Exchange 2003 SMTP session and Connections question

Hi,
We have Exchange Enterprise 2003 (with latest patches) on windows 2003
enterprise server.
Our e-mails scanned thru Mail Marshall SMTP server, then transfered to
exchange server.

On exchange server, SMTP session, I see a lot of connection from Mail
Marshall (about 750 connection), some connections are showing connected time
as 90353 seconds, which is about 36hours.

I know connection timeout on exchange server is set to 10minutes.
Is this this normal, shouldn't all these connection be terminated already
acoording to 10minute time out?

Occasionaly, exchange stops receiving from Mail Marshall server, with no
error or indication.
When I restart SMTP service on exchange, it starts receiving the e-mails
Something is not right on exchange server

Anyone have any idea?
MC

Leif
Tue Jul 08 15:59:13 CDT 2008

Hi,

Why do you think this is a problem with the exchange server?

The Mail Marshall should release the connections when mails are delivered.

Leif

"MC" <webmaster@ozoptics.com> skrev i meddelelsen
news:eOL$yJT4IHA.3624@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Hi,
> We have Exchange Enterprise 2003 (with latest patches) on windows 2003
> enterprise server.
> Our e-mails scanned thru Mail Marshall SMTP server, then transfered to
> exchange server.
>
> On exchange server, SMTP session, I see a lot of connection from Mail
> Marshall (about 750 connection), some connections are showing connected
> time as 90353 seconds, which is about 36hours.
>
> I know connection timeout on exchange server is set to 10minutes.
> Is this this normal, shouldn't all these connection be terminated already
> acoording to 10minute time out?
>
> Occasionaly, exchange stops receiving from Mail Marshall server, with no
> error or indication.
> When I restart SMTP service on exchange, it starts receiving the e-mails
> Something is not right on exchange server
>
> Anyone have any idea?
> MC

MC
Wed Jul 09 08:56:47 CDT 2008

Exchange server timeout set to 10 minutes, how come exchange doesn't
disconnect when connections are idle.
Or isn't there a time out in exchange server, where a transmission for 1
mail session can take, lets say maximum 10 minutes.
Exchange normall, does disconnect session if it sees protocol or
transmission related issues. In Mail Marsahll SMTP, I can see timeout
errors, and disconnects from exchange.

MC

"Leif Pedersen [ MVP]" <leif.pedersenNOSPAM@get2net.dk> wrote in message
news:8CA8BFE6-AE8D-40B8-B232-BC9C51203F61@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> Why do you think this is a problem with the exchange server?
>
> The Mail Marshall should release the connections when mails are delivered.
>
> Leif
>
> "MC" <webmaster@ozoptics.com> skrev i meddelelsen
> news:eOL$yJT4IHA.3624@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> Hi,
>> We have Exchange Enterprise 2003 (with latest patches) on windows 2003
>> enterprise server.
>> Our e-mails scanned thru Mail Marshall SMTP server, then transfered to
>> exchange server.
>>
>> On exchange server, SMTP session, I see a lot of connection from Mail
>> Marshall (about 750 connection), some connections are showing connected
>> time as 90353 seconds, which is about 36hours.
>>
>> I know connection timeout on exchange server is set to 10minutes.
>> Is this this normal, shouldn't all these connection be terminated already
>> acoording to 10minute time out?
>>
>> Occasionaly, exchange stops receiving from Mail Marshall server, with no
>> error or indication.
>> When I restart SMTP service on exchange, it starts receiving the e-mails
>> Something is not right on exchange server
>>
>> Anyone have any idea?
>> MC
>

MC
Wed Jul 09 09:03:39 CDT 2008

Because why Exchange start receiving those same e-mails, when I restart
Exchange SMTP service
(Mail Marshall QUES, incoming, if it can not communicate with Exchange, when
I restart SMPT on exchange, it start receiving all the messages, that it
didn't at the first place) Looks like exchange SMTP stop responding to
connection atempt made by Mail Marshall. I made sure my Symantec AV, has
exclusion set on all exchange related folder, as per MS documentation.
Would SMSMSE 5.0 for exchange has anything to do with?

