emails fail with McAfee WebShield in front of my Excha nge Server

[Randy Roberts]

Hi Tim, right you are!
I have further narrowed down the problem to one that appears to only affect
my PC and ONLY when Webshield e250 is in the loop.
Take it out and the problem for me vanishes.
If I log onto another machine running same OS and Office version ( Win xp
and Office 2000 ) I am able to send no problem.
If I DO NOT open Outlook (on my offending PC) after a fresh reboot, it works
okay.
If I switch MY PC's port the send will work (usually only once although this
varies...)

So there appears to be a conflict between blat ( and mailto also) and
Outlook 2000 and the e250
The only thing that might be different for me is I do have quite a few
Outlook incoming email rules to try and filter out some of the loads of junk
I get due to my extra email addresses.

Here is the log from the debug ( version 1.94 of blat.exe). Not sure if
omitting a -install is an issue?
****** Log *********
Failed to open registry key for Blat profile , using default.
Failed to open registry key for Blat
Sending blattest.txt to ***@srihomes.com
Subject:test_blat_email
Login name is ***@srihomes.com
Error: Wait a bit (possible timeout).SMTP server error

putline>>> QUIT

Error: Connection to mailserver was dropped.
****** eof log **********
* batch file to run test *
blat blattest.txt -to ***@srihomes.com -s test_blat_email -server
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -f ***@srihomes.com -debug -log blatlog.log
* eof *

For what it's worth here's the log after I switched ports for my PC
********** log 2 ************
Failed to open registry key for Blat profile , using default.
Failed to open registry key for Blat
Sending blattest.txt to ***@srihomes.com
Subject:test_blat_email
Login name is ***@srihomes.com
<<<getline<<< 220 mailsrv.srihomes.com ESMTP Server (Microsoft Exchange
Internet Mail Service 5.5.2650.21) ready

putline>>> EHLO one

<<<getline<<< 250-mailsrv.srihomes.com Hello [ONE] 250-XEXCH50 250-HELP
250-ETRN 250-DSN 250-SIZE 0 250-AUTH LOGIN 250 AUTH=LOGIN

putline>>> DATA

<<<getline<<< 354 Send data. End with CRLF.CRLF
<<<getline<<< 250 OK

putline>>> QUIT

<<<getline<<< 221 closing connection
********** eof log 2 ******************

If you think v2.1.1 would make a difference I can download and retry...
Thanks for your assistance!

rr

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, Sep 11, 03 4:38 AM
To: Randy Roberts
Subject: Re: [blat] emails fail with McAfee WebShield in front of my
Exchange Server
Hey Randy,
My MUA believes you used Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21)
to write the following on Wednesday, September 10, 2003 at 4:16:50 PM.
RR> Hoping someone in the blat community can help me resolve
a really strange
RR> blat email problem.
RR> just setup webshield e250 inside our firewall before our
Exchange 5.5
RR> server.
RR> All is working ok except for it is interfering with our production
RR> applications sending of emails.
RR> These are programs written in Visual Foxpro 7, using
blat.dll to send email
RR> via smtp.
RR> ( Also not working are system process batch file emails
using mailto.exe
RR> which also uses smtp)
RR> Both directly target the IP of our Exchange server, internally.
RR> If I remove the Webshield from the loop, they work fine.
RR> At first I thought that this was a constant problem for
all PC's but during
RR> one test, when my send failed, I recieved a couple of
application generated
RR> emails.
RR> Thinking that my PC was perhaps in some way the problem I
looked at what was
RR> different in my PC and only came up with switch port.
RR> On switching to another port on another switch, mine
succeeded with a send.
RR> However, after a few sends, it once again failed.
RR> When it fails it never works, on that port.
RR> If I switch back to the original port it *usually* works
again, once or
RR> maybe more, but sooner or later stops.
RR> Thinking it possibly a switch problem I tried plugging
into a 10MB dumb hub.
RR> Again it sends for 1 or maybe more than fails.
RR> McAfee has been getting me to run traces and dumps and
change configs etc.
RR> for the last couple of months to no avail.
RR> I am thinking of returning the appliance as it is not
being entirely
RR> productive.
RR> Blat returns error code 1 as I recall.
RR> The message returned by mailto is "error on connect"
RR> Does anyone have any ideas?
Very interesting problem Randy!
Is the webshield e250 the 'appliance' you refer to?
What version of Blat are you running?
The current is v2.1.1 at www.blat.net...
Try adding -debug -log FileName.txt to your Blat command line and send
that to the list (don't forget to change email/server addresses).
What happens if you run Blat.exe with similar parms to how you use
Blat.dll?
You refer to changing Switch Ports, did you change your Switch at the
same time as the 'appliance'? If not, I don't expect that
has much to do
with the problem.
What happens when you use Telnet to send a message?
--
Tim Musson
Flying with The Bat! eMail v1.62q
Windows 2000 5.0.2195 (Service Pack 3)
Whoever has the most when he dies... IS DEAD!
Blat Manager (www.blat.net)
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[Tim Musson]

Hey Randy,

My MUA believes you used Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21)
to write the following on Thursday, September 11, 2003 at 1:02:57 PM.

