mail and SMTP authentication

User Help for Seamonkey and Mozilla Suite
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bigjeremy
Posts: 15
Joined: November 15th, 2003, 10:29 am

mail and SMTP authentication

Post by bigjeremy »

I did some searching in these forums and saw lots of questions but no definitive answers.

How do you enable server authentication for SMTP servers? My server requires username and password and uses CRAM-MD5 PLAIN authentication. I've tried checking off "Use user name and password" in the outgoing server window and this doesn't help any.

for reference, my mail server is mail.splitzero.net and is provided by 2globablmart.com
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SoaRex
Posts: 369
Joined: April 20th, 2003, 10:01 pm
Location: Japan, the earth, the solar system

Re: mail and SMTP authentication

Post by SoaRex »

bigjeremy wrote:My server requires username and password and uses CRAM-MD5 PLAIN authentication.
I've tried checking off "Use user name and password" in the outgoing server window and this doesn't help any.

At least cheking on of "Use user name and password" and filling of "Username" are needed if "CRAM-MD5 PLAIN authentication" because it means login mechanism is used.
Is your settings correct?

(1) Go to server settings of account seeting, click "Advanced" button and check your current SMTP server setting for this account.
(I recommend you to change "Always use default server" if current setting is specific SMTP server and the SMTP server is default SMTP server. See Bug 222388 for detail.)
(2) Go to Outgoing Server(SMTP) and click "Advanced" button and check settings of the SMTP server.
Note that incorrect "Use secure connection:" setting causes login failure.

See Bug 202468 for disccussion for improvement of this awful UI.

(3) If (1) and (2) is OK, try to send a mail and see what happens - what message or dialog is displayed?

(4) If all your setting is correct and SMTP authentication fails, protocol log will help you.
See http://www.mozilla.org/quality/mailnews ... .html#smtp
bigjeremy
Posts: 15
Joined: November 15th, 2003, 10:29 am

Post by bigjeremy »

I had those settings set and still get the error:

<i>Sending of message failed.

The message could not be sent because connecting to SMTP server mail.splitzero.net failed. The server may be unavailable or is refusing SMTP connections. Please verify that your SMTP server setting is correct and try again, or else contact your system administrator.</i>

I know its not the server because I can send mail using Outlook Express. I did notice though that when it asks for my password to authenticate, it has the username as "jeremy@splitzero.net@mail.splitzero.net" when it should just be "jeremy@splitzero.net" Is this the issue and if so can it be changed? (the user name in the setup window shows just "jeremy@splitzero.net")

my error log can be viewed at http://www.splitzero.net/errors.log
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SoaRex
Posts: 369
Joined: April 20th, 2003, 10:01 pm
Location: Japan, the earth, the solar system

Post by SoaRex »

bigjeremy wrote:I did notice though that when it asks for my password to authenticate, it has the username as "jeremy@splitzero.net@mail.splitzero.net" when it should just be "jeremy@splitzero.net"
Is this the issue and if so can it be changed? (the user name in the setup window shows just "jeremy@splitzero.net")

Your username setting is correct.
Appended @+<ServerName>("@mail.splitzero.net") is displayed message only problem.
This is already fixed by newer build than you are using.
If newest build is used, message becomes such like "jeremy@splitzero.net on server mail.splitzero.net".
See a thread in Thunderbird Bugs forum for bdetail: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=30855

(Q1) Did you re-enter username and password correctly on promt?

See Bug 219162 : Password Manager forgets password when checking mail
Since you experienced above appended @+<ServerName> problem, fix for Bug 219162, which is fixed later, is not applied on your Mozilla apparantly.
Re-enter correct username and password on prompt.

See also Bug 160425 : Forgets previously saved password if mail server unavailable
This is not a SMTP case(POP case) but refers to similar situation due to Bug 219162.

(Q2) Is "Use secure connection:" of "Outgoing Server(SMTP)" set properly?

