CONN: Mail Connection Gateway Errors (531), (550) (130066)

SYMPTOMS

If the Macintosh component of the Mail Connection Gateway is installed incorrectly, the following problems or errors may occur:

Microsoft Mail for AppleTalk Networks mail recipients frequently receive more than one copy of the same mail message.
The Network manager receives sporadic reports of the MMACGATE.LOG being locked and inaccessible.
The errors (531) and (550) frequently occur, as shown in the following MMACGATE.LOG excerpt:
1995-03-30 05:09 Error: (531) File not found occurred while deleting file mmff1.wrt.
1995-03-30 07:14 Error: (550) File is busy occurred while deleting file mmff2.msg.
The MMACGATE.LOG shows irregular time stamp entries:
1995-04-05 10:55 Exiting the Microsoft Mail Connection at 1995-04-05 10:55
1995-04-05 10:57 Exiting the Microsoft Mail Connection at 1995-04-05 10:57
1995-04-05 10:56 Starting the Microsoft Mail Connection at 1995-04-05 10:56

CAUSE

There is more than one MS Mail Gateway extension running in a Microsoft Mail for AppleTalk Networks network pointing to the same Microsoft Mail for PC Networks gateway postoffice. This results in two or more processes that read, write, and open the same files continuously.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, complete the following steps:

Extract the Access gateway from the AppleTalk Mail server. For more information on how to do this, see page 36 of the Microsoft Mail Connection "Administrator's Guide."
Run the Connection Installer on the duplicate AppleTalk Mail gateway server and select the gateway name.
From the Gateway menu, choose Remove Gateway. Click OK to the message box asking "Are you sure...".
Click the Access menu and select Install Access Gateway.
Locate the Access gateway extracted from the original AppleTalk Mail gateway server. Click Install.
Go to the System-Extensions folder and remove the extension MS Mail GW.
Restart the AppleTalk Mail Access server.

MORE INFORMATION

Page 129 of the Microsoft Mail Connection "Administrator's Guide" specifies error messages 526 through 551 as usually caused by software, hardware, or network problems. The most common troubleshooting starting point is to check the network access rights, file locking, lazy write problems, and so forth. It may save valuable time if you can determine whether multiple AppleTalk Mail gateways are the cause of the errors.

To determine if there are multiple AppleTalk Mail gateways:

Check the MMACGATE.LOG for irregular time-stamp entries.
Run the Connection Installer on each AppleTalk Mail server to view installed gateways and access gateways. Only one AppleTalk Mail server should have the Gateway component installed. All AppleTalk Access Mail servers will have the Access Gateway component only (Access gateways are designated with an "A" in a black box in front of the gateway name).
Check for any stranded *.DEL files in the PCTOMAC directory.