Email not delivered, log shows delivered, user activity detail shows no write

HCL Domino Domino Forum
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Hi - Having an issue with mail delivery that is very concerning.

Same domain, same server.

E.g. User A sends to Users B and C (both in the To: line in this instance, probably doesn’t matter). All users on same server.

Log shows router reporting that the same message ID delivered to both users.

User C received the message as expected.

User B never receives the message. No, its not a view/folder rebuild issue, its not in All Documents, no mail rules, etc.

User B Document count doesn’t change in DB properties.

Examination reveals that the database user activity isn’t changed on User B (i.e. the server never writes the new document), but on User C the user activity corresponds directly with the log showing a user activity entry for the server writing one document as expected.

This looks like a bug either in the Router or in the database engine itself. And, for the first time, email can actually “disappear” as users have so often falsely claimed before.

If anyone has encountered this behavior before, please chime in - and if you have found a resolution to this, I beg you to chime in :wink:

Thanks - KevFrey

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Subject: Email not delivered, log shows delivered, user activity detail shows no write

Is there a SPAM filter on the server that may be grabbing the message?

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Subject: RE: Email not delivered, log shows delivered, user activity detail shows no write

Nothing to do with Spam - All internal users, same server, same domain.

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Subject: RE: Email not delivered, log shows delivered, user activity detail shows no write

can anyone else successfully send to user c? how about the junk mail folder? perhaps user c has user a blocked. also, although no rules may be visible is it possible user c had a rule that got deleted before it was disabled and it’s still running and acting on the mail received from user a? also, try linking user c’s mail file to a new blank mail file then have user a send a test message to user c, if it arrives that would point to a problem with the mail file itself, likley a rule, agent or junk mail blocking.

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Subject: RE: Email not delivered, log shows delivered, user activity detail shows no write

Hiya;

Thanks for the ideas. I believe you switch User B and C in your examples, but that is OK - the point is the same.

I did think of the ‘invisible’ mail rule issue (deleted without deactivating), but that is not the issue. If it was, the mail file’s User Activity would show the server’s ID doing a write to the DB, then the rule would take action. The server never “touches” the User B’s mail file (no read, no write) accordingly to the user detail, but a write event is recorded by the server ID on User C’s mail file at exactly the same time as shown as “delivered” in the log. I believe this rules out a rule, junkmail, or agent acting on this message post-delivery - it simply is not written to the file. If a mail rule was blocking it from even writing it to the file, would that not be reflected in the mail log?

I am checking w/User B to see if he can receive anything from User A - will reply once I receive a response.

I have seen this problem once before (on a different server, but same symptoms and same version of Domino - all users on same server) - The way I “fixed” it was by doing what you suggested then - creating a new mail file and assigning that new file to the person doc. So far, no more reports of this issue, but that was a couple months ago. However, she was able to receive mail from the sender-in-question sometimes, other times not (with the same symptoms as listed).

Additionally, it is very hard for the user to tell if they did not receive an email considering that they rarely know that one has even been sent (just makes the problem harder to troubleshoot of course).

Thanks again to all respondents so far for your time…

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Subject: RE: Email not delivered, log shows delivered, user activity detail shows no write

I believe rules are executed from mail.box on the user’s mail server just like a Before New Mail Arrives agent would. To test this I sent myself a few tests from the internet after setting up a rule to delete them and I do not see any writes being made to my mail file by the server. this would indicate that the messages never get to my mail file at all but are deleted by the rule prior to getting there. You can see if there are any rules hanging around by creating a script to grab the calendar profile, run it through the debugger and take a look at the $FilterFormulaCount field, this should tell you if there are an rules in there. Also see if there are any $FilterFormula fields.

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Subject: RE: Email not delivered, log shows delivered, user activity detail shows no write

Hi Paul;

Excellent testing - thanks!

