Mac Srv: Server Hangs Immediately After Restart (69570)

SUMMARY

A Microsoft Mail server may hang or crash when it receives a damaged incoming message or user list from another Microsoft Mail server. This problem has been observed only with messages that originate from Mail version 2.00 servers. Messages can become damaged if an AppleTalk packet that makes up part of the message becomes damaged due to network problems or a faulty router.

The Mail server will hang or crash when it attempts to process the damaged incoming message. When the server machine is restarted, it will again try to process the incoming message and hang or crash within five minutes after restart. This problem will not occur intermittently; it will consistently occur soon after restart. The incoming message queue must be deleted to correct this problem.

To delete the incoming message queue on a Mail version 3.0 server, do the following:

1. While in the Chooser on the server Macintosh, set Mail to log in automatically as the Network Manager, with the password entered by the system. Close the Chooser.
2. While in the Finder, click once on the Mail Network Administrator program and from the Special menu, choose Set Startup to set the Mail Network Administrator program as a start-up application.
3. Restart the Macintosh.
4. Immediately after the Mail Network Administrator program has started, hold down the OPTION key and choose Delete Queued Mail from the Admin menu.
5. A list of currently queued mail will be displayed in the window. Select all the messages that are currently inbound for this server and click the Delete button.
6. Quit and restart the machine. If the problem persists, repeat steps 1-5.

To delete the incoming message queue on a Mail version 2.00 server, do the following:

1. Shut down the Macintosh acting as the Mail server and physically disconnect the server from the network.
2. Restart the Macintosh.
3. Set the clock on the Macintosh ahead by an amount greater than the number of days set in Server Settings for "Return undeliverable mail after X days.", where "X" is the number of days.
4. Let the server run for at least a half hour. The message queues will be purged when the global address list in the Address Mail window does not display users from any other server.

Important: Purging the incoming message queue on a Mail 2.00 server should only be done with full knowledge of the consequences of this action. If the Mail server is a master gateway server, purging the queues causes the server to lose all information about any access servers to this gateway. All access servers to this master server will have to then be reinstalled. Any users from other servers that are in local groups will be deleted from the group. All queued outgoing mail for other servers will be returned as undeliverable.