If problem still occurs even when you re-enter username & password correctly on prompt and "Use secure connection:" setting of "Outgoing Server(SMTP)" is proper, try latest trunk nightly build if you can.

By the way, your log is protocol log of IMAP.
Do not forget to change "IMAP:5" in sample to "SMTP:5" for SMTP.
bigjeremy
Posts: 15
Joined: November 15th, 2003, 10:29 am

Post by bigjeremy »

fixed the log.... below is the SMTP error

Q1: i didnt change any user names when prompted for the password as there is no place to change it. Within all my settings the username is set properly though.

Q2: my server does not require SSL, just password authentication.


0[2741b8]: SMTP Connecting to: mail.splitzero.net
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 0
0[2741b8]: SMTP Response: 220 mail1.0web-hosting.com ESMTP
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 14
0[2741b8]: SMTP Send: EHLO splitzero.net

0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 0
0[2741b8]: SMTP Response: 250-mail1.0web-hosting.com
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 0
0[2741b8]: SMTP Response: 250-AUTH=LOGIN CRAM-MD5 PLAIN
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 0
0[2741b8]: SMTP Response: 250-AUTH LOGIN CRAM-MD5 PLAIN
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 0
0[2741b8]: SMTP Response: 250-PIPELINING
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 0
0[2741b8]: SMTP Response: 250 8BITMIME
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 15
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 21
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 16
0[2741b8]: Logging suppressed for this command (it probably contained authentication information)
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 0
0[2741b8]: SMTP Response: 334 PDE5MzI5LjEwNjkwMTMwMThAbWFpbDEuMHdlYi1ob3N0aW5nLmNvbT4=
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 18
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 17
0[2741b8]: Logging suppressed for this command (it probably contained authentication information)
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 0
<b>0[2741b8]: SMTP Response: 421 child crashed (#4.3.0)</b>
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 18
0[2741b8]: SMTP entering state: 16
0[2741b8]: Logging suppressed for this command (it probably contained authentication information)
<b>0[2741b8]: SMTP connection dropped after 228 total bytes read</b>
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SoaRex
Posts: 369
Joined: April 20th, 2003, 10:01 pm
Location: Japan, the earth, the solar system

Post by SoaRex »

bigjeremy wrote:<b>0[2741b8]: SMTP Response: 421 child crashed (#4.3.0)</b>

Q1: i didnt change any user names when prompted for the password as there is no place to change it. Within all my settings the username is set properly though.

Your server returned 421 Service not available on login.
RFC 821 ( http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc821.html ) says

Code: Select all

4.2.1.  REPLY CODES BY FUNCTION GROUPS
  421 <domain> Service not available,
        closing transmission channel
        [This may be a reply to any command if the service knows it must shut down]

Typical situation of this REPLY CODE is temporary service shut down for maintenance of Mail server.
User should wait for maintenance completion when this REPLY CODE is returned.

Didn't you see some error message or dialog of "421 Service not available" when error occured?
Is this REPLY CODE still returned from server?

However, Mozilla/Thunderbird/Firebird has a bug in this case, which I mentiond in previous post.
See Bug 160425 : Forgets previously saved password if mail server unavailable
(Sorry for my mistake in previous post.)
(POP case was Bug 219162 instead of Bug 160425.)
(Bug 160425 is applicable on SMTP too.)

Due to this bug, you have to re-enter password if password was prompted.
Did you entered password correctly on each password prompt?
What will happen if you try to send a mail after you delete all saved password for this SMTP server?
bigjeremy
Posts: 15
Joined: November 15th, 2003, 10:29 am

Post by bigjeremy »

I'm quite certain that the email server is not down (I still have had no sent email since I started this thread and Outlook Express has had no problems sending mail). I haven't seen a "421 Service not availalbe" message at any time, either.

