Two users mail ids crossed (strange behaviour)

Question

Hi all,
We're facing a strange problem with an user and his email id.
Here is the architecture:
Solaris 8
Directory Server 4.16
Messaging Server 5.2 built Feb 21 2002
Let me explain the problem:
One of our users "uid=jcarbonero", "email: [email protected]" is getting some problems with the messaging servers functionality. He receives emails properly to "[email protected]", but the main problem appears when he write an email. He is able to send emails without problems but the destinatary receives the email as the sender was "[email protected]" instead of "[email protected]". "jcmolina" was a department colleague of "jcarbonero" but he is no longer working with us and the ldap user and mail box were deleted.
"jcarbonero" user exist on LDAP and has his own mailbox.
$ ./mboxutil -u jcmolina
mboxutil: cannot get ldap attributes for user: jcmolina
$ ./mboxutil -l|grep -i jcmolina
$ ./mboxutil -u jcarbonero
diskquota size(K) %use msgquota msgs %use user
153600 15208 9% no quota 129 jcarbonero
$ ./mboxutil -l|grep -i jcarbonero
84 14993 2006/11/07 09:41 primary 153600 user/jcarbonero/INBOX
0 0 2004/10/25 09:10 primary user/jcarbonero/Borradores
0 0 2005/08/26 11:22 primary user/jcarbonero/Drafts
4 1 2005/09/21 11:43 primary user/jcarbonero/Enviados
39 210 2006/11/07 08:50 primary user/jcarbonero/Sent
2 2 2006/11/06 18:14 primary user/jcarbonero/Templates
0 0 2006/11/06 18:40 primary user/jcarbonero/Trash
We've been doing some tests (sending emails from the mailserver):
# telnet 0 25
Trying 0.0.0.0...
Connected to 0.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 srvmail -- Server ESMTP (iPlanet Messaging Server 5.2 (built Feb 21 2002))
helo srvmail
250 srvmail OK, localhost [127.0.0.1].
mail from: [email protected]
250 2.5.0 Address Ok.
rcpt to: [email protected]
250 2.1.5 [email protected] OK.
data
354 Enter mail, end with a single ".".
test desde jcmolina 11:26
250 2.5.0 Ok.
mail from: [email protected]
250 2.5.0 Address Ok.
rcpt to: [email protected]
250 2.1.5 [email protected] OK.
data
354 Enter mail, end with a single ".".
test desde jcarbonero 11:28
250 2.5.0 Ok.
quit
221 2.3.0 Bye received. Goodbye.
Connection to 0 closed by foreign host.
The first email is sende as "jcmolina" and gmail account receives:
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
To: "undisclosed-recipients:"@pyrenees.ad
Date: 07-nov-2006 11:15
No virus was detected in the attachment no filename
test from jcmolina 11: 15
The one that we send as "jcarbonero" has this aspect:
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
To: "undisclosed-recipients:"@pyrenees.ad
Date: 07-nov-2006 11:17
No virus was detected in the attachment no filename
test from jcarbonero 11:17
As you can see the mail user identifiers are crossed. Also when we check the "mail.log_current" log from messaging server we found:
07-Nov-2006 11:15:04.32 tcp_intranet tcp_local E 1 [email protected] rfc822;[email protected] [email protected]
07-Nov-2006 11:15:04.57 tcp_local D 1 [email protected] rfc822;[email protected] [email protected]
dns;correu-pyrenees.pyrenees.com (srvrelay.pyrenees ESMTP Postfix) smtp;250 Ok
07-Nov-2006 11:17:22.83 tcp_intranet tcp_local E 1 [email protected] rfc822;[email protected] [email protected]
07-Nov-2006 11:17:23.04 tcp_local D 1 [email protected] rfc822;[email protected] [email protected] d
ns;correu-pyrenees.pyrenees.com (srvrelay.pyrenees ESMTP Postfix) smtp;250 Ok
Does not seem to be a problem with the "tcp_local" channel since if we send an email to an internal user the same problem appears using the "ims_ms" channel.
We're facing this strange problem only with the "jcmolina" and "jcarbonero" users.
As you can see the "jcmolina" user doesn't appear in the ldap and "jcarbonero" does:
[07/Nov/2006:11:03:49 +0100] conn=2290817 op=4 SRCH base="o=pyrenees.ad,o=pyrenees.ad" scope=2 filter="(uid=jcmolina)"
[07/Nov/2006:11:03:49 +0100] conn=2290817 op=4 RESULT err=0 tag=101 nentries=0 etime=1
[07/Nov/2006:11:29:17 +0100] conn=2290982 op=4 SRCH base="o=pyrenees.ad,o=pyrenees.ad" scope=2 filter="(uid=jcarbonero)"
[07/Nov/2006:11:29:17 +0100] conn=2290982 op=4 RESULT err=0 tag=101 nentries=1 etime=0
Checking all the possibilities we verfied the LDAP db2 files and we found entries related with jcmolina on "id2entry.db2" and "entrydn.db2", but in the Directory server forum told me that this has no impact over the main ldap functionality.
Any ideas to troubleshoot this behaviour will be really welcome.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Kind Regards

