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List of common problems and troubleshooting them
By vaibhav
Created 2009-03-31 16:19
Mail
SMTP server gives temporary error while sending mail using mail client
mfilter is not running
SMTP server gives "Command rejected" error while sending mail
using mail client
some rule configured in mfilter is preventing the user
from sending email
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.
Mail client asks password while sending email and then it fails
"My SMTP server requires authentication" is checked while
configuring mail client
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
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
Email getting bounced because IP address blacklisted
Put request to whitelist the IP address
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
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
When user sends mail using webmail "From:" header shows intranetID
instead of email id.
Correct the "From:" in user's webmail profile
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
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
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
Cannot send email greater than xMB
This case can be divided into three types
User is using mail client like Thunderbird/Outlook/Outlook
express/pine
Mail is coming from domain which doesn't belong to client (eg.
Gmail.com, yahoo.com, etc.)
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
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.
Legitimate sender's mails are being detected as spam
Whitelist the user in spamassassin/amavis configuration
Sendmail or Kernel logs showing continuous IOERRORs
Time to run e2fsck
Out of office not working
Escalate to L2 __CHECK_WITH_HEMANT__
Unable to see folders in webmail which are visible in Thunderbird
Subscribe mail folders in webmail
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
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
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
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
Pannel missing for X based thin client
run '__killallprocesses__'
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
Linux compute server not responding
Check server's health parameters and escalate to L2
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
Unable to send mail using blackberry
Ask the customer to check with blackberry service provider
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.
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
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.
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.
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
Proxy blocking not working
Check if Merce licence is valid
If licence is valid escalate to L2
Merce
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
Cannot see Webaccess reports
Escalate to L2
Cannot see Mailaccess report
Escalate to L2
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
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
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
/var partition full
Escalate to L2
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
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.
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
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
