Plesk 8.2 with hmailserver BUG!

[Bogdan]

Hello,

I've recently tried testing hmailserver with Plesk in order to asses if it's worth deploying new servers with it instead of MailEnable.

Here's the test scenario:

1. One brand new server, new Windows Server 2003 Web SP2 installation with the latest Windows Updates
2. SQLExpress 2005 SP2 as a db engine for both hmailserver and Plesk's psa
3. Plesk 8.2
4. hMailServer 4.4-B270

The instalation went like a charm, without absolutely any issues.

Next, I deployed 2 domains: domain1.com and domain2.com. Domain1.com has all the MX records pointing to an external mail server. Domain2.com has it's MX records pointing locally and uses the local hmailserver to handle all mail.

I can send and receive mail without any problems for both domains, except when I try to send mail from domain2.com to domain1.com and there is a very good explanation on why it fails.

Apparentely, when submitting an email, hmailserver (just like MailEnable, btw) fist checks if the recipients mail domain is not hosted locally (on the same mail server as the sender) and only if it doesn't find it locally it starts doing MX lookups. Since both domains have mail domains set up in hmailserver by Plesk, the mail servers tries to deliver the email for anything@domain1.com on the local mail server and because the mail account was not created, it fails. So far, this is perfectly normal and the same thing would be happening on MailEnable.

To overcome this on ME you would simply disable mail from Plesk for domain1.com and when doing this, the mail domain in MailEnable would be disabled and renamed to domain1.com.d. However, if I do the same thing from Plesk with hmailserver, it will only mark domain1.com as not active in hmailserver and I still won't be able to send mails from domain2.com to domain1.com.

At this point I don't see absolutely any workaround for this except for SWsoft to consider this a BUG and make the proper changes to %plesk_bin%\hMailproviderw.dll so that it will also rename the domain in hmailserver to something like 'domain.com.d' when anyone disables mail for a domain in Plesk (just like %plesk_bin%\mailenableproviderw.dll does for MailEnable).

If anyone has other ideas to avoid this before SWsoft corrects this bug, please let me know.

 

[sergius]

Hello Bogdan,

Thank you for the report.

This is known issue and we are working over its solution. Seems we can fix it in the next Plesk version as your report is not first.

We will do it through mail domain renaming. However I don’t like such solution and I’m thinking about possibility to remove mail service on domain at all if it is unnecessary. It will allow customers solve such issues as described below without any problems and mail server will not have unnecessary dead weight. What do you think about it?

 

[PaulC]

Originally posted by sergius
We will do it through mail domain renaming. However I don’t like such solution and I’m thinking about possibility to remove mail service on domain at all if it is unnecessary. It will allow customers solve such issues as described below without any problems and mail server will not have unnecessary dead weight. What do you think about it?

The current function within MailEnable where the domain is renamed would be the correct and preferred behaviour.

I have not used hMailServer, but if a domain is removed then I would presume all of the mail will be removed.

If the domain was removed when mail was disabled then when we suspend a clients service for non-payment (for example) the mail's would be removed and then they are re-enabled they would have no emails on the server.

Paul

 

[sergius]

Originally posted by PaulC
If the domain was removed when mail was disabled then when we suspend a clients service for non-payment (for example) the mail's would be removed and then they are re-enabled they would have no emails on the server.

Seems I stated not clear use cases.

First is availability of mail service on domain in general. If you don't need mail service on domain then it is unnecessary to create it in mail server. Do you agree?
If customer does need mail service on domain then there is second possibility to enable or disable it. However it will be implemented through native abilities of mail server but not through renaming of domain.

I hope it is clear now.

 

[Bogdan]

Actually, Paul has a point. There may be cases when, for administrative purposes, we may need to temporarily disable mail for a certain domain from Plesk (for example for abuse issues). If you will implement this by completely removing the mail domain in hmailserver this will also remove all the email accounts and their contents which is not something we look forward to.

 

[PaulC]

I think there is a possibility of complicating the mail set up, at the moment I think it works fine as it is.

For each domain name there is not much of a overhead if mail is not required.

For example, if a domain is set up and mail disabled with no mail names configured the overhead may be a few rows in a database table, or a file (in the case of ME). I don't think this would warrant a change of structure to free up such a small amount of data.

Also, as myself and Bogdan have mentioned when a domains mail is disabled it may be for administrative purposes, the best example I have is when we suspend a domain or client, this will also disable the mail with the same method as clicking the disable button within Plesk.

 

[sergius]

Gentlemen,

One again, I don't suggest to remove mail domain from mail server on disabling it in Plesk.
I suggest you to have two options in Plesk such as (1) "Don't create mail domain" / "Remove mail domain" and (2) "Disable mail domain".

First example. Lets consider Bogdan's use case.

I deