update and external mail issues

[SurrealTiggi]

Hi guys, hope to get some help regarding some issues I've been having lately.

Firstly, having trouble updating my install of ZCS. The url is correct but when I attempt to check for updates it returns
"Server error encountered
System failure: error parsing zimbraVersionCheckLastResponse config attribute Error code: service.FAILURE Details:soap:Receiver"

Secondly, a lot of our external mails are not coming through. After some checking I think I've figured out why. Our MX record points to a relay on the ISP that receives all our mail before sending it through to us (it's an ironport network if that helps). I think what happens is Zimbra then sees all these connections coming in from a single source and times it out thinking it's spam.

Is there a way that I can whitelist the list of IPs of the external relay so neither postfix or spamassassin blocks any external mail?
I've added the addresses under MTA trusted networks but I'm not sure if this helps.

Also getting a lot of "queue file size limit exceeded". Are these attempts at sending large attachments?

Any help is appreciated

[phoenix]

You really should look in the log files and see what errors are occurring if you wish to determine the exact cause of your problem.

Hitting the 'Check for updates' only check if there's an update available (and there was a problem with that feature early on after it's introduction), There is an update available (currently 6.0.8) and you can always check that manually on the main web site Downloads page.

[SurrealTiggi]

Thanks for the reply

The most common error that I can see in the log files is the following in zimbra.log, I think this is the one that points to random external mails getting dropped.

Oct 8 09:54:03 mail postfix/anvil[7960]: statistics: max connection rate 1/60s for (smtp:196.41.30.117) at Oct 8 09:44:47
Oct 8 09:54:03 mail postfix/anvil[7960]: statistics: max connection count 1 for (smtp:196.41.30.117) at Oct 8 09:44:47
Oct 8 09:54:03 mail postfix/anvil[7960]: statistics: max cache size 1 at Oct 8 09:44:47

The IP above is the ironport box that receives mail on our behalf and then forwards it to our server.

I'll try to update manually as well, thanks

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by SurrealTiggi

Thanks for the reply

The most common error that I can see in the log files is the following in zimbra.log, I think this is the one that points to random external mails getting dropped.

Oct 8 09:54:03 mail postfix/anvil[7960]: statistics: max connection rate 1/60s for (smtp:196.41.30.117) at Oct 8 09:44:47
Oct 8 09:54:03 mail postfix/anvil[7960]: statistics: max connection count 1 for (smtp:196.41.30.117) at Oct 8 09:44:47
Oct 8 09:54:03 mail postfix/anvil[7960]: statistics: max cache size 1 at Oct 8 09:44:47

They are not errors they are just informational messages, what else is in there?

Originally Posted by SurrealTiggi

I'll try to update manually as well, thanks

As I (sort of) mentioned above, the update process is always manual and the 'check' is just to tell you there is an update available - it doesn't do an update automatically.

[SurrealTiggi]

Oh ok, I thought those were error messages.

I'm not quite sure what I should be looking for then.

Perhaps this will help, it is an error message received by someone who tried to send a message to our server. The ironport relay then returned the following error.

The following message to <email@example.com> was undeliverable.
The reason for the problem:
5.4.7 - Delivery expired (message too old) 'timeout'
Reporting-MTA: dns; ironp7.datapro.co.za

Final-Recipient: rfc822;email@example.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.0.0 (permanent failure)
Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 5.4.7 - Delivery expired (message too old) 'timeout' (delivery attempts: 0)

Is there anything more specific I should be looking for?
Sorry I'm a bit new with Zimbra.

I have found though that since adding those IPs as trusted for the MTA I'm not seeing as many of those informational messages in zimbra.log

Also any idea on the "queue file size limit error"?
I get those a lot
Oct 11 14:05:01 mail postfix/cleanup[2173]: 7677E672815E: message-id=<20101011120438.7677E672815E@mail.example.com>
Oct 11 14:05:02 mail postfix/smtpd[2172]: warning: 7677E672815E: queue file size limit exceeded

[SurrealTiggi]

Just noticed something else. I never filled in the "Inbound SMTP host" field under MTA Global Settings.
Would this make a huge difference in receiving external mails? I'm still getting users complaining that mails aren't coming through at random.

I'll fill it in to reflect the inbound smtp server and see if it makes a difference.

Once again big thanks for any help.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by SurrealTiggi

Just noticed something else. I never filled in the "Inbound SMTP host" field under MTA Global Settings.
Would this make a huge difference in receiving external mails? I'm still getting users complaining that mails aren't coming through at random.

I'll fill it in to reflect the inbound smtp server and see if it makes a difference.

Yes, if that's where your MX records point to that entry should reflect the hostname of your spam filter (from the MTA page):

If your MX records point to a spam-relay or any other external non-Zimbra server, enter the name of that server in "Inbound SMTP host name" field.

[SurrealTiggi]

Thanks Bill

A stream of delayed msgs managed to trickle through yesterday, so I suspect that that was the problem.
In addition, I also set up 1-1NAT (used to just get ports forwarded from our firewall).
I'll report back should I notice further delays, but hopefully there won't be any.

Many thanks for your help