Thanks
MC

"Leif Pedersen [ MVP]" <leif.pedersenNOSPAM@get2net.dk> wrote in message
news:8CA8BFE6-AE8D-40B8-B232-BC9C51203F61@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> Why do you think this is a problem with the exchange server?
>
> The Mail Marshall should release the connections when mails are delivered.
>
> Leif
>
> "MC" <webmaster@ozoptics.com> skrev i meddelelsen
> news:eOL$yJT4IHA.3624@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> Hi,
>> We have Exchange Enterprise 2003 (with latest patches) on windows 2003
>> enterprise server.
>> Our e-mails scanned thru Mail Marshall SMTP server, then transfered to
>> exchange server.
>>
>> On exchange server, SMTP session, I see a lot of connection from Mail
>> Marshall (about 750 connection), some connections are showing connected
>> time as 90353 seconds, which is about 36hours.
>>
>> I know connection timeout on exchange server is set to 10minutes.
>> Is this this normal, shouldn't all these connection be terminated already
>> acoording to 10minute time out?
>>
>> Occasionaly, exchange stops receiving from Mail Marshall server, with no
>> error or indication.
>> When I restart SMTP service on exchange, it starts receiving the e-mails
>> Something is not right on exchange server
>>
>> Anyone have any idea?
>> MC
>

Steve
Sat Jul 12 07:08:00 CDT 2008

Gentlemen,

I work as a support professional for an organization that supports over 100
Exchange 2003 servers. We have isolated the identical issue as of this week
as well, only difference was it was using Myriad Networks as a backup Store
and Forward system. One of my senior engineers isolated it down to the
number of connections being hung open to Myriad.

After massive research, I found someone who had called Microsoft for a
similar but not the same problem. Microsofts recommendation was to limit the
number of smtp connections coming in to 32 and a timeout of 1. While the
logic used by Microsoft I believe is going to solve the issue (we are testing
on two networks currently), I believe they set the thresholds too low for the
average network. We have changed it to 100 sessions and a five minute
timeout for our testing. Will post if this solves the issue.

Of note as well on this, it appears to be a resurfacing of the practice of
sending mail to the secondary mx records instead of the primary to avoid
normal processing. The sites that are experiencing the problem are all sites
which have excessive levels of spam traffic and have a history of spam
percentage being up to 99 percent.

Hope this helps.

Steve

"MC" wrote:

> Because why Exchange start receiving those same e-mails, when I restart
> Exchange SMTP service
> (Mail Marshall QUES, incoming, if it can not communicate with Exchange, when
> I restart SMPT on exchange, it start receiving all the messages, that it
> didn't at the first place) Looks like exchange SMTP stop responding to
> connection atempt made by Mail Marshall. I made sure my Symantec AV, has
> exclusion set on all exchange related folder, as per MS documentation.
> Would SMSMSE 5.0 for exchange has anything to do with?
>
> Thanks
> MC
>
> "Leif Pedersen [ MVP]" <leif.pedersenNOSPAM@get2net.dk> wrote in message
> news:8CA8BFE6-AE8D-40B8-B232-BC9C51203F61@microsoft.com...
> > Hi,
> >
> > Why do you think this is a problem with the exchange server?
> >
> > The Mail Marshall should release the connections when mails are delivered.
> >
> > Leif
> >
> > "MC" <webmaster@ozoptics.com> skrev i meddelelsen
> > news:eOL$yJT4IHA.3624@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> >> Hi,
> >> We have Exchange Enterprise 2003 (with latest patches) on windows 2003
> >> enterprise server.
> >> Our e-mails scanned thru Mail Marshall SMTP server, then transfered to
> >> exchange server.
> >>
> >> On exchange server, SMTP session, I see a lot of connection from Mail
> >> Marshall (about 750 connection), some connections are showing connected
> >> time as 90353 seconds, which is about 36hours.
> >>
> >> I know connection timeout on exchange server is set to 10minutes.
> >> Is this this normal, shouldn't all these connection be terminated already
> >> acoording to 10minute time out?
> >>
> >> Occasionaly, exchange stops receiving from Mail Marshall server, with no
> >> error or indication.
> >> When I restart SMTP service on exchange, it starts receiving the e-mails
> >> Something is not right on exchange server
> >>
> >> Anyone have any idea?
> >> MC
> >
>
>

StuartR
Sun Jul 13 13:01:05 CDT 2008

Greetings,

I also detected my Exchange 2003 server is experiencing this issue after
applying the most recent round of security updates last week. Despite having
the smtp connection time-out set to 5 minutes, I am seeing multiple
connection sessions persisting for hours. As Steve noted these appear to be
suspect SPAM sending domains which isn't a surprise of course, but I'd really
like to understand why their connections aren't dropped after the 5 minute
limit. Does the time-out only drop the connection if there's no activity so
if they keep sending smtp commands in less than 5 minute intervals their
connection will not drop?

SR

"Steve" wrote:

> Gentlemen,
>
> I work as a support professional for an organization that supports over 100
> Exchange 2003 servers. We have isolated the identical issue as of this week
> as well, only difference was it was using Myriad Networks as a backup Store
> and Forward system. One of my senior engineers isolated it down to the
> number of connections being hung open to Myriad.
>
> After massive research, I found someone who had called Microsoft for a
> similar but not the same problem. Microsofts recommendation was to limit the
> number of smtp connections coming in to 32 and a timeout of 1. While the
> logic used by Microsoft I believe is going to solve the issue (we are testing
> on two networks currently), I believe they set the thresholds too low for the
> average network. We have changed it to 100 sessions and a five minute
> timeout for our testing. Will post if this solves the issue.
>
> Of note as well on this, it appears to be a resurfacing of the practice of
> sending mail to the secondary mx records instead of the primary to avoid
> normal processing. The sites that are experiencing the problem are all sites
> which have excessive levels of spam traffic and have a history of spam
> percentage being up to 99 percent.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Steve
>
> "MC" wrote:
>
> > Because why Exchange start receiving those same e-mails, when I restart
> > Exchange SMTP service
> > (Mail Marshall QUES, incoming, if it can not communicate with Exchange, when
> > I restart SMPT on exchange, it start receiving all the messages, that it
> > didn't at the first place) Looks like exchange SMTP stop responding to
> > connection atempt made by Mail Marshall. I made sure my Symantec AV, has
> > exclusion set on all exchange related folder, as per MS documentation.
> > Would SMSMSE 5.0 for exchange has anything to do with?
> >
> > Thanks
> > MC
> >
> > "Leif Pedersen [ MVP]" <leif.pedersenNOSPAM@get2net.dk> wrote in message
> > news:8CA8BFE6-AE8D-40B8-B232-BC9C51203F61@microsoft.com...
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > Why do you think this is a problem with the exchange server?
> > >
> > > The Mail Marshall should release the connections when mails are delivered.
> > >
> > > Leif
> > >
> > > "MC" <webmaster@ozoptics.com> skrev i meddelelsen
> > > news:eOL$yJT4IHA.3624@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> > >> Hi,
> > >> We have Exchange Enterprise 2003 (with latest patches) on windows 2003
> > >> enterprise server.
> > >> Our e-mails scanned thru Mail Marshall SMTP server, then transfered to
> > >> exchange server.
> > >>
> > >> On exchange server, SMTP session, I see a lot of connection from Mail
> > >> Marshall (about 750 connection), some connections are showing connected
> > >> time as 90353 seconds, which is about 36hours.
> > >>
> > >> I know connection timeout on exchange server is set to 10minutes.
> > >> Is this this normal, shouldn't all these connection be terminated already
> > >> acoording to 10minute time out?
> > >>
> > >> Occasionaly, exchange stops receiving from Mail Marshall server, with no
> > >> error or indication.
> > >> When I restart SMTP service on exchange, it starts receiving the e-mails
> > >> Something is not right on exchange server
> > >>
> > >> Anyone have any idea?
> > >> MC
> > >
> >
> >

MC
Mon Jul 14 12:09:54 CDT 2008

If this seems to be a bug related to exchange 2003, then is there a way I
can tell my server to drop connections?
When force exchange to kill these connections, exchange SMTP still does not
accept e-mails from Mail Marshall SMTP
unless I restart Exchange SMTP, which is a pain to stop and start

Thanks
MC

"Steve" <Steve@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:97C0DC95-5B89-4155-AB2A-F001A3F0FBDF@microsoft.com...
> Gentlemen,
>
> I work as a support professional for an organization that supports over
> 100
> Exchange 2003 servers. We have isolated the identical issue as of this
> week
> as well, only difference was it was using Myriad Networks as a backup
> Store
> and Forward system. One of my senior engineers isolated it down to the
> number of connections being hung open to Myriad.
>
> After massive research, I found someone who had called Microsoft for a
> similar but not the same problem. Microsofts recommendation was to limit
> the
> number of smtp connections coming in to 32 and a timeout of 1. While the
> logic used by Microsoft I believe is going to solve the issue (we are
> testing
> on two networks currently), I believe they set the thresholds too low for
> the
> average network. We have changed it to 100 sessions and a five minute
> timeout for our testing. Will post if this solves the issue.
>
> Of note as well on this, it appears to be a resurfacing of the practice of
> sending mail to the secondary mx records instead of the primary to avoid
> normal processing. The sites that are experiencing the problem are all
> sites
> which have excessive levels of spam traffic and have a history of spam
> percentage being up to 99 percent.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Steve
>
> "MC" wrote:
>
>> Because why Exchange start receiving those same e-mails, when I restart
>> Exchange SMTP service
>> (Mail Marshall QUES, incoming, if it can not communicate with Exchange,
>> when
>> I restart SMPT on exchange, it start receiving all the messages, that it
>> didn't at the first place) Looks like exchange SMTP stop responding to
>> connection atempt made by Mail Marshall. I made sure my Symantec AV, has
>> exclusion set on all exchange related folder, as per MS documentation.
>> Would SMSMSE 5.0 for exchange has anything to do with?
>>
>> Thanks
>> MC
>>
>> "Leif Pedersen [ MVP]" <leif.pedersenNOSPAM@get2net.dk> wrote in message
>> news:8CA8BFE6-AE8D-40B8-B232-BC9C51203F61@microsoft.com...
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > Why do you think this is a problem with the exchange server?
>> >
>> > The Mail Marshall should release the connections when mails are
>> > delivered.
>> >
>> > Leif
>> >
>> > "MC" <webmaster@ozoptics.com> skrev i meddelelsen
>> > news:eOL$yJT4IHA.3624@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> >> Hi,
>> >> We have Exchange Enterprise 2003 (with latest patches) on windows 2003
>> >> enterprise server.
>> >> Our e-mails scanned thru Mail Marshall SMTP server, then transfered to
>> >> exchange server.
>> >>
>> >> On exchange server, SMTP session, I see a lot of connection from Mail
>> >> Marshall (about 750 connection), some connections are showing
>> >> connected
>> >> time as 90353 seconds, which is about 36hours.
>> >>
>> >> I know connection timeout on exchange server is set to 10minutes.
>> >> Is this this normal, shouldn't all these connection be terminated
>> >> already
>> >> acoording to 10minute time out?
>> >>
>> >> Occasionaly, exchange stops receiving from Mail Marshall server, with
>> >> no
>> >> error or indication.
>> >> When I restart SMTP service on exchange, it starts receiving the
>> >> e-mails
>> >> Something is not right on exchange server
>> >>
>> >> Anyone have any idea?
>> >> MC
>> >
>>
>>

MC
Mon Jul 14 12:44:42 CDT 2008

Even if we set exchange 2003 incoming connection to 32, and timeout as 1
I have a feeling that, as long as exchange does not drop old connections,
it will still deny any of the new connections
I just changed it, and see connections being build up, will post it here the
result
MC

