Email woes on IBM/AIX Risc 6000
[1/9] from: ed:dana:avnet at: 1-Aug-2002 9:09
Last week, I had set REBOL up on an IBM/AIX Risc 6000. Everything seems to
work fine, but email. I can read http addresses no problem, but when I send
an email, it times out.
My user.r file appears to be set correctly, and we can send email from the
box using other means, so I'm not sure what's going wrong here. Anyone got
suggestions as to where I can start looking for this problem?
I've contacted REBOL Support and never got an answer back, so any help
provided here is greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Ed Dana.
======================================================================
Component: "Internet Protocols" (22-Mar-2001/17:38:17)
Finger protocol loaded
Whois protocol loaded
Daytime protocol loaded
SMTP protocol loaded
POP protocol loaded
IMAP protocol loaded
HTTP protocol loaded
FTP protocol loaded
NNTP protocol loaded
Script: "User Preferences" (29-Apr-2002/11:00:11-7:00)
>> send [Ed--Dana--Avnet--com] "Howdy!"
connecting to: smtprelay.avnet.com
** Access Error: Network timeout
** Where: confirm
** Near: smtp-port: open [scheme: 'smtp]
if email?
>> read http://www.rebol.com
connecting to: www.rebol.com
== {<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
^-<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html;CHARSET=i...
[2/9] from: gscottjones::mchsi::com at: 1-Aug-2002 17:16
From: "Dana, Ed"
> Last week, I had set REBOL up on an IBM/AIX Risc 6000. Everything seems to
> work fine, but email. I can read http addresses no problem, but when I
send
> an email, it times out.
>
> My user.r file appears to be set correctly, and we can send email from the
> box using other means, so I'm not sure what's going wrong here. Anyone got
> suggestions as to where I can start looking for this problem?
<rest of email:
http://www.escribe.com/internet/rebol/m24107.html
Hi, Ed,
It is not obvious from what you wrote about. Additionally, the smtp server
is not accessible from the Internet (or is not currently up) so I can't log
on with telnet to confirm what I think may be happening. My guess (judging
from info in your email header) is that the smtp server may be an
authenticating server (meaning it requires sign-on sequence management
before it allows email to be sent). If so, not all implementations may be
currently supported in pure (unhacked) REBOL. Second, if the user name
sequence has an @ sign, the standard REBOL net url parser will not properly
parse the user name portion.
If the email server requires "authentication" and your user name has an @,
let me know and I can dig up the patch. If you don't know if it is
authenticating, try a telnet session, something like:
telnet smtprelay.avnet.com:25
type:
EHLO your-client-url
and return and wait to see if amongst the return messages you see:
S: 250-AUTH=LOGIN
If you do not have an @ in the user portion, copy the feedout of the telnet
session, and it may be easy to show a hack that will work (based on a hack I
did last year for an Exchange server that required authentication using
MBS_BASIC encoding).
Hope this helps instead of confuses.
--Scott Jones
[3/9] from: edanaii:cox at: 1-Aug-2002 18:36
G. Scott Jones wrote:
>Hi, Ed,
>It is not obvious from what you wrote about. Additionally, the smtp server
<<quoted lines omitted: 6>>
>sequence has an @ sign, the standard REBOL net url parser will not properly
>parse the user name portion.
Nope, it's not obvious from what I wrote. But then, that's my whole
problem, I'm not sure where I should start looking. :)
>If the email server requires "authentication" and your user name has an @,
>let me know and I can dig up the patch. If you don't know if it is
>authenticating, try a telnet session, something like:
>
I don't believe that the server requires authentication. Working with
our SA, we were able to send an email on that box using a unix command
(I forget which, I'm not a unix dude), it worked fine.
>telnet smtprelay.avnet.com:25
>type:
> EHLO your-client-url
>and return and wait to see if amongst the return messages you see:
>S: 250-AUTH=LOGIN
>
I'll try it, but I'm not sure what you mean by "your-client-url"? Do you
mean the url of the box I'm trying to email from? Please clarify...
>If you do not have an @ in the user portion, copy the feedout of the telnet
>session, and it may be easy to show a hack that will work (based on a hack I
>did last year for an Exchange server that required authentication using
>MBS_BASIC encoding).
>
My ultimate goal is to connect to an exchange server and process email
there. So if this is relevant now, it will be later. :)
--
Sincerely, | The Traveler awaits the morning tide. He doesn't
Ed Dana | know what's on the other side. But something deep
Software Developer | inside of him keeps telling him to go. He hasn't
1Ghz Athlon Amiga | found a reason to say no.
| -- the Alan Parsons Project, Days are Numbers.
