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List of common problems and troubleshooting them

Submitted by vaibhav on Tue, 2009-03-31 16:19
  • Mail
    1. SMTP server gives temporary error while sending mail using mail client
      • mfilter is not running
    2. SMTP server gives "Command rejected" error while sending mail
      using mail client
      • some rule configured in mfilter is preventing the user
        from sending email
    3. Email client cannot reach SMTP server
      • Check whether you can ping SMTP server from desktop
      • If you can ping then telnet on SMTP server's 25 port. You must use
        FQDN while trying telnet.
      • If FQDN is not resolved to IP there is problem with DNS
        configuration
      • If server is rejecting connection, either SMTP server is not
        running or 25 port is not opened in firewall
      • If you can connect to SMTP server using telnet and able to send
        test mail successfully then check local firewall of desktop/laptop.
      • If firewall is not preventing user from sending mail then check
        if antivirus software is doing so.
    4. Mail client asks password while sending email and then it fails
      • "My SMTP server requires authentication" is checked while
        configuring mail client
    5. Emails are not getting delivered locally
      • Check whether all the services related to email are working.
        If any service is not running report to L2
      • If all services are running check if any error is being logged in
        mail log
      • If mail log is not showing any error, collect server's health
        parameters and escalate to L2
    6. Emails not getting delivered to outside domain or other location of
      merce
      • Check if DNS is working
      • If DNS is working then check if servers on which mail are to be
        delivered are reachable by doing telnet on server's port 25
      • If the server on which mail are to be delivered is non merce tell
        the client so
      • If the remove server is merce then check if all the mail related
        services are running ok, check for any error in mail logs if you
        don't find error then collect server's health parameters and
        escalate to L2
    7. Email getting bounced because IP address blacklisted
      • Put request to whitelist the IP address
    8. Fetchmail not fetching mails from remote server / POP user not
      getting mails
      • Check if the Internet is working
      • If the Internet is working, check if you can telnet the server on
        port 110.
      • If telnet is successfully check if the password which fetchmail is
        using to download emails is correct
      • If all above checks are positive escalate to L2
    9. Unable to login using webmail
      • Check if webmail is enabled for the user
      • If webmail is enabled, check if the user is able to login using
        thunderbird/outlook using same user name and password.
      • If above checks are positive escalate to L2
    10. When user sends mail using webmail "From:" header shows intranetID
      instead of email id.
      • Correct the "From:" in user's webmail profile
    11. An attachment with the name 'winmail.dat' is seen when viewing mail in webmail in
      Thunderbird/Outlook there is no such attachment
      • Install attachment_tnef in webmail
    12. Mailbox open very slow in webmail but in Thunderbird/Outlook it
      opens quickly
      • Check the size of user's mail box and number of mails he keeps in
        his Inbox. If number of emails is greater than __XX__ ask userto
        move subfolder
    13. Unable to lookup LDAP address book from Thunderbird/Outlook/webmail,
      etc.
      • Check if there are any entries in LDAP address book using
        ldapsearch command. If LDAP address book is empty or have too few
        entries escalate to L2
      • If entries in LDAP address book seems ok then see the "base" to be
        used for ldap search in /etc/merce/Siteconfig.pl in __XX__
        variable
      • Now check if the base used while configuring LDAP address book in
        client is the same as that of in __XX__ variable
      • If above checks are positive escalate to L2
    14. Cannot send email greater than xMB
      • This case can be divided into three types
        1. User is using mail client like Thunderbird/Outlook/Outlook
          express/pine
        2. Mail is coming from domain which doesn't belong to client (eg.
          Gmail.com, yahoo.com, etc.)
        3. User is using webmail
      • In first case check the max size in sendmail and sendmail-rx
      • If max size in sendmail and sendmail-rx is greater than attachment
        size then check if there is any user specific size restriction in
        mfilter configuration.
