21 Aug:</P> <P>11:58:54.646: Connection from 192.168.0.70, Wed Aug 10 11:58:54 2011<lf> 11:58:54.646: << 220 apsarchaeology.co.uk ESMTP server ready.<cr><lf> 11:58:54.646: >> EHLO Orion<cr><lf> 11:58:54.646: << 250-apsarchaeology.co.uk Hello Orion; ESMTPs are:<cr><lf>250-TIME<cr><lf> 11:58:54.646: << 250-SIZE 0<cr><lf> 11:58:54.646: << 250-AUTH CRAM-MD5 LOGIN<cr><lf> 11:58:54.646: << 250-AUTH=LOGIN<cr><lf> 11:58:54.646: << 250 HELP<cr><lf> 11:58:54.646: >> AUTH LOGIN<cr><lf> 11:58:54.646: << 334 VXNlcm5hbWU6<cr><lf> 11:58:54.646: --- Connection closed normally at Wed Aug 10 11:58:54 2011. --- 11:58:54.646: 00:48:26.630: Connection from 65.15.109.253, Sun Aug 21 00:48:26 2011<lf> 00:48:26.630: << 220 apsarchaeology.co.uk ESMTP server ready.<cr><lf> 00:48:30.593: >> EHLO SCHASPA001<cr><lf> 00:48:30.593: << 250-apsarchaeology.co.uk Hello SCHASPA001; ESMTPs are:<cr><lf>250-TIME<cr><lf> 00:48:30.593: << 250-SIZE 0<cr><lf> 00:48:30.593: << 250-AUTH CRAM-MD5 LOGIN<cr><lf> 00:48:30.593: << 250-AUTH=LOGIN<cr><lf> 00:48:30.593: << 250 HELP<cr><lf> 00:48:33.870: >> AUTH LOGIN<cr><lf> 00:48:33.870: << 334 VXNlcm5hbWU6<cr><lf> 00:48:36.975: >> c3VwcG9ydA==<cr><lf> 00:48:36.975: << 334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6<cr><lf> 00:48:36.505: >> c3VwcG9ydDEyMzQ=<cr><lf> 00:48:36.505: << 501 Authentication failed - bad user or password.<cr><lf> 00:48:37.504: --- Connection closed normally at Sun Aug 21 00:48:37 2011. --- 00:48:37.504: </P> <P>This is all the log file contained. Why has the information from the connection made on the 21 Aug been logged in a file that was created on the 10th? This makes it very difficult to track and troubleshoot connections created in the past.</P> <P>I don't know what generated the connection from Orion (192.168.0.70). Orion is the server that Mercury/32 is installed on. I am seeing quite a few of these since we switched from MessageLabs to Webroot, but that is probably a coincidence.</P> <P>Any help will be appreciated.</P> <P>Thanks.</P>

<p>Session logs are meant to be used for troubleshooting under a shorter time and then removed. If switched on for a longer time, with server restarts in between, filenames will be re-used resulting in new content being appended to existing files.</p><p>/Rolf </p>

<P>Thanks, Rolf</P> <P>At what interval should the logs be cleared to avoid the same filename being reused? Or, should it done each time Mercury is restarted?</P>

<p>Clearing files at restart is enough to avoid appending to old log files. But Windows may eventually choke on having to many files in the same directory...</p><p>/Rolf  </p>