PureMessage for UNIX: aborted messages showing in log
An abort entry in the PureMessage log (typically the /opt/pmx/var/log/pmx_log file) means that sendmail informed PureMessage that it was no longer processing the connection. This causes the ABORT callback to be called in PureMessage, which then logs the corresponding message in the log file.
An abort message could be triggered in two ways:
- Sendmail prematurely closed the connection with the SMTP peer. This could be another mail server or mail client. Possible reasons include: problems in the network connection between the two servers, ill-formed SMTP commands from the other side, timeout while exchanging. When sendmail prematurely ends an SMTP connection in this manner, it will abort the corresponding connection with PureMessage at the same time.
This type of abort is part of everyday SMTP traffic problems and can usually be ignored. The abort could result in delayed delivery of mail processed on the affected connections.
- Sendmail timed out while waiting for PureMessage to process the message. When sendmail times out like this, PureMessage itself notices that sendmail is no longer interested in the connection, and calls the ABORT callback in the filter. This kind of abort is usually caused by a Sendmail problem that can be fixed.
What to do
To discover what is triggering the abort, find the queue ID of the aborted message reported in the PureMessage log, and check the same queue ID in /var/log/maillog (or the corresponding sendmail log on your server). The maillog will show what happened to the aborted message.
When sendmail aborts a connection with PureMessage, it usually logs a reason. The lines that provide information about such aborted connections can be identified by looking for "milter_" in the maillog. If the reason was 'timeout', usually the message took too long to process by PureMessage, and sendmail therefore ended its side of the connection. To prevent this, increase the sendmail Milter timeouts; see PureMessage: recommended timeout values to use for filters
Such timeout errors in the maillog could mean that PureMessage wasn't running, or that it was not listening on the port that sendmail thinks PureMessage can be reached at.
If you need more information or guidance, then please contact technical support.
- Article ID: 10190
- Created: 31 Dec 2003
- Last updated: 1 Oct 2008
