Mail issues

[Captain K]

I did indeed.  Can't remember the name of the ale, but an apt name might have been "Old Perspective". 

[Rik]

My personal thanks to those who have kept everyone updated and worked to overcome the problem.    Regards.

Thanks, Stan - that's much appreciated.

[Simon]

Nice turn of fortune, Bruce! 

[batsys]

Glad to see that the mail is back. Well done guys. 

One thing to come out of this episode is that as a company we need to have a better disaster recovery plan in place for our email. We routinely back up servers and PCs but never gave the email service a second thought. And we're supposed to be IT professionals  .We don't hold email on Trevor for any length of time so I doubt that we've lost much, if anything, potentially just stuff in transit. However we do obviously need to have a 2nd channel available for email as it's the loss of service that was the big issue for us. We've decided to stick with IDNet (see note below) and have opted for a filtered domain email service so we're in the process of moving one of our domains over to IDNet.

Note to IDNet: You really really must keep people informed. Just take a look at any recent PR disaster and it's the lack of information that everyone always complains about. It doesn't take long to update the "we're still trying to fix it" message so that at least the time changes and we're not stuck looking at a day-old message wondering what the hell is happening. It was a close run thing deciding to stay with IDNet, the dissenters where all giving lack of information as one of the key reasons for moving. That and being without any email for 3 days of course...

[Sebby]

I don't think they necessarily did a bad job of keeping us informed; the service status on their site was updated (though the information was slightly vague, but I expect that's because they weren't sure of the outcome themselves). I think that we expect a lot of information because of this forum, but ultimately, we have to remember that this is only an unofficial channel. That said, the guys at IDNet should realise that this is a vital resource and use it accordingly, imho.

[Rik]

One thing to come out of this episode is that as a company we need to have a better disaster recovery plan in place for our email. We routinely back up servers and PCs but never gave the email service a second thought. And we're supposed to be IT professionals  .We don't hold email on Trevor for any length of time so I doubt that we've lost much, if anything, potentially just stuff in transit. However we do obviously need to have a 2nd channel available for email as it's the loss of service that was the big issue for us. We've decided to stick with IDNet (see note below) and have opted for a filtered domain email service so we're in the process of moving one of our domains over to IDNet.

Note to IDNet: You really really must keep people informed. Just take a look at any recent PR disaster and it's the lack of information that everyone always complains about. It doesn't take long to update the "we're still trying to fix it" message so that at least the time changes and we're not stuck looking at a day-old message wondering what the hell is happening. It was a close run thing deciding to stay with IDNet, the dissenters where all giving lack of information as one of the key reasons for moving. That and being without any email for 3 days of course...

I agree with everything you say, Bat. As an ex-PR man, I've been doing a lot of nagging about the flow of information this week, As you rightly say, it's the absence which upsets people and a little effort can defuse a bad situation.

Clearly email is hard to backup, the server is constantly changing unlike most data servers - but something better has to be put in place, and I am confident it will be.

[Tacitus]

IS mail working OK?  I'm over at Sis place and nothing has come through so far.  I've done a test from my domain account and that still hasn't appeared.

[Sebby]

I just sent a test message to my IDNet account and it came through instantly. Anyone else?

[Tacitus]

I just sent a test message to my IDNet account and it came through instantly. Anyone else?

Msgs FROM iDNet are going through OK

[Philip]

working fine here

[Rik]

I've checked 'in and out' and can see no delays.

[Pez]

I know it doesn't help now but if you download them with a pop client when at home and leave them on the server, you can still view them from anywhere on the web plus you have a "hard"copy in case of problems.
Hope you get them back.

I did this before with my old ISP email, I used OE and then switched to Thunderbird, but when I used it everytime it downloaded on to my PC it seemed to auto-delete off of the webmail client. Is there a way to stop it doing that, specifically talking about Thunderbird?

[davej99]

I once got a pat on the back from a very senior exec in a global auto company after I had screwed up badly. This was for calling him and telling him a disaster was about to happen and what I was doing to fix it forever. A little while later we won a good chunk of extra biz and coveted ship-to-line status. The moral: communication is everything.

[Rik]

It can certainly be done in most clients, Pez, unfortunately I don't use TBird. Basically, you're looking for a 'leave on server' option.

[Rik]

The moral: communication is everything.

I agree totally, Dave.

[Tacitus]

I've checked 'in and out' and can see no delays.

Are the Spam filters on or off?  Not that it should make any difference..

[Rik]

Last time I heard, Tac, they were off in order to speed the queue clearance.

[Gary]

Hopefully on, as I certainly don't trust some friends pc's to be clear of infections thus spam hell starts, one in particular i only gave to my googlemail address and that gets its fair waft of spam now   anyidea when they will be put back on Rik, seems like leaving the gates open after the last spam attack, now things seem to be moving swiftly.

[Tacitus]

Last time I heard, Tac, they were off in order to speed the queue clearance.

OK.  What seems to be happening is they are there if I look at WebMail, but the POP client (AppleMail) is not picking them up.  Can't see why it should be the client since nothing has changed..

[Rik]

How would the client know, Tac. The mail is filtered before it hits the box?

[Arathorn]

I did this before with my old ISP email, I used OE and then switched to Thunderbird, but when I used it everytime it downloaded on to my PC it seemed to auto-delete off of the webmail client. Is there a way to stop it doing that, specifically talking about Thunderbird?

Hi Pez, I use Thunderbird and what you do is:

Click on "Tools" - "Account settings" - "Server Settings" and then tick "Leave Messages on Server" box + any option you require. Hope this helps.

Regards Arathorn

[Tacitus]

How would the client know, Tac. The mail is filtered before it hits the box?

No its not a problem with Spam.  All I get with the client when trying to connect to POP3 is connections failed.  Hang on dug in the logs:  

Error is "pop3.idnet.com" doesn't support CRAM-MD5

No idea where this came from as nothing has been altered on the client

I'm not using SSL on Port 110

[Rik]

Do you have an 'SSL' switch in  your settings? If so, try reversing the state of it.

[Tacitus]

Do you have an 'SSL' switch in  your settings? If so, try reversing the state of it.

Beat me to it.  I'm not using SSL

[Rik]

What happens if you turn it on?