RR> Hi Tim, right you are!
RR> I have further narrowed down the problem to one that appears to only affect
RR> my PC and ONLY when Webshield e250 is in the loop.
RR> Take it out and the problem for me vanishes.
RR> If I log onto another machine running same OS and Office version ( Win xp
RR> and Office 2000 ) I am able to send no problem.

Is Webshield e250 still in the picture from the other machine?!?

RR> If I DO NOT open Outlook (on my offending PC) after a fresh reboot, it works
RR> okay.
RR> If I switch MY PC's port the send will work (usually only once although this
RR> varies...)

RR> So there appears to be a conflict between blat ( and mailto also) and
RR> Outlook 2000 and the e250
RR> The only thing that might be different for me is I do have quite a few
RR> Outlook incoming email rules to try and filter out some of the loads of junk
RR> I get due to my extra email addresses.

Very strange! It is almost like the e250 is learning about your PC, and
preventing a connection on TCP/IP Port 25 after the first connection!

RR> Here is the log from the debug ( version 1.94 of blat.exe). Not sure if
RR> omitting a -install is an issue?

Nope, -install just stores the server name and from address in the
registry. It would stop the two error messages below, but that is it.
The current version does not complain if it does not find anything in
the registry...

RR> ****** Log *********
RR> Failed to open registry key for Blat profile , using default.
RR> Failed to open registry key for Blat
RR> Sending blattest.txt to ***@srihomes.com
RR> Subject:test_blat_email
RR> Login name is ***@srihomes.com
RR> Error: Wait a bit (possible timeout).SMTP server error

putline>>> QUIT

RR> Error: Connection to mailserver was dropped.
RR> ****** eof log **********
RR> * batch file to run test *
RR> blat blattest.txt -to ***@srihomes.com -s test_blat_email -server
RR> xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -f ***@srihomes.com -debug -log blatlog.log
RR> * eof *

RR> For what it's worth here's the log after I switched ports for my PC
RR> ********** log 2 ************
RR> Failed to open registry key for Blat profile , using default.
RR> Failed to open registry key for Blat
RR> Sending blattest.txt to ***@srihomes.com
RR> Subject:test_blat_email
RR> Login name is ***@srihomes.com
RR> <<<getline<<< 220 mailsrv.srihomes.com ESMTP Server (Microsoft Exchange
RR> Internet Mail Service 5.5.2650.21) ready

putline>>> EHLO one

RR> <<<getline<<< 250-mailsrv.srihomes.com Hello [ONE] 250-XEXCH50 250-HELP
RR> 250-ETRN 250-DSN 250-SIZE 0 250-AUTH LOGIN 250 AUTH=LOGIN

putline>>> DATA

RR> <<<getline<<< 354 Send data. End with CRLF.CRLF
RR> <<<getline<<< 250 OK

putline>>> QUIT

RR> <<<getline<<< 221 closing connection
RR> ********** eof log 2 ******************

RR> If you think v2.1.1 would make a difference I can download and retry...

I always suggest using the current version. However, I don't think it
will solve your problem (worth a try though).

RR> Thanks for your assistance!

Why don't you try adding the -noh2 switch. I don't think that will solve
your problem either, but it tells Blat not to put it's name in the
message headers.

The reason I don't think the above suggestions will help, is looking at
your first log above, you don't even get the initial response from the
SMTP server!

Is the e250 configurable for the SMTP protocol? (I went to the McAfee
web site to see that it does check SMTP) I think I would look there.
Does the e250 have logging you can turn on for SMTP?

Last Q for this message, just to make sure I am seeing this correctly...
The message from your workstation goes through a network switch, then
the e250, then the MS Exch SMTP server, Right?

Another thing you can try is using Telnet to test the SMTP connectivity.
Check out http://blat.net/newdocs/ for an example of how.

BTW, I don't think MS Outlook will have much to do with it. Even if you
have it configured to get mail via POP3, and send with SMTP (that is the
only part that Blat does), Blat should not interact with it, and it
should not even be aware of Blat.
--
Tim Musson
Flying with The Bat! eMail v1.62q
Windows 2000 5.0.2195 (Service Pack 3)
(A)bort, (R)etry, (P)retend this never happened...
Blat Manager, current version is 2.1.1, see www.blat.net


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[Randy Roberts]

Hi Tim
Telnet as you guessed does not even get a connection so I thought about
trying the e250 directly.
That works!
So I am thinking that maybe I should change the mailing routines to point to
the e250
Only one problem, if it is down than there will be a failure.
If our Exchange server is down it is usually a known condition whereas the
e250 is relatively transparent.

I can handle the problem in code by dynamically switching the IP used if an
error is returned, try again and if it works set the default to that.

Can blat itself be told to handle this for me ( pass it two mail servers and
if one fails try the other?)

