morrow@rdsunx.crd.ge.com (madeline e morrow) (12/07/90)
We have a problem with our Microsoft Mail server that Microsoft says is due to a bad interaction between MS Mail servers and SAM (from Symantec). The claim is that SAM can corrupt the MS Mail data file. We are using Microsoft Mail 2.0b on OS 6.05. We are also using Cayman's GatorMail-M SMTP gateway. The symptom is that GatorMail-M crashes 6 times a day - always with an heap access error, and the Mac has to be restarted to get it to run again. We've been sending countless logs to the vendor, and neither we nor they can ever find an error when the gateway crashes. We used HeapFixer so the system has a megabyte of heap, and GatorMail-M has 400K of heap. Microsoft has confirmed that our Microsoft Mail data file has a problem. The header file has a pointer out of bounds that indicates the data file os bigger than it really is. When something tries to access the end of the data file, it will crash. They think that's why the gateway crashes so regularly at peak load times - it's trying to get more space and tries the bad pointer. Microsoft thinks SAM did it - but they say that SAM errors happen in random places and it's very hard to replicate what went wrong. Microsoft has a recovery program that may be able to fix our MS Mail data file However, it recovers deleted mail as well as current mail and deleted userid's. I talked to someone else in our company who has had two corrupted MS Mail servers without SAM. They decided to use the brute force method: Take a Mac, format the hard disk and re-install all needed software. Then create userids on the new server, then sign on to the old server and forward all the mail to the new server. The person who did this said it took 14 hours with 3 people. He suggested a calculation of 5 minutes per userid and 2 minutes per message. With 122 users and 1342 messages on our server, that's 31 hours if you only have one person. This person thinks that disk parity or memory errors can corrupt the MS Mail data file. My question to Microsoft Mail users out there - have you had corrupted MS Mail data files, and if so, do you know what caused it, and what did you do to fix it? What about daily backups of the data file? |------------------------------------------------| | Madeline Morrow | | memorrow@crd.ge.com | | GE Research & Development | | Schenectady, NY 518-387-6414 | |------------------------------------------------|
rgoldstone@OAVAX.CSUCHICO.EDU (Robin Goldstone) (12/08/90)
In article <14591@crdgw1.crd.ge.com>, morrow@rdsunx.crd.ge.com (madeline e morrow) writes: > > [stuff deleted about problem w/ MS Mail data file corruption] > >[...] My question to Microsoft Mail users out there - have you had >corrupted MS Mail data files, and if so, do you know what caused it, and what >did you do to fix it? What about daily backups of the data file? > We have been using MS Mail for over a year. We have four MS Mail servers and a GatorMail-M server. We have never had a corrupted data file. I do not believe we have SAM on any of our mail servers. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | | Robin Goldstone, Cal State University, Chico Computing Services | | rgoldstone@oavax.csuchico.edu | | ------ | | "All my life I said I wanted to be something... I can see now that I | | should have been more specific." -- Lilly Tomlin | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
daven@svc.portal.com (12/08/90)
In article <14591@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> morrow@rdsunx.crd.ge.com (madeline e morrow) writes: >We have a problem with our Microsoft Mail server that Microsoft says is due to >a bad interaction between MS Mail servers and SAM (from Symantec). The claim >is that SAM can corrupt the MS Mail data file. We are using Microsoft Mail >2.0b on OS 6.05. We are also using Cayman's GatorMail-M SMTP gateway. The >symptom is that GatorMail-M crashes 6 times a day - always with an heap access > error, and the Mac has to be restarted to get it to run again. We've been >sending countless logs to the vendor, and neither we nor they can ever find an >error when the gateway crashes. We used HeapFixer so the system has a megabyte >of heap, and GatorMail-M has 400K of heap. Madeline, I take it that the MS Mail server and the GatorMail gateway are running on the same Mac. Have you tried running them on seperate Macs? (I'm not sure this is possible, but some MS Mail gateways can run on Macs other than the MS Mail server) If you can run them seperately, then see if the MS Mail server crashes. Also, are you running both on a Mac that is also an AppleShare server? >Microsoft has confirmed that our Microsoft Mail data file has a problem. >Microsoft thinks SAM did it - but they say that SAM errors happen in random >places and it's very hard to replicate what went wrong. Sounds like a job for someone with the latest Jasik Debugger. I tend to be distrustful of anyone that blames someone else's code or INIT. However, I've been in the position of knowing someone's poorly written INIT crashed my program, so there are such things as valid finger pointing. Who knows in this case though - I've met the MS Mail programming team, and they do seem to know their stuff. >Microsoft has a recovery program that may be able to fix our MS Mail data file >However, it recovers deleted mail as well as current mail and deleted userid's. Not a good option! And the moving of mail from one server to a newly created server is even worse! >This person thinks that disk parity or memory errors can corrupt the MS Mail >data file. Memory and disk errors could cause the problem. Have you had the server's hard drive checked recently. There's several utlities that will scan a drive for read/write errors. However, if the MS Mail server's database is always corrupted in the same manner, I say the problem lies beyond hardeware. >My question to Microsoft Mail users out there - have you had >corrupted MS Mail data files, and if so, do you know what caused it, and what >did you do to fix it? What about daily backups of the data file? Daily backup sounds like an excellent idea! -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Newman - Sofware Ventures | daven@svc.portal.com | AppleLink: D0025 Berkeley, CA (415) 644-3232 | AOL: MicroPhone | CIS: 76004,2161 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
derosa@motcid.UUCP (John DeRosa) (12/11/90)
We have three mail servers running with about 500 users. For a while we were using SAM (with no know problems) but now we are using Disinfectant 2.4. About backups, I have tried using NetStream to provide unattended backups with little or no luck. I end up performing an command-d on the data file about every "once in a while". Even with the server running, the copy works fine and the new data file is good (I tried it). My cohort never backs up the data file but keeps the user list to recover from a crash. -- = John DeRosa, Motorola, Inc, Cellular Infrastructure Group = = e-mail: ...uunet!motcid!derosaj, motcid!derosaj@uunet.uu.net = = Applelink: N1111 = =I do not hold by employer responsible for any information in this message =