Agreed... Solved!

Here at the office I use Pegasus Mail with Mercury.  Mercury POPs domain mailbox then distributes to local mailboxes.  I have recently discovered that when users enable autoreplies in Pegasus Mail the autoreply is sent with a From: of localuser@domain.com rather than as domainuser@domain.com.  I have tried getting synonyms to work but have been unable to.  Am in desperate need of help on this.

I have followed the 5 step procedure shown in the pmail wiki, well four steps because I can't get the fifth one to work, although it doesn't appear that it should be required.  That step updates PMGATE.SYS via the Pegasus Mail function in Mercury.  It doesn't appear that step should be needed because I can update PMGATE.SYS using pconfig.  At the moment the SYNONYM.MER file has one entry (domainuser@domain.com == localusername) and has been created and compiled twice.  A copy has been placed in the Pegasus Mail executables directory and the path to Mercury's copy had been entered in Core.  The address format in the UDG is "~p"<~L~L~r> but have also tested with "~p"<~L~L~n@domain.com>.  I am at a loss as to where to turn next.  Suggestions please?

[quote user="bfluet"]

Here at the office I use Pegasus Mail with Mercury.  Mercury POPs domain mailbox then distributes to local mailboxes.  I have recently discovered that when users enable autoreplies in Pegasus Mail the autoreply is sent with a From: of localuser@domain.com rather than as domainuser@domain.com.  I have tried getting synonyms to work but have been unable to.  Am in desperate need of help on this.

I have followed the 5 step procedure shown in the pmail wiki, well four steps because I can't get the fifth one to work, although it doesn't appear that it should be required.  That step updates PMGATE.SYS via the Pegasus Mail function in Mercury.  It doesn't appear that step should be needed because I can update PMGATE.SYS using pconfig.  At the moment the SYNONYM.MER file has one entry (domainuser@domain.com == localusername) and has been created and compiled twice.  A copy has been placed in the Pegasus Mail executables directory and the path to Mercury's copy had been entered in Core.  The address format in the UDG is "~p"<~L~L~r> but have also tested with "~p"<~L~L~n@domain.com>.  I am at a loss as to where to turn next.  Suggestions please?

[/quote]

I'm not sure your reply address format is correct.  I use just "p" <~r> - I've never seen ~r and ~l together.

[quote user="PaulW"]I'm not sure your reply address format is correct.  I use just "p" <~r> - I've never seen ~r and ~l together.[/quote]

From all I can tell, the ~L~L is what tells Pegasus Mail to look for the SYNONYM.MER file.  Alternatively, the synonym file can be named something other than SYNONYM.MER and would be specified by placing the filename between the ~L's (eg: <~Lsynonym.001~L~r> or <~Lsynonym.001~L~n@domain.com>).  I could be wrong about this because I can't get it to work but this is how I understand the documentation found in the wiki.  http://wiki.pmail.com/index.php?title=KB:Installing_multiuser_standalone#column-one

Hi Brian,

[quote user="bfluet"]

Here at the office I use Pegasus Mail with

Mercury.  Mercury POPs domain mailbox then distributes to local

mailboxes.  I have recently discovered that when users enable

autoreplies in Pegasus Mail the autoreply is sent with a From: of

localuser@domain.com rather than as domainuser@domain.com.  I have tried

getting synonyms to work but have been unable to.[/quote]

I'm also interested in this topic. We are using the same environment Pmail 4.63 with Mercury 4.74 where all users have own local names which consist of their initial letters e.g. xy@domain.com. I have created a synonym.mer file which contains all Pmail local user names and their corresponding official email addresses. It works fine except when the users activate their auto responder. Then all auto responded mails have the local name as the sender's address. This issue is not new for me but maybe someone has an idea how to solve right now.

By the way. Why Pmail does not accept longer user names? Then I could use the official user names of the internet email addresses also for local users and there would be no need to use and maintain the synonym file.