=========== http://OurWorld.CompuServe.com/Homepages/EDanaII ===========
[4/9] from: anton:lexicon at: 2-Aug-2002 14:15
Hi,
> >telnet smtprelay.avnet.com:25
> >type:
<<quoted lines omitted: 4>>
> I'll try it, but I'm not sure what you mean by "your-client-url"? Do you
> mean the url of the box I'm trying to email from? Please clarify...
I tried it with the smtp server at my dialup isp.
I could type just random characters for "your-client-url"
and it said:
Hello po-202-x-x-x.izone.net.au [202.x.x.x],
pleased to meet you
so you see it determined the ip address (202.x.x.x) that my
isp assigned to me when I dialed in. This "HELO/EHLO" stage
may or may not be a problem for you.
Also, try typing "HELP" for a list of commands.
Anton.
[5/9] from: mat:plothatching at: 2-Aug-2002 8:40
Hi Ed,
Ed> connecting to: smtprelay.avnet.com
Ed> ** Access Error: Network timeout
Ed> ** Where: confirm
Ed> ** Near: smtp-port: open [scheme: 'smtp]
Ed> if email?
I had something like this once. The problem was due to the mail server
attempting to do an ident check on the machine which was talking to
it. The timeout period of this on the mail server was longer than the
default timeout period in Rebol.
The solution was to turn the ident request off on the mail server
although if you have no access to that you should be able to increase
the Rebol timeout value instead.
Regards,
Mat.
[6/9] from: gscottjones:mchsi at: 2-Aug-2002 6:53
Hi, Ed,
From: "Ed Dana"
> G. Scott Jones wrote:
> >It is not obvious from what you wrote about. ...
> Nope, it's not obvious from what I wrote. But then, that's my whole
> problem, I'm not sure where I should start looking. :)
Sorry. I didn't mean to imply that your description was in any way
inadequate or lacking. I should have written something more like that I
agreed that it certainly wasn't obvious what was going on. My blunder;
sorry.
> >If the email server requires "authentication" and your user name has an
@,
> >let me know and I can dig up the patch. If you don't know if it is
> >authenticating, try a telnet session, something like:
> >
> I don't believe that the server requires authentication. Working with
> our SA, we were able to send an email on that box using a unix command
> (I forget which, I'm not a unix dude), it worked fine.
I also should clarify at this point that I, too, am not a AIX/unix/*nix
dude, but I played one at an improv theater once. (<<---- Attempt-At-Humor
Alert ---->>) So like all good actors, then I'm probably over qualified.
:-)
Actually I don't think that this is an AIX issue, or I wouldn't be wasting
your time. Just that in being a close follower of the list, I've noticed
certain recurring patterns of problems. This one *appears* to be a
requires-some-sort-of-authentication-that-is-not-fully-supported category,
which can be further subcategorized into a
using-a-"non-standard"-user-account-name or
using-one-of-the-many-non-standardized-authenticated-smtp issues.
> >telnet smtprelay.avnet.com:25
> >type:
<<quoted lines omitted: 4>>
> I'll try it, but I'm not sure what you mean by "your-client-url"? Do you
> mean the url of the box I'm trying to email from? Please clarify...
I guess that was a bit nebulous. Sorry. As Anton pointed out in a separate
response, it may not matter what is typed in here because many email servers
will determine what it needs, namely your machine's URL, and therefore, your
machine's IP.
Assuming that you are emailing from within the network (which I assume you
are since I cannot ping nor telnet to your server from the Internet), your
client url would likely look something like "dana.avnet.com" or maybe
dana.bestdivision.avnet.com
. The email server will then get the IP
address that belongs to this url. My foggy-headed understanding of this is
that some email servers can be configured to only accept email from within
certain subnets as a further means of avoiding the unintended hosting of a
promiscuous email server (I just love that expression). Further
authentication is a redunduncy added in case the url/ip has been spoofed, or
authentication can be used to accept email from outside the subnet or
network (like if you are working from home), in which case the url/ip is
unimportant, but the user account name and password is crucial to avoid
being a promiscuous email server (there's that expression again).
Since you didn't mention having a user account name that includes an @ (like
[myname--mydomain--dom]) and that you use (or will be using) Exchange server,
then you may wish to try the hack I made April '01 for Nick Carson.
http://www.escribe.com/internet/rebol/m7905.html
In this solution, I provide two scripts that add hacked versions of the smtp
scheme and the send function. Watch for line breaks. I renamed these to
avoid any conflict with REBOL's official version, but can be named to
overwrite the default code. As it stands, these scripts are designed to be
run from a REBOL console, but can be easily rewritten to run as a /View gui.
The authenticating username and password are requested from the console
prompt on first use, and stored internally for the rest of the session.
