quote:

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Originally posted by S.D.C.
Equipment:
Smart host server - Windows 2000 server SP4, IIS 5.0, OWA, GFI's
MailEssentials/Security

I have set up an IIS SMTP virtual server/smart host on my cisco PIX
DMZ. This computer relays email to another server which runs Exchange
5.5. On the IIS server (a smart host server), I am running GFI's
MailEssentials and MailSecurity - anti-spam/virus software.

Everything has worked perfectly up until Saturday night.

The problem is that the IIS Virtual server stopped "accepting" or
"sending" inbound/outbound email.

The smart host will process (send/receive) email for a short time
(about 3-5 minutes) if I do the following:
- Stop the default SMTP virtual server but this consistently locks up
IIS manager
- reboot server (the only apparent option)
- open up IIS manager and start the default virtual server again
- after a few minutes it begins to send/receive email
- this process always *stops* again after about 3-5 minutes.

Actually, a simple re-boot also does the same as above.

Important considerations:
- The above procedures are consistently repeatable;
- Whenever I try to view the inetpub\mailroot folder, file
explorer locks up (also consistent)
- There are no unusual errors in the event logs;
- This is not a hd space issue (plenty of space);
- This is not a low memory or virtual memory issue;
- the exchange server is not faulty;
- OWA still works (but email is obviously not up to date) from
remote sites;
- CPU activity is normal;
- Absolutely no changes were made to this server in the past 2 months;
- When sending an email (while smart host has failed), Exchange
generates the following errors
in the event log:

EVENT ID: 3011 - Source: MSExchangeIMC - Attempt to connect to
host 192.168.1.2 (for xxxx.xxx) was refused. NOTE: that host
address is the address of the smart host server.

EVENT ID: 3010 - Source: MSExchangeIMC - Attempt to connect failed

These errors are expected but I thought I'd add this anyway for
more info.

I'm wondering if this is a GFI problem?

Questions:

Why did this suddenly happen?
Why does it only work for a few minutes?
How do I fix this problem?
How do I delete items from C:\Inetpub\mailroot\Queue - I get a sharing
violation when attempting to delete any file.
Can I reinstall SMTP without having to redo all its settings?

Thank you.
SDC

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