Cheers

Joerg

[quote user="Joerg"]By the way. Why Pmail does not accept longer user names? Then I could use the official user names of the internet email addresses also for local users and there would be no need to use and maintain the synonym file.[/quote]

I have been thinking the same thing myself but I user three initials for local username and my users send so much local mail that changing local usernames to match domain names would make sending local mail a bit more cumbersome.  Several of my users are older and don't use addressbooks or glossary entries so training them on the built-in shortcuts of Pegasus Mail would be a challenge.  Still, this may be my only choice if I can't get synonyms working in auto-replies.

Joerg, you say you have synonyms working?  How can you tell if not in auto-replies?  It is my thinking that any message generated by Pegasus Mail would be impacted by the synonym.mer file located in the Pegasus executables directory.  This would indicate that Pegasus Mail is handling the synonyms just fine.  OTOH, Mercury is looking to the synonym file as specified in Core.  We know this is not working with auto-replies but I don't know what other situations would call for Mercury to use synonyms so don't know how to test beyond auto-replies.

Our official email addresses and their corresponding email accounts are settled at our internet hoster, that means not local. Mercury is regularly connecting to each internet email account for retrieving the internet mails of those users. Therefore in the POP3 client of Mercury every internet account is connected to a local user account where the mails are forwarded to. And Pegasus is able to find the mails in those local user account folder.

The official user accounts (at our internet provider) have the name format e.g.:   "a.smith@domain.com"

And the corresponding local Pmail account reads: "as".

For outgoing email traffic Mercury is automatically adding the defined domain name to the user name and creates "as@domain.com"

For my understanding Pegasus and Mercury are able to work without synonyms as long as the local user name and the internet user name in front of the domain name are identical. But when we are using Pmail / Mercury without the synonym.mer file, all outgoing mails would have the sender's address as@domain.com instead of a.smith@domain.com. To solve this we had created the synonym.mer and it works since many years - except for auto replies.

Cheers

Joerg

You are working with Pegasus and Mercury almost exactly the same way I am with similar domain name and local name schemes.  I am curious what you are using as the reply address format in the user defined gateway of pconfig.  Do you have something like "~p" <~L~L~8@domain.com>?  I believe this will tell us whether it is Pegasus or Mercury that is adding the synonyms.  I have been using "~p" <~r> so have not needed synonyms until I discovered the problem with auto-replies.

Do you have the capability to send a test message directly out of Pegasus through an SMTP host rather than Mercury?  This could also tell us whether it is Pegasus or Mercury that is doing the synonym replacement.  I would test here but I don't know whether I have synonyms working so couldn't trust the test results.

Hi Brian,

[quote user="bfluet"]You are working with Pegasus and Mercury almost exactly the same way I am with similar domain name and local name schemes.  I am curious what you are using as the reply address format in the user defined gateway of pconfig.  Do you have something like "~p" <~L~L~8@domain.com>?  I believe this will tell us whether it is Pegasus or Mercury that is adding the synonyms.  I have been using "~p" <~r> so have not needed synonyms until I discovered the problem with auto-replies.[/quote]

Now I'm back in the office and I'm satisfying your curiosity ;-)   Some terms of the setting names could differ because we are using the German Version and I have to translate them.

Pmail Settings > General Settings > Mailbox Directory:  <DEFAULT>

Pmail Settings > Outbound messages > message sending > standard replies to:  a.smith@domain.com  (means full internet e-mail address)

pconfig.exe >  manage user defined gateways > defined gateways: MERCURY

Pmail folder\programs\pmail.cfg:    \\server name\MERCURY$\MAIL\~8

Pmail folder\programs\pmgate.sys:    \\server name\MERCURY$\QUEUE       ~d~d.101         "~p"  <~L~L~8@domain.com>

[quote user="bfluet"]Do you have the capability to send a test message directly out of

Pegasus through an SMTP host rather than Mercury?  This could also tell

us whether it is Pegasus or Mercury that is doing the synonym

replacement.  I would test here but I don't know whether I have synonyms

working so couldn't trust the test results.[/quote]

From my point of view only Mercury is responsible to add the correct sender's address to any autoreplies because those autoreplies are still working also when the user's computer (where Pmail is runnig on) is switched-off.