      • If both checks are negative escalate to L2
      • In second case checks will be same as that of first case
      • In third case however there is an extra check. You need to check
        the attachment size limit in webmail configuration. In case the
        attachment configuration is less than what is required check with
        L2 if this should be increased. There canbe two problems if we
        increase this limit. First you may also have to increase the
        memory allocated to a php instance in apache configuration. Second
        lot of RAM may be consumed if several users sends big attachments
        at the same time. Just check with L2
    15. Cannot send specific type of attachment (eg. Zip, exe, js, etc.)
      • Type of attachment is restricted in amavis' configuration. Check
        with L2 if this should be allowed.
    16. Legitimate sender's mails are being detected as spam
      • Whitelist the user in spamassassin/amavis configuration
    17. Sendmail or Kernel logs showing continuous IOERRORs
      • Time to run e2fsck
    18. Out of office not working
      • Escalate to L2 __CHECK_WITH_HEMANT__
    19. Unable to see folders in webmail which are visible in Thunderbird
      • Subscribe mail folders in webmail
    20. Intersite mails not working at NFL
      • Other than all the checks we do for general non delivery of mail
        should be done
      • Other than these checks, check if uucp is working
      • If uucp is also working escalate to L2
    21. User got mail with warning message saying "unable to deliver mail
      in XXX hours"
      • Check with L2 and increase the warning time sendmail and
        sendmail-rx to what L2 says
    22. Some site of modi is unable to download mails from our server
      • Check in logs when was the last time user was logged in
      • If the seems ok. Check if authentication is failing
      • If authentication is successful but user is unable to download
        mail escalate to L2
  • VPN
    1. Not able to connect using VPN
      • Check if VPN service is running on server
      • If service is running check if client who had complaint has
        Internet working and VPN configuration is done on hismachine
      • Restart VPN service
      • If even this does not help check server parameters and
        escalate to L2
  • Thin client
    1. Pannel missing for X based thin client
      • run '__killallprocesses__'
    2. X based thin client showing only 'X' sign which moves when mouse is
      moved. Nothing else is shown
      • This happens because server is not reachable. Problem with network.
      • Check if the client has IP address
      • If client has IP address then try to ping server from client
      • If server is reachable then reboot client
      • If problem is not yet solved escalate to L2
    3. Linux compute server not responding
      • Check server's health parameters and escalate to L2
    4. Windows compute server not responding
      • Check if server is not responding or server is running smoothly
        but clients are unable to connect to the server
      • If server is not responding escalate to L2
      • If server is running well but clients are unable to connect to
        server check if network connectivity is ok
      • If connectivity is ok check If licence server is reachable and
        license are still valid
      • If all above is positive escalate to L2
  • Blackberry and smartphones
    1. Unable to send mail using blackberry
      • Ask the customer to check with blackberry service provider
    2. No new message coming to blackberry
      • Check BB settings
      • There are two types of set in this case, First is when we are
        forwarding user's mail to blackberry service provider and second
        where we are allowing blackberry to directly access our imap
        service.
      • In first case check whether we forwarding is working correctly,
        If it is working correctly then ask customer to check with
        blackberry service provider
      • In second case check if cyrus is running on the server and
        listening on port 143 and you are able to telnet and check mails
        for the user.
      • If server is running check if you can telnet on port 143 of the
        server from the Internet. If this fails escalate to L2. There
        might be problem with firewall.
    3. Mail deleted from blackberry is not getting deleted from Lotus notes
      • Due to slow Internet connectivity sometimes it takes time for the
        changes to get reflected wait for 10 minutes.
      • If even then the change is not reflected escalate to L2
    4. Mail sent using Black Berry is not visible in Thunderbird's Sent
      folder.
      • If sent mail is not visible in Thunderbird's "Sent" folder check
        if Black Berry is filing mail in "Sent Items" folder.
      • If you cannot see mail in "Sent" or "Sent Items" folder escalate
        to L2.
    5. Mails from a user comes to Black Berry but doesn't come to
      Thunderbird (Black Berry is accessing our imap server directly)
      • This is not possible since both Thunderbird and Black Berry is
        using same imap server. Thunderbird must be filtering mails. Check
        if Thunderbird's Spam detection is enabled. If it is enabled you
        may find mails in junkmail folder of Thunderbird.