Also, I don't think this bug 160425 applies in this case because I'm not using the password manager. I don't save my passwords for security reasons. Granted, this could bug could also indicate that the password is in the memory cache, in which case is there some way I can install the patch mentioned at that page?

By the way, thanks for your patience in helping me through this... I really want this to work - anything that gets me off of a Microsoft program is a good thing!
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SoaRex
Posts: 369
Joined: April 20th, 2003, 10:01 pm
Location: Japan, the earth, the solar system

Post by SoaRex »

bigjeremy wrote:I'm quite certain that the email server is not down (I still have had no sent email since I started this thread and Outlook Express has had no problems sending mail).
I haven't seen a "421 Service not availalbe" message at any time, either.

Also, I don't think this bug 160425 applies in this case because I'm not using the password manager. I don't save my passwords for security reasons.

I've understood your situation.

Your SMTP server returned 421 but description is "Child crashed(# 4.3.0)".
SMTP log wrote:0[2741b8]: SMTP Response: 421 child crashed (#4.3.0)

Code: Select all

RFC 3463 "Enhanced Mail System Status Codes" says: 

4.XXX.XXX   Persistent Transient Failure

         A persistent transient failure is one in which the message as
         sent is valid, but persistence of some temporary condition has
         caused abandonment or delay of attempts to send the message.
         If this code accompanies a delivery failure report, sending in
         the future may be successful.

X.3.XXX Mail System Status

         Mail system status indicates that something having to do with
         the destination system has caused this DSN.  System issues are
         assumed to be under the general control of the destination
         system administrator.

X.3.0   Other or undefined mail system status

         The destination system exists and normally accepts mail, but
         something about the system has caused the generation of this
         DSN.
See http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc3463.html for RFC 3463.

Because RFC 3463 is not standard yet, your server responded with standard REPLY CODE of 421 and says "4.3.0" is the mail status code and description of the staus is "Child crashed".
"Child crashed" indicates that server considered authentication data from Mozilla to be invalid.
(Invalid password is typical case, I think)

Since your case has no user error and access from Outlook Express has no problem, there seems to be something wrong in CRAM-MD5 support for SMTP by Mozilla/Thunderbird, or something wrong in your server.
If problem still occurs even though you re-enter password on each password prompt with latest Mozilla-trunk nightly build, I recommend you to open a Bugzilla bug with SMTP protocol log.

In addition, I think "No message on REPLY CODE of 421" is Mozilla's bug because "421 Service not availalbe" should be reported to user.
Please ask developers about this issue in your bug.
bigjeremy
Posts: 15
Joined: November 15th, 2003, 10:29 am

Post by bigjeremy »

Okay, I appreciate the help. I'll post a bug report right away.
bigjeremy
Posts: 15
Joined: November 15th, 2003, 10:29 am

Post by bigjeremy »

if you're interested to see any progress on the matter, here's the <a href="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=226044">bug report</a>
TWHall
Guest

mail and SMTP authentication

Post by TWHall »

I'm having a problem very similar to "bigjeremy", except that all I get in my log file is:

-1610559552[403c10]: SMTP Connecting to: ######.com

I've set

export NSPR_LOG_MODULES=SMTP:5

According to my web hosting service, I should have SMTP access on ######.com
I can ping ######.com and verify that the machine is running. I guess I'll have to
ask the hosting service to verify that ######.com is actually running an SMTP
server.

Other than that, is there anything that an essentially empty log file should tell me?

Thanks for any hints.
chickencheckin
Guest

THUNDERBIRD STINKS

Post by chickencheckin »

what if I wanna change my password with my ISP... why are you making this simple program so complicated.... I can't look at anything to go in and troubleshoot myself... where are my passwords????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????2 hours installing and playing with for nothing centurytel works great but won't also check gmail.... gmail won't work alone... tried everything... and I do mean everything don't bother replying cause THUNDERBIRD IS GONE AND WILL STAY GONE ON MY MACHINE... THANX FOR NOTHING
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