These values are not saved to permanent storage locally for security
reasons. Please note that if this script is to be provided for multiple
user use, it would be trivial to halt a script then hack and get the
username and password once entered (meaning, security risk). If this is the
situation, then the scripts should be changed to ask for the
username/password *each time* needed.
If these scripts do not work, then I would try the telnet route. From
Windows, open a dos box and type in:
telnet smtprelay.avnet.com 25
After the email server responds, type
EHLO your-client-url-as-discussed-above
then see what returns. This return infomation will be very valuable for
determining what to do next in making REBOL compatible. You may sign-off
the telnet session with "QUIT" and return.
(BTW, if you cannot see what you type, then in the telnet menu, click
preferences, and select "local echo".)
I hope I have further clarified what was evidently a less than clear
explanation. I'm interested in hearing what you find.
--Scott Jones
[7/9] from: edanaii:cox at: 2-Aug-2002 15:47
G. Scott Jones wrote:
>Hi, Ed,
>From: "Ed Dana"
<<quoted lines omitted: 9>>
>agreed that it certainly wasn't obvious what was going on. My blunder;
>sorry.
Think nothing of it. I did. :)
>>I don't believe that the server requires authentication. Working with
>>our SA, we were able to send an email on that box using a unix command
<<quoted lines omitted: 4>>
>Alert ---->>) So like all good actors, then I'm probably over qualified.
>:-)
That's OK, I slept at a Holiday Inn... (Funny only if you live here in
the States and pay attention to Holiday Inn commercials :)
>Actually I don't think that this is an AIX issue, or I wouldn't be wasting
>your time. Just that in being a close follower of the list, I've noticed
<<quoted lines omitted: 3>>
>using-a-"non-standard"-user-account-name or
>using-one-of-the-many-non-standardized-authenticated-smtp issues.
My problem is: I don't know. Personally, I think it is a configuration
issue, but where? It's either REBOL, or it's the AIX box. And I gotta
eliminate one in order for it to be the other.
>>I'll try it, but I'm not sure what you mean by "your-client-url"? Do you
>>mean the url of the box I'm trying to email from? Please clarify...
<<quoted lines omitted: 19>>
>[myname--mydomain--dom]) and that you use (or will be using) Exchange server,
>then you may wish to try the hack I made April '01 for Nick Carson.
I am using an Exchange Server (or will be), unfortunately, I don't know
if smtprelay is an exchange server or not. It's supposed to be a simple
relay server, but I know little of these things. But it is definitely
not the server I am ultimately going to connect to. At this point, I've
done nothing more than try and send an email.
Maybe I should spend another night in a Holiday Inn? =)
>http://www.escribe.com/internet/rebol/m7905.html
>In this solution, I provide two scripts that add hacked versions of the smtp
<<quoted lines omitted: 10>>
>situation, then the scripts should be changed to ask for the
>username/password *each time* needed.
I'll give this a try next week.
>If these scripts do not work, then I would try the telnet route. From
>Windows, open a dos box and type in:
<<quoted lines omitted: 8>>
>I hope I have further clarified what was evidently a less than clear
>explanation. I'm interested in hearing what you find.
As I mentioned to Anton, I tried HELO (EHLO wasn't available). I only
got one response "OK". That was about it...
--
Sincerely, | When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries of
Ed Dana | life disappear and life stands explained.
Software Developer | -- Mark Twain
1Ghz Athlon Amiga |
[8/9] from: edanaii:cox at: 2-Aug-2002 15:36
Anton wrote:
>I tried it with the smtp server at my dialup isp.
>I could type just random characters for "your-client-url"
<<quoted lines omitted: 5>>
>may or may not be a problem for you.
>Also, try typing "HELP" for a list of commands.
I telneted to the server, looks like it connected no problem, but all I
got back when I HELOed was "OK". Nothing else happened.
--
Sincerely, | When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries of
Ed Dana | life disappear and life stands explained.
Software Developer | -- Mark Twain
1Ghz Athlon Amiga |
[9/9] from: edanaii:cox at: 2-Aug-2002 15:50
Mat Bettinson wrote:
>Hi Ed,
>Ed> connecting to: smtprelay.avnet.com
<<quoted lines omitted: 9>>
>although if you have no access to that you should be able to increase
>the Rebol timeout value instead.
You are correct, there is little I can do about the mail server. I did
try changing the default system timeout *and* the SMTP system timeout,
but neither made a difference.
--
Sincerely, | Control is an illusion, you infantile egomaniac.
Ed Dana | Nobody knows what's gonna happen next: not on a
Software Developer | freeway, not in an airplane, not inside our own
1Ghz Athlon Amiga | bodies and certainly not on a racetrack with 40
| other infantile egomaniacs.
| -- Days of Thunder
Notes
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View the message alone to see the lines that have been omitted