"Steve" <Steve@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:97C0DC95-5B89-4155-AB2A-F001A3F0FBDF@microsoft.com...
> Gentlemen,
>
> I work as a support professional for an organization that supports over
> 100
> Exchange 2003 servers. We have isolated the identical issue as of this
> week
> as well, only difference was it was using Myriad Networks as a backup
> Store
> and Forward system. One of my senior engineers isolated it down to the
> number of connections being hung open to Myriad.
>
> After massive research, I found someone who had called Microsoft for a
> similar but not the same problem. Microsofts recommendation was to limit
> the
> number of smtp connections coming in to 32 and a timeout of 1. While the
> logic used by Microsoft I believe is going to solve the issue (we are
> testing
> on two networks currently), I believe they set the thresholds too low for
> the
> average network. We have changed it to 100 sessions and a five minute
> timeout for our testing. Will post if this solves the issue.
>
> Of note as well on this, it appears to be a resurfacing of the practice of
> sending mail to the secondary mx records instead of the primary to avoid
> normal processing. The sites that are experiencing the problem are all
> sites
> which have excessive levels of spam traffic and have a history of spam
> percentage being up to 99 percent.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Steve
>
> "MC" wrote:
>
>> Because why Exchange start receiving those same e-mails, when I restart
>> Exchange SMTP service
>> (Mail Marshall QUES, incoming, if it can not communicate with Exchange,
>> when
>> I restart SMPT on exchange, it start receiving all the messages, that it
>> didn't at the first place) Looks like exchange SMTP stop responding to
>> connection atempt made by Mail Marshall. I made sure my Symantec AV, has
>> exclusion set on all exchange related folder, as per MS documentation.
>> Would SMSMSE 5.0 for exchange has anything to do with?
>>
>> Thanks
>> MC
>>
>> "Leif Pedersen [ MVP]" <leif.pedersenNOSPAM@get2net.dk> wrote in message
>> news:8CA8BFE6-AE8D-40B8-B232-BC9C51203F61@microsoft.com...
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > Why do you think this is a problem with the exchange server?
>> >
>> > The Mail Marshall should release the connections when mails are
>> > delivered.
>> >
>> > Leif
>> >
>> > "MC" <webmaster@ozoptics.com> skrev i meddelelsen
>> > news:eOL$yJT4IHA.3624@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> >> Hi,
>> >> We have Exchange Enterprise 2003 (with latest patches) on windows 2003
>> >> enterprise server.
>> >> Our e-mails scanned thru Mail Marshall SMTP server, then transfered to
>> >> exchange server.
>> >>
>> >> On exchange server, SMTP session, I see a lot of connection from Mail
>> >> Marshall (about 750 connection), some connections are showing
>> >> connected
>> >> time as 90353 seconds, which is about 36hours.
>> >>
>> >> I know connection timeout on exchange server is set to 10minutes.
>> >> Is this this normal, shouldn't all these connection be terminated
>> >> already
>> >> acoording to 10minute time out?
>> >>
>> >> Occasionaly, exchange stops receiving from Mail Marshall server, with
>> >> no
>> >> error or indication.
>> >> When I restart SMTP service on exchange, it starts receiving the
>> >> e-mails
>> >> Something is not right on exchange server
>> >>
>> >> Anyone have any idea?
>> >> MC
>> >
>>
>>

StuartR
Mon Jul 14 12:56:04 CDT 2008

MC,

I concur with your statement. As an experiment I 'throttled' the Exchange
2003 server by limiting incoming connections to 5 with a 1 minute timeout.
Sure enough, in a little bit a suspect domain had 5 open connections all open
well past the timeout mark. I can only conclude that the timeout limit is not
functioning to hard-drop an active smtp connection. Right now, I'm not aware
of a method of preventing this. It's unclear to me whether this is
functioning as designed or is a bug.

SR

"MC" wrote:

> Even if we set exchange 2003 incoming connection to 32, and timeout as 1
> I have a feeling that, as long as exchange does not drop old connections,
> it will still deny any of the new connections
> I just changed it, and see connections being build up, will post it here the
> result
> MC
>

MC
Mon Jul 14 13:16:50 CDT 2008

Now the question is, how come this did not happen before, wheather the
latest windows patches are the issue
(This seem to happen since last 4-5 months, but frequency seem to rise (now
happen weekly)
or what MS will be doing about it, and how soon.

MC

"Stuart R." <StuartR@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:017C70E2-D3D8-4A1B-AC04-7FF8CD668CF9@microsoft.com...
> MC,
>
> I concur with your statement. As an experiment I 'throttled' the Exchange
> 2003 server by limiting incoming connections to 5 with a 1 minute timeout.
> Sure enough, in a little bit a suspect domain had 5 open connections all
> open
> well past the timeout mark. I can only conclude that the timeout limit is
> not
> functioning to hard-drop an active smtp connection. Right now, I'm not
> aware
> of a method of preventing this. It's unclear to me whether this is
> functioning as designed or is a bug.
>
> SR
>
> "MC" wrote:
>
>> Even if we set exchange 2003 incoming connection to 32, and timeout as 1
>> I have a feeling that, as long as exchange does not drop old
>> connections,
>> it will still deny any of the new connections
>> I just changed it, and see connections being build up, will post it here
>> the
>> result
>> MC
>>
>

StuartR
Mon Jul 14 13:59:16 CDT 2008

MC,

Out of curiousity, do you have IMF enabled on your smtp server?
I have two virtual servers set up one with and one without IMF and it
appears that only the one with IMF is being affected. Might just be
coincidence but I'm perplexed as to why the one virtual server is ok and the
other not.