  • Web proxy
    1. Proxy not working
      • Make Internet is working by pinging www.merceworld.com
      • Make sure proxy server is running
      • Make sure that proxy configuration is done on web client (Firefox,
        Internet Explorer, etc)
      • Check if telnet from the client to servers' port 8080 can be done
      • If you cannot telnet but able to ping server then check if there
        is any antivirus software running of client which is preventing
        client to reach server
      • If you cannot understand the reason after doing all above check
        server's health and escalate to L2
    2. Proxy blocking not working
      • Check if Merce licence is valid
      • If licence is valid escalate to L2
  • Merce
    1. Unable to create new user. Existing users are able to use mail,
      proxy, file server , etc
      • Check if licence is still valid
      • Check if queue file is in /opt/merce/update/pending directory
      • If file is in pending directory run 'killall event_handler' and
        wait for 5 minutes
      • If queue file is still not cleared or is moved to bad escalate
        to L2
    2. Cannot see Webaccess reports
      • Escalate to L2
    3. Cannot see Mailaccess report
      • Escalate to L2
    4. Change of password from Merce Admin UI is not getting reflected
      • Check if there is any file in "/opt/merce/update/pending/"
        directory.
      • If there are no files in this directory check if file is sent
        to slave. For this you need to check if there is any file in
        "/opt/merce/update/outgoing/server-in-question/"
      • If file is sent check if the queue file is in
        "/opt/merce/update/outgoing/done" or "/opt/merce/update/outgoing/bad" directory.
      • If queue file is in done escalate to L2.
      • If queue file is in bad check if licence is still valid.
      • If licence is valid escalate to L2.
  • File server
    1. Users are unable to access samba share
      • Check if samba service is running on file server
      • If samba not running start the service
      • If samba is running check from client if you are able to ping
        file server
      • If server is pingable check if username as password being used to
        access shares are the same as being used to access proxy and mail
      • If password is also correct escalate to L2
    2. Cannot read/write to smb folder. Getting Access Denied error
      • Check if the user has permission to access directory on linux by
        using "aclctl check" for the user
      • If file sharing UI is installed check if the user has given
        access to this directory. If user has access to this directory
        escalate to L2.
      • If file sharing UI is not installed yet run "aclctl apply"
      • If even then user don't get access to the directory yet escalate
        to L2.
      • After boot/reboot of the desktop "Cannot connect to share" error
        comes
        • Check if file server is running.
        • Check if file server is reachable from desktop.
        • Check if you can access share by going to "Run" window and
          type "\\file-servers-fqdn\" and hit enter you should be asked
          for password or available shares should be shown.
        • Reboot the desktop.
        • If even then problem is not solved escalate to L2.
  • Misc
    1. /var partition full
      • Escalate to L2
    2. Unable to access tally server in Merce office
      • Check if the machine on which tally server is running is up
      • If the server is running, using vmware's UI disable and enable
        the network card for the virtual machine on which tally is running
      • If tally is still not accessible escalate to L2
    3. Cannot connect to darbari or apps from lab network.
      • Check if darbari or apps (server in question) is running.
      • If the server is up then check if Durga is running.
      • Check if both the LAN cards of durga are up.
      • If all three tests are positive and still problem persists then
        escalate to L2.
    4. Cannot access newsgroup
      • Check if news groups are accessible from any other user.
      • If no then check if intra is running by pinging it from darbari
      • If intra is reachable but news service is not then check if the
        news service is running on intra by __I_HAVE_FORGOTTEN_THE_STEP__
      • If news service is also running but is not accessible from
        darbari or apps escalate to L2
    5. Inter at Merce office is not working
      • Check if bhairav is running.
      • If bhairav is running check then check if all three of its eth
        cards are up
      • Try to ping the pacific.merceworld.com (With IP) from both the
        interface
      • pacific.merceworld.com should be pingable from at least one card
      • If both the lines are down report this to L2 immediately.
      • If at least one line is up and still you are unable to get on to
        the Internet escalate to L2
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