Answer 1

Hi,
We're facing a strange problem with an user and his
email id.
Solaris 8
Directory Server 4.16
Messaging Server 5.2 built Feb 21 2002You seriously need to upgrade. DS 4.16 is not supported anymore, and you are running a non-patched RTM version of messaging server. At a minimum you should be running iMS5.2 patch 2 (which is freely available without support contract).
This probably isn't causing the problem, but it has to be said.
One of our users "uid=jcarbonero", "email:
[email protected]" is getting some problems with
the messaging servers functionality. He receives
emails properly to "[email protected]", but the
main problem appears when he write an email. He is
able to send emails without problems but the
destinatary receives the email as the sender was
"[email protected]" instead of
"[email protected]". "jcmolina" was a department
colleague of "jcarbonero" but he is no longer working
with us and the ldap user and mail box were deleted.This behaviour could be due to two things:
1. The email is being sent by the email client with the wrong address (most-likely).
-> What email client are they using? (messenger express or something like Mozilla Thunderbird/Microsoft Exchange).
-> If it is the latter, then make sure they have set their email address settings correctly. Also get them to send an email using messenger express webclient and see if the problem persists.
2. There is some kind on rewriting happening in transit/within the MTA (unlikely)
-> What do you get for the output of the following:
./imsimta test -rewrite [email protected]
Specifically I am looking for the following fields on the output:
"header To: address"
"header From: address"
"envelope To: address"
"envelope From: address "
-> When did this problem start occuring, has anything changed in your environment?
# telnet 0 25
Trying 0.0.0.0...
Connected to 0.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 srvmail -- Server ESMTP (iPlanet Messaging Server
5.2 (built Feb 21 2002))
helo srvmail
250 srvmail OK, localhost [127.0.0.1].
mail from: [email protected]
250 2.5.0 Address Ok.
rcpt to: [email protected]
250 2.1.5 [email protected] OK.
data
354 Enter mail, end with a single ".".
test desde jcmolina 11:26
250 2.5.0 Ok.
mail from: [email protected]
250 2.5.0 Address Ok.
rcpt to: [email protected]
250 2.1.5 [email protected] OK.
data
354 Enter mail, end with a single ".".
test desde jcarbonero 11:28
250 2.5.0 Ok.
quit
221 2.3.0 Bye received. Goodbye.
Connection to 0 closed by foreign host.
The first email is sende as "jcmolina" and gmail
account receives:
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
: "undisclosed-recipients:"@pyrenees.ad
Date: 07-nov-2006 11:15
No virus was detected in the attachment no filename
test from jcmolina 11: 15
The one that we send as "jcarbonero" has this
aspect:
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
To: "undisclosed-recipients:"@pyrenees.ad
Date: 07-nov-2006 11:17
No virus was detected in the attachment no filename
test from jcarbonero 11:17
--------------------------------Your tests don't seem to match. On one hand you send an email with the body of "test desde jcmolina 11:26" but the email you receive says " test from jcmolina 11: 15"??
Regards,
Shane.