In any event, I would like an MS rep to comment on whether the time-out
should be functioning as a hard-stop such that it will drop an active smtp
connection in mid-sending or else if it's only designed to drop a connection
if idle.

Thanks,
SR

"MC" wrote:

> Now the question is, how come this did not happen before, wheather the
> latest windows patches are the issue
> (This seem to happen since last 4-5 months, but frequency seem to rise (now
> happen weekly)
> or what MS will be doing about it, and how soon.
>
> MC
>
> "Stuart R." <StuartR@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:017C70E2-D3D8-4A1B-AC04-7FF8CD668CF9@microsoft.com...
> > MC,
> >
> > I concur with your statement. As an experiment I 'throttled' the Exchange
> > 2003 server by limiting incoming connections to 5 with a 1 minute timeout.
> > Sure enough, in a little bit a suspect domain had 5 open connections all
> > open
> > well past the timeout mark. I can only conclude that the timeout limit is
> > not
> > functioning to hard-drop an active smtp connection. Right now, I'm not
> > aware
> > of a method of preventing this. It's unclear to me whether this is
> > functioning as designed or is a bug.
> >
> > SR
> >
> > "MC" wrote:
> >
> >> Even if we set exchange 2003 incoming connection to 32, and timeout as 1
> >> I have a feeling that, as long as exchange does not drop old
> >> connections,
> >> it will still deny any of the new connections
> >> I just changed it, and see connections being build up, will post it here
> >> the
> >> result
> >> MC
> >>
> >
>
>

MC
Mon Jul 14 14:09:42 CDT 2008

It is enabled and settings are:
"Block SCR greater then or equal to =5"
"When blocking a message =none action"
" move messages with SCL rating to greater then or equal to =4"

This is the setting in past 2 years.
I am not sure these settings how they work, and how it effects message
handling

MC


"Stuart R." <StuartR@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E06C4C42-BB6D-48FC-90BE-3C6932E24CFE@microsoft.com...
> MC,
>
> Out of curiousity, do you have IMF enabled on your smtp server?
> I have two virtual servers set up one with and one without IMF and it
> appears that only the one with IMF is being affected. Might just be
> coincidence but I'm perplexed as to why the one virtual server is ok and
> the
> other not.
>
> In any event, I would like an MS rep to comment on whether the time-out
> should be functioning as a hard-stop such that it will drop an active smtp
> connection in mid-sending or else if it's only designed to drop a
> connection
> if idle.
>
> Thanks,
> SR
>
> "MC" wrote:
>
>> Now the question is, how come this did not happen before, wheather the
>> latest windows patches are the issue
>> (This seem to happen since last 4-5 months, but frequency seem to rise
>> (now
>> happen weekly)
>> or what MS will be doing about it, and how soon.
>>
>> MC
>>
>> "Stuart R." <StuartR@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:017C70E2-D3D8-4A1B-AC04-7FF8CD668CF9@microsoft.com...
>> > MC,
>> >
>> > I concur with your statement. As an experiment I 'throttled' the
>> > Exchange
>> > 2003 server by limiting incoming connections to 5 with a 1 minute
>> > timeout.
>> > Sure enough, in a little bit a suspect domain had 5 open connections
>> > all
>> > open
>> > well past the timeout mark. I can only conclude that the timeout limit
>> > is
>> > not
>> > functioning to hard-drop an active smtp connection. Right now, I'm not
>> > aware
>> > of a method of preventing this. It's unclear to me whether this is
>> > functioning as designed or is a bug.
>> >
>> > SR
>> >
>> > "MC" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Even if we set exchange 2003 incoming connection to 32, and timeout as
>> >> 1
>> >> I have a feeling that, as long as exchange does not drop old
>> >> connections,
>> >> it will still deny any of the new connections
>> >> I just changed it, and see connections being build up, will post it
>> >> here
>> >> the
>> >> result
>> >> MC
>> >>
>> >
>>
>>

MC
Tue Jul 15 08:16:37 CDT 2008

Didn't work
When I changed incoming connection to 100, and timeout 5, 100 connection
being consumed faster, and no connections dropped,
exchange stops to any other SMTP requests, untill I do "iisreset exchange
/RESTART /TIMEOUT:180"
then exchange starts receiving those e-mails.