[quote user="Joerg"]

[quote user="bfluet"]Do you have the capability to send a test message directly out of

Pegasus through an SMTP host rather than Mercury?  This could also tell

us whether it is Pegasus or Mercury that is doing the synonym

replacement.  I would test here but I don't know whether I have synonyms

working so couldn't trust the test results.[/quote]

From my point of view only Mercury is responsible to add the correct sender's address to any autoreplies because those autoreplies are still working also when the user's computer (where Pmail is runnig on) is switched-off.[/quote]

Agreed.  The fact that you are using "~p"  <~L~L~8@domain.com> as the reply address format verifies for me that it is Pegasus Mail that is handling the synonyms on your outgoing messages.  What remains unknown (for me anyway) is whether synonyms work at all in Mercury or whether it is just broken for auto-replies.

We didn't come up with a resolution but I think we confirmed that the problem is in Mercury and not in our implementation of synonyms.  I hope one of the beta testers reads this and can verify the problem and pass it on to David.  The only workaround I see is as you said, to change all local usernames to match the domain usernames.  I recently changed my domain username format to firstname.lastname for new employees so have a few users with that format.  It will make for long Mercury usernames.  I wonder if Mercury can handle long usernames.  Hmmm....

Thank you very much for your feedback.  It was a pleasure corresponding with you.

[quote user="bfluet"] The only workaround I see is as you said, to change all local usernames to match the domain usernames.  I recently changed my domain username format to firstname.lastname for new employees so have a few users with that format.  It will make for long Mercury usernames.  I wonder if Mercury can handle long usernames.  Hmmm....[/quote]

I'm wondering, too. Are you really able to add user names in the format "firstname.lastname". I justed checked this in Mercury > Configuration > Manage Local Users > Add. As soon as the new user name contains a "dot", Mercury doesn't accept it and I'm not able to close the "new user" window by clicking the OK button. Only the format "firstnamelastname" is being accepted.

Cheers

Joerg

[quote user="Joerg"]Are you really able to add user names in the format "firstname.lastname". I justed checked this in Mercury > Configuration > Manage Local Users > Add. As soon as the new user name contains a "dot", Mercury doesn't accept it and I'm not able to close the "new user" window by clicking the OK button. Only the format "firstnamelastname" is being accepted.[/quote]

I am cursing under my breath as I type.  This just became a significantly larger problem.  I have several user taking extended time off over the holidays so am considering enabling the "suppress auto-replies system wide" option.  I hate to do that though.  More cursing...  I find it interesting that this problem has existed unknown to me for years and has never created a noticeable problem but now that I am aware of it I consider it a MAJOR problem.  Guess I need to just let it go.

Post back if you come up with any other ideas and I will do the same.

[quote user="bfluet"]More cursing...  [/quote]

Great :-)    In the meantime I let it go since a couple of years. Only the autoreplies have the local user names in front of the domain. Who cares? Those autoreplies are not intended to be replied by the receiver - that's why it is a Mercury FEATURE and not a BUG  :-))

Keep you informed in case anything happens on this front line.

[quote user="Joerg"]Great :-)    In the meantime I let it go since a couple of years. Only the autoreplies have the local user names in front of the domain. Who cares? Those autoreplies are not intended to be replied by the receiver - that's why it is a Mercury FEATURE and not a BUG  :-))[/quote]

Thanks for the laugh!  I like the way you think.

[quote user="Joerg"]

[quote user="bfluet"] The only workaround I see is as you said, to change all local usernames to match the domain usernames.  I recently changed my domain username format to firstname.lastname for new employees so have a few users with that format.  It will make for long Mercury usernames.  I wonder if Mercury can handle long usernames.  Hmmm....[/quote]

I'm wondering, too. Are you really able to add user names in the format "firstname.lastname". I justed checked this in Mercury > Configuration > Manage Local Users > Add. As soon as the new user name contains a "dot", Mercury doesn't accept it and I'm not able to close the "new user" window by clicking the OK button. Only the format "firstnamelastname" is being accepted.[/quote]

Maybe I haven't understood all the issues here, but I use simple local names (like paul) and set up Address auto-recognition in Core / Advanced to get Name.Surname@ address forms.  This works on incoming and allows outgoing without using synonyms.