So, I understand why no write would occur given your explanation, which indicates that this is server-engine decision…

Which makes me concerned that the server says the message is delivered just like any other message, when in fact, it has obeyed a “do not accept message” rule and no file modification occurs. Sounds like the server guys need to modify their logging routine for this behavior. I’ll be a LS2008, so I’ll bug them about that then :wink:

I will check with the user about any old filters that might be causing this behavior and use your methodology as well to reveal any deleted/active filters.

Thanks again and I’ll confirm once I’ve tracked it down. Based on all this, sounds to me like a mail rule lingers…

KevFrey

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Subject: RE: Email not delivered, log shows delivered, user activity detail shows no write

I’ll be @ LS08 too, maybe I’ll bump into you.

My server log does not record any rules that have acted on a message, maybe there is a setting that needs to be enabled in order for these to post to the log but I don’t even see anything on the console. I’m running 7.0.3 at the server so perhaps it acts differently than yours.

An easy way to delete any ghost rules is to just delete the Calendar Profile via LS and a new one will get created the next time the user opens his/her mail file and then they will have to reset any changes they have made to the settings.

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Subject: RE: Email not delivered, log shows delivered, user activity detail shows no write

I guess a better question is this:

Does a mail rule reflect actions in the server log or will it simply show delivered?

And

Does a mail rule that is written to reject delivery prevent the server from writing the message to the file at all - and if so, why does the server NOT throw an error into the the server log indicating that the user has a rejection mail rule? Seems like an issue to me.

I am starting to lean toward the possibility of a mail rule, if in fact the server doesn’t record a database property “write” entry into the user activity window…

I need to verify that behavior first either myself via testing or your experiences.

Any information you can share regarding mail rule behavior (at the database or server level) would be appreciated.

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Subject: RE: Email not delivered, log shows delivered, user activity detail shows no write

Kevin

This really sounds like a ghost rule in action. Check the log on the server and you should find a few lines after the Delivered one that the user has one or several mail rule affected.

I had one user who set a rule saying anything but a certain Spam (yes, that was an error) should be deleted. So the server would confirm delivery to the mailbox but it would never show up. Messages were deleted automatically.

Removed the rule and all worked fine.

Now, if it is a Ghost rule, I believe you can do a compact -c on the mailfile and this should clear the ghost rule. I did a local copy in my case and it fixed the problem.

Other things could be the location of the user mailfile in the person doc. But I am sure you checked that. or a server rule but then it would not say Delivered.

Did you check DDM? It should let you know if there is other problem

I would check the log a few lines after the Delivery confirmation. There is also a code to remove Ghost rules. Actually, it removes all the rules. But it works great… Here it is …

Hope this helps…

Jacques

Sub Initialize

Dim session As New NotesSession

Dim db As NotesDatabase

Set db = session.currentdatabase

Dim workspace As New NotesUIWorkspace

'This folder contains all the Mail Rules.

Dim folder As NotesView

Set folder = db.GetView("(Rules)")

'Find the calendar profile document in the current database. (GetProfileDocument will create the named profile document if it does not already exist.)

Dim calendarProfile As NotesDocument

Set calendarProfile = db.GetProfileDocument( "CalendarProfile" )

'Mail Rules are compiled and saved in special fields named $FilterFormula_xx

'Remove all of these fields from the calendar profile.

Forall item In calendarProfile.Items

	If( Lcase$(Left$(item.Name,15)) = "$filterformula_" ) Then

		Print "Cleanup " & item.Name

		Call item.Remove

	End If

End Forall

'Save changes to the calendar profile.

Call calendarProfile.Save( False, False )

'Disable all Rules.

Dim mailrule As NotesDocument

Set mailrule = folder.GetFirstDocument

While Not( mailrule Is Nothing )

	Call mailrule.ReplaceItemValue( "Enable","0" )

	Call mailrule.Save( True,False,True )

	

	Set mailrule = folder.GetNextDocument( mailrule )

Wend

'Open the Rules folder

Call workspace.OpenDatabase( db.Server, db.FilePath, "(Rules)" )

'Message to the user.

Messagebox "Cleanup complete."

End Sub