MC

"Stuart R." <StuartR@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:017C70E2-D3D8-4A1B-AC04-7FF8CD668CF9@microsoft.com...
> MC,
>
> I concur with your statement. As an experiment I 'throttled' the Exchange
> 2003 server by limiting incoming connections to 5 with a 1 minute timeout.
> Sure enough, in a little bit a suspect domain had 5 open connections all
> open
> well past the timeout mark. I can only conclude that the timeout limit is
> not
> functioning to hard-drop an active smtp connection. Right now, I'm not
> aware
> of a method of preventing this. It's unclear to me whether this is
> functioning as designed or is a bug.
>
> SR
>
> "MC" wrote:
>
>> Even if we set exchange 2003 incoming connection to 32, and timeout as 1
>> I have a feeling that, as long as exchange does not drop old
>> connections,
>> it will still deny any of the new connections
>> I just changed it, and see connections being build up, will post it here
>> the
>> result
>> MC
>>
>

MC
Fri Jul 18 10:20:02 CDT 2008

"Sender ID Filter" was the cause of all this problem
I removed sender ID filter, reset IIS, and those issue seem to have resolved
as per following
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Server_Software/Email_Servers/Exchange/Q_23435745.html
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Server_Software/Email_Servers/Exchange/Q_23457951.html

So, in exchange 2003, sender ID filter is not working the way it supposed to
be.
Does anyone know if there is a fix for that?
Exchange is not suppoed to keep connections forever if sender is not
verified.

MC

"MC" <webmaster@ozoptics.com> wrote in message
news:eOL$yJT4IHA.3624@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Hi,
> We have Exchange Enterprise 2003 (with latest patches) on windows 2003
> enterprise server.
> Our e-mails scanned thru Mail Marshall SMTP server, then transfered to
> exchange server.
>
> On exchange server, SMTP session, I see a lot of connection from Mail
> Marshall (about 750 connection), some connections are showing connected
> time as 90353 seconds, which is about 36hours.
>
> I know connection timeout on exchange server is set to 10minutes.
> Is this this normal, shouldn't all these connection be terminated already
> acoording to 10minute time out?
>
> Occasionaly, exchange stops receiving from Mail Marshall server, with no
> error or indication.
> When I restart SMTP service on exchange, it starts receiving the e-mails
> Something is not right on exchange server
>
> Anyone have any idea?
> MC

StuartR
Sat Jul 19 16:44:00 CDT 2008

I just discovered that Send ID Filter is the culprit for my same issue, MC.
I left it enabled, but applied this hotfix from MS that so far seems to have
prevented the issue from re-occurring:

http://support.microsoft.com/KB/910272/EN-US

I'd be curious to see if it resolves the issue for you as well.

SR

"MC" wrote:

> "Sender ID Filter" was the cause of all this problem
> I removed sender ID filter, reset IIS, and those issue seem to have resolved
> as per following
> http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Server_Software/Email_Servers/Exchange/Q_23435745.html
> http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Server_Software/Email_Servers/Exchange/Q_23457951.html
>
> So, in exchange 2003, sender ID filter is not working the way it supposed to
> be.
> Does anyone know if there is a fix for that?
> Exchange is not suppoed to keep connections forever if sender is not
> verified.
>
> MC
>

John
Tue Aug 05 18:06:57 CDT 2008

I just noticed this problem on Aug 4. I saw 80+ unterminated connections in
my virtual SMTP current sessions. The oldest connection has "Connected Time"
of 874,303 seconds. That means that particular connection has been stuck
for 10+ days.

I disabled Sender ID filter and restarted my server. I'll keep an eye on
this to be sure that there are no more connections getting stuck past 10
minutes time-out. It looks good so far. There are no unterm'd connections.

Btw, I have never seen this issue before July 2008. Last month
(Windows/Exchange/IMF) updates must have caused it.