[quote user="PaulW"]... I use simple local names (like paul) and set up Address auto-recognition in Core / Advanced to get Name.Surname@ address forms.  This works on incoming and allows outgoing without using synonyms.[/quote]

Interesting function which I never tested in past. Does is work also when you activate the Auto Reply function in Pegasus Mail? Which user name is being added by Mercury as sender's address: the simple local name or the complete email address with Name.Surname? Did you ever test this?

Cheers

Joerg

[quote user="Joerg"]

[quote user="PaulW"]... I use simple local names (like paul) and set up Address auto-recognition in Core / Advanced to get Name.Surname@ address forms.  This works on incoming and allows outgoing without using synonyms.[/quote]

Interesting function which I never tested in past. Does is work also when you activate the Auto Reply function in Pegasus Mail? Which user name is being added by Mercury as sender's address: the simple local name or the complete email address with Name.Surname? Did you ever test this?[/quote]

My initial tests show that the sender (Mail from) is the null postmaster <>, but the From: address is the same as the original mail's To address.  That is, if your send to the localname the From: localname@domain is returned; sending to first.surname then the autoreply comes from First.Surname@domain.

Do the tests yourself to confirm this.

[quote user="PaulW"]My initial tests show that the sender (Mail from) is the null postmaster <>, but the From: address is the same as the original mail's To address.  That is, if your send to the localname the From: localname@domain is returned; sending to first.surname then the autoreply comes from First.Surname@domain.

Do the tests yourself to confirm this.[/quote]

I have made the test. Because our official addresses are in form "Initial.Lastname@domain.com" (e.g. a.smith@domain.com) I have checked the auto-recognition settings: "automatically recognize Initial.Lastname address forms" in Core Module Configuration > Advanced. Then I have created and activated the auto-responder in my Pegasus Mail and have closed Pegasus again.

Then I've send me an email from the internet to my official address in form "a.smith@domain.com". This e-mail has been retrieved by Mercury and forwarded to the local user account "as". So far so good as usual. Simultaneously Mercury created the auto reply job. But the queue state in Mercury Core Process is showing only "from <> (local), creating outgoing job with ID ..." while ordinary outgoing mails are being shown as "from a.smith@domain.com (local), creating outgoing job ...". And the receiver of that autoreply message reads FROM: as@domain.com instead of a.smith@domain.com.

It seems the auto-recognition function works properly for incoming mails but not when using the autoresponder. Mercury is adding the same wrong local address only instead of the official address.

Cheers

Joerg

[quote user="Joerg"]I have made the test. Because our official addresses are in form "Initial.Lastname@domain.com" (e.g. a.smith@domain.com) I have checked the auto-recognition settings: "automatically recognize Initial.Lastname address forms" in Core Module Configuration > Advanced. Then I have created and activated the auto-responder in my Pegasus Mail and have closed Pegasus again.

Then I've send me an email from the internet to my official address in form "a.smith@domain.com". This e-mail has been retrieved by Mercury and forwarded to the local user account "as". So far so good as usual. Simultaneously Mercury created the auto reply job. But the queue state in Mercury Core Process is showing only "from <> (local), creating outgoing job with ID ..." while ordinary outgoing mails are being shown as "from a.smith@domain.com (local), creating outgoing job ...". And the receiver of that autoreply message reads FROM: as@domain.com instead of a.smith@domain.com. [/quote]

You are getting a different result from mine.  There must be some other difference between our configurations that affects this.

I will try to investigate further.

I just tested here using the same setting as Joerg.  My test recipient has a domain email address format of asmith@domain.com (no dot).  The local username is in the format of "xxx" (three initials).  Results are the same as Joerg.  The auto-reply response comes back with a From: of local@domain.com.  Return path is <>.

FWIW, the domain name of my internet domain and my local domain are the same.