Hello Jay,
which client release is on the Mercury Box, we had sometimes same problems with some older Novell clients.
Klaus
We are currently having an issue with our Mercury/32 Server where it seems to forget about NDS users at random while accepting mail via MercuryS. We have a Netware 6.5 SP5 Server where user's home directories are. Local Domains looks like:
LMC.PCB merc.pbu.edu
LMC.PCB merc
where LMC.PCB is the NDS Org. Unit where all our Mercury users are contained and merc.pbu.edu is the DNS name of our mercury server. Our primary Linux mail server, mail.pbu.edu accepts the mail for all @pbu.edu accounts and then redirects mail for Mercury users to their @merc.pbu.edu address so that Mercury gets it (@merc.pbu.edu is only used for the forwarding, no users actually send mail from @merc.pbu.edu). This works great most of the time but at seemingly random points through the day, Mercury will forget a user and reply to the Linux server with a "550 Address '<jlee@merc.pbu.edu>' not known here." Under Network Support settings we have "Use LDAP Email attributes as Mercury synonyms" unchecked since NDS contains the @pbu.edu address and Mercury is only accepting mail redirected to @merc.pbu.edu. We have set the "Network Ready test object" to the NDS user that the Mercury workstation logs in as.
The biggest problem is that since Mercury responds with a 5xx error, the Linux server has no choice but to give up on delivering the message. If it gave a 4xx when it had trouble with NDS, the Linux server would keep trying delivery. Any thoughts as to why Mercury would be doing this?
Jay
I have one user that we cannot send replies to. I thought I had it fixed the other day by running DSREPAIR on my file server. It works to send a new message to edp (local user) or his full internet address. It does not work to click reply then enter exactly the same email address in either to To or the CC fields. We have just upgraded to pmail 4.41.
Do you have Multiple servers? One may be out of sync. DSREPAIR full unattended on the master repairs the master and then updates the sync. It takes a few minutes, and has DS locked in the process. Best run off production time.
[quote user="Jay Lee"]We are currently having an issue with our Mercury/32 Server where it seems to forget about NDS users at random while accepting mail via MercuryS. [/quote]
?? Sorry, but this one is completely new to me - I've never encountered anything like it before.
What I *can* tell you is that it's not Mercury that's "forgetting" the user: Mercury will only report a 500-series error if NDS returns a "Not found" response to it, so whatever problem is happening is happening at the NDS level. The very first thing I would do is make sure that you've got up-to-date workstation software on the machine where Mercury is running - that often fixes strange problems on its own. Next, if you're not running Mercury as the real ADMIN user, try running it using the real ADMIN user for a while. If the problem stops, then you know it's something to do with rights, or with the way you have your synthetic user set up. As soon as you get this problem running as ADMIN, you can eliminate that class of problem.
Try these things out and let me know how you get on.
On an unrelated note: you wouldn't happen to have an unused copy of NetWare 6.5 floating around that you'd be willing to send to a good home? I can no longer afford to sustain my NetWare NSL subscription, and unless I can get a real server license to replace the annual NSL license I've been using, I'm not going to be able to continue providing support for NetWare. After 17 years of NetWare support, it would be a shame to see it come to an end. I posted an announcement to this effect, but nobody has been forthcoming so far: any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!
-- David --
[quote user="David Harris"]What I *can* tell you is that it's not Mercury that's "forgetting" the user: Mercury will only report a 500-series error if NDS returns a "Not found" response to it, so whatever problem is happening is happening at the NDS level. The very first thing I would do is make sure that you've got up-to-date workstation software on the machine where Mercury is running - that often fixes strange problems on its own. Next, if you're not running Mercury as the real ADMIN user, try running it using the real ADMIN user for a while. If the problem stops, then you know it's something to do with rights, or with the way you have your synthetic user set up. As soon as you get this problem running as ADMIN, you can eliminate that class of problem.[/quote]
OK, I've switched back to using the original admin NDS account (we had been using admin equiv. account called mercury to login to NDS). I've also updated the Mercury/32 Server from client 4.91sp2 to 4.91sp3 + mandatory and recommended patches from Novell's website. Will give it a few days and report back on how it does. Thanks.
[quote user="David Harris"]On an unrelated note: you wouldn't happen to have an unused copy of NetWare 6.5 floating around that you'd be willing to send to a good home? I can no longer afford to sustain my NetWare NSL subscription, and unless I can get a real server license to replace the annual NSL license I've been using, I'm not going to be able to continue providing support for NetWare. After 17 years of NetWare support, it would be a shame to see it come to an end. I posted an announcement to this effect, but nobody has been forthcoming so far: any assistance would be greatly appreciated.[/quote]
Sorry, no [:(] we have an academic ALA license which lets us run as many Novell Servers as we wish but we have to renew every year in order to keep them so we don't actually own any Netware Licenses. Are you asking because you need the actual Server to run or because you need support? The Netware 6.5 SP6 server can of course be downloaded from Novell's site and includes a license file for unlimited seating and no expiration but that of course comes with no support from Novell...
Jay