"MC" <webmaster@ozoptics.com> wrote in message
news:us9YCnO6IHA.2336@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> "Sender ID Filter" was the cause of all this problem
> I removed sender ID filter, reset IIS, and those issue seem to have
> resolved as per following
> http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Server_Software/Email_Servers/Exchange/Q_23435745.html
> http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Server_Software/Email_Servers/Exchange/Q_23457951.html
>
> So, in exchange 2003, sender ID filter is not working the way it supposed
> to be.
> Does anyone know if there is a fix for that?
> Exchange is not suppoed to keep connections forever if sender is not
> verified.
>
> MC
>
> "MC" <webmaster@ozoptics.com> wrote in message
> news:eOL$yJT4IHA.3624@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> Hi,
>> We have Exchange Enterprise 2003 (with latest patches) on windows 2003
>> enterprise server.
>> Our e-mails scanned thru Mail Marshall SMTP server, then transfered to
>> exchange server.
>>
>> On exchange server, SMTP session, I see a lot of connection from Mail
>> Marshall (about 750 connection), some connections are showing connected
>> time as 90353 seconds, which is about 36hours.
>>
>> I know connection timeout on exchange server is set to 10minutes.
>> Is this this normal, shouldn't all these connection be terminated already
>> acoording to 10minute time out?
>>
>> Occasionaly, exchange stops receiving from Mail Marshall server, with no
>> error or indication.
>> When I restart SMTP service on exchange, it starts receiving the e-mails
>> Something is not right on exchange server
>>
>> Anyone have any idea?
>> MC
>

StuartR
Tue Aug 05 18:22:01 CDT 2008

The only solution I found was disabling Sender ID filtering which is
unfotunate.
I appreciate your insight as to the July 2008 updates appearing to play a
role as I did not experience any issues prior to some recently updates as
well.

I wish Microsoft Support would comment on the problem and as to a bug fix.

SR

"John" wrote:

> I just noticed this problem on Aug 4. I saw 80+ unterminated connections in
> my virtual SMTP current sessions. The oldest connection has "Connected Time"
> of 874,303 seconds. That means that particular connection has been stuck
> for 10+ days.
>
> I disabled Sender ID filter and restarted my server. I'll keep an eye on
> this to be sure that there are no more connections getting stuck past 10
> minutes time-out. It looks good so far. There are no unterm'd connections.
>
> Btw, I have never seen this issue before July 2008. Last month
> (Windows/Exchange/IMF) updates must have caused it.
>

John
Tue Aug 05 18:43:03 CDT 2008


"Stuart R." <StuartR@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:EA719CE2-261A-404C-B226-6F4FFA603DFF@microsoft.com...
> The only solution I found was disabling Sender ID filtering which is
> unfotunate.

Yeah, same here. Since I disabled Sender ID (and restarted my server) I
haven't seen any unterminated SMTP sessions. The problem normally comes back
5 to 10 minutes after I restarted the server. I hope this is a temporary
solution.

> I appreciate your insight as to the July 2008 updates appearing to play a
> role as I did not experience any issues prior to some recently updates as
> well.

Surprisingly, I don't see other complaints about this issue except posts in
this thread. Perhaps those who have this problem have not noticed it yet.
Mine went by unnoticed for 10+ days. It could've been longer if I didn't
check it on Aug 4.

John
Wed Aug 06 13:27:34 CDT 2008

Stuart,
This KB article has a newer fix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927478
I got it from exchange.admin group. It's worth a look.

"Stuart R." <StuartR@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:210023B5-D711-4E09-8D98-8120AE4C9337@microsoft.com...
>I just discovered that Send ID Filter is the culprit for my same issue, MC.
> I left it enabled, but applied this hotfix from MS that so far seems to
> have
> prevented the issue from re-occurring:
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/KB/910272/EN-US
>
> I'd be curious to see if it resolves the issue for you as well.
>
> SR
>
> "MC" wrote:
>
>> "Sender ID Filter" was the cause of all this problem
>> I removed sender ID filter, reset IIS, and those issue seem to have
>> resolved
>> as per following
>> http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Server_Software/Email_Servers/Exchange/Q_23435745.html
>> http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Server_Software/Email_Servers/Exchange/Q_23457951.html
>>
>> So, in exchange 2003, sender ID filter is not working the way it supposed
>> to
>> be.
>> Does anyone know if there is a fix for that?
>> Exchange is not suppoed to keep connections forever if sender is not
>> verified.
>>
>> MC
>>
>