What do you think?

thanks
rr

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, Sep 11, 03 10:50 AM
To: Randy Roberts
Subject: Re: [blat] emails fail with McAfee WebShield in front of my
Excha nge Server
Hey Randy,
My MUA believes you used Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21)
to write the following on Thursday, September 11, 2003 at 1:02:57 PM.
RR> Hi Tim, right you are!
RR> I have further narrowed down the problem to one that
appears to only affect
RR> my PC and ONLY when Webshield e250 is in the loop.
RR> Take it out and the problem for me vanishes.
RR> If I log onto another machine running same OS and Office
version ( Win xp
RR> and Office 2000 ) I am able to send no problem.
Is Webshield e250 still in the picture from the other machine?!?
RR> If I DO NOT open Outlook (on my offending PC) after a
fresh reboot, it works
RR> okay.
RR> If I switch MY PC's port the send will work (usually only
once although this
RR> varies...)
RR> So there appears to be a conflict between blat ( and
mailto also) and
RR> Outlook 2000 and the e250
RR> The only thing that might be different for me is I do
have quite a few
RR> Outlook incoming email rules to try and filter out some
of the loads of junk
RR> I get due to my extra email addresses.
Very strange! It is almost like the e250 is learning about
your PC, and
preventing a connection on TCP/IP Port 25 after the first connection!
RR> Here is the log from the debug ( version 1.94 of
blat.exe). Not sure if
RR> omitting a -install is an issue?
Nope, -install just stores the server name and from address in the
registry. It would stop the two error messages below, but that is it.
The current version does not complain if it does not find anything in
the registry...
RR> ****** Log *********
RR> Failed to open registry key for Blat profile , using default.
RR> Failed to open registry key for Blat
RR> Subject:test_blat_email
RR> Error: Wait a bit (possible timeout).SMTP server error

putline>>> QUIT

RR> Error: Connection to mailserver was dropped.
RR> ****** eof log **********
RR> * batch file to run test *
RR> * eof *
RR> For what it's worth here's the log after I switched ports
for my PC
RR> ********** log 2 ************
RR> Failed to open registry key for Blat profile , using default.
RR> Failed to open registry key for Blat
RR> Subject:test_blat_email
RR> <<<getline<<< 220 mailsrv.srihomes.com ESMTP Server
(Microsoft Exchange
RR> Internet Mail Service 5.5.2650.21) ready

putline>>> EHLO one

RR> <<<getline<<< 250-mailsrv.srihomes.com Hello [ONE]
250-XEXCH50 250-HELP
RR> 250-ETRN 250-DSN 250-SIZE 0 250-AUTH LOGIN 250 AUTH=LOGIN

putline>>> DATA

RR> <<<getline<<< 354 Send data. End with CRLF.CRLF
RR> <<<getline<<< 250 OK

putline>>> QUIT

RR> <<<getline<<< 221 closing connection
RR> ********** eof log 2 ******************
RR> If you think v2.1.1 would make a difference I can
download and retry...
I always suggest using the current version. However, I don't think it
will solve your problem (worth a try though).
RR> Thanks for your assistance!
Why don't you try adding the -noh2 switch. I don't think that
will solve
your problem either, but it tells Blat not to put it's name in the
message headers.
The reason I don't think the above suggestions will help, is
looking at
your first log above, you don't even get the initial response from the
SMTP server!
Is the e250 configurable for the SMTP protocol? (I went to the McAfee
web site to see that it does check SMTP) I think I would look there.
Does the e250 have logging you can turn on for SMTP?
Last Q for this message, just to make sure I am seeing this
correctly...
The message from your workstation goes through a network switch, then
the e250, then the MS Exch SMTP server, Right?
Another thing you can try is using Telnet to test the SMTP
connectivity.
Check out http://blat.net/newdocs/ for an example of how.
BTW, I don't think MS Outlook will have much to do with it.
Even if you
have it configured to get mail via POP3, and send with SMTP
(that is the
only part that Blat does), Blat should not interact with it, and it
should not even be aware of Blat.
--
Tim Musson
Flying with The Bat! eMail v1.62q
Windows 2000 5.0.2195 (Service Pack 3)
(A)bort, (R)etry, (P)retend this never happened...
Blat Manager, current version is 2.1.1, see www.blat.net
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
---------------------~-->
Upgrade to 128-Bit SSL Security!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/p7cEmB/s7qGAA/yigFAA/dkFolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------
-------~->
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blat
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


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[Chip]

Post by Randy Roberts
Hi Tim
Telnet as you guessed does not even get a connection so I thought
about trying the e250 directly.
That works!
So I am thinking that maybe I should change the mailing routines to
point to the e250
Only one problem, if it is down than there will be a failure.
If our Exchange server is down it is usually a known condition
whereas the e250 is relatively transparent.
I can handle the problem in code by dynamically switching the IP used
if an error is returned, try again and if it works set the default to
that.
Can blat itself be told to handle this for me ( pass it two mail
servers and if one fails try the other?)
What do you think?
thanks
rr

Blat does not know to switch servers. However, if you run Blat through a
batch file, you can check the errorlevel and try the backup server in case
the first one fails.

Chip


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