Connection problem to Linux POP3 server using Microsoft email programs

[Muaddib]

We are running OUTLOOK and OUTLOOK EXPRESS as our email programs and we often encounter connection problems to our POP3 server using SSL when we manually use the send\receive button on the toolbar. When these email programs are shut down and restarted the conncection is made without any problems. Also, when an outgoing message is sent it sends find and will allow one manual send\receive to execute fine then it stops working. I would like to associate this problem with Microsoft, however, the problem did not start until we switched to a Linux server that supports SSL. Are there ways to tweak the Linux box so connection problems such as these do not occur? We do have the SSL box checked for Incoming mail in the Micosoft programs. Any ideas or suggestions welcome.<br>
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thanks

 

[AndyBo]

I'd start off by eliminating items out of the equation, and then building them back in. For example, take away SSL if possible and see if the problem still re-occurs. You'd need to do this with the server and your test client.<br>
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Next, are you getting any messages at all from Outlook/OE? If not, then make sure that the send/receive dialog box is not hidden. Sorry, but I've not got either of these clients available at the moment, so I can't advise how to do unhide this box, but I'm sure it can be done. (My home Win95 machine displays the send/receive dialog box in OE, and I know it can be disabled.) In OE, if this box is disabled, look for a yellow triangle in the bottom right hand corner of the window, on the OE status bar. I think double clicking this will show any error messages.<br>
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If you're getting SSL failures, they should be getting reported back to the client in the aforementioned dialog box. They should also be logged in the SSL logs on the server.<br>
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You've not said which POP3 server your running on the Linux server. It will help if you can find that out, and post any error message details you come across back here.<br>
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Good luck.

 

[Muaddib]

AndyBo<br>
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I understand the reverse equation but I only have 5-7 users out of 50 experiencing this problem and they did not have this problem before SSL. Since it is happening to only a select group of users I was not sure if there was any tweaking to be done. All users do have a visible send\receive button but when these few people use it it gives them a message stating Your POP3 server has not responded in 30 seconds.Would you like to wait another 30 seconds for the server to respond? The email program always has this problem in the securing part of the send\receive execution.<br>
I looked in the /var/log/secure file. Is this the SSL log file you mentioned.<br>
We are using iPOP3d with stunnel.

 

[AndyBo]

I've got to hold my hands up and admit I'm not an SSL expert, but hopefully somebody on here is. In other words, I'm not certain if the /var/log/secure file is the correct one. Try a 'man -k ssl' or 'man -k SSL' and see what that throws up - might point you in the right direction.<br>
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Hopefully, though, I can give you some general pointers as to where the problem might lie, maybe spark off a chain of thought for yourself.<br>
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It's interesting that only around 10% of your users are affected. Do they have any other connectivity problems? It could be something entirely unrelated to POP3/SSL causing the problem. Do these users access any other applications over the network that are based on the same Linux server? Do they have any problems accessing these applications?<br>
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From one of the PCs having the problem, try doing a 'ping -n 100 linux.box' and see if any packets are being dropped, or if your getting any high ping times. This might indicate a comms problem.<br>
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Is there anything different about these PCs? ie, Are they Win98 where the rest are Win95? Are they using WinSock1 where the others are using WinSock2, or even a third party WinSock? Are they running any additional network services that the other PCs don't have? Are they using hosts files (c:\windows\hosts) that have incorrect IP addresses?<br>
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I understand that these problems have only started occurring since you switched to the Linux box and SSL, but sometimes changing some kit on the network can highlight other comms issues.<br>
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Sorry it's not a magic bullet, but hopefully I've given you some more things to look at/think about <br>
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Let us know how it goes.

 

[Muaddib]

AndyBo<br>
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Thanks for the directional tips. Tried the majority of your suggestions and things seemed to be working fine. Then upgraded a couple of the users to the most current version of IE5 (which included Express) and they don't seem to have the problem any more. This was unusual since there are many users here who are using old versions of Express yet they are experiencing no problems. Oh well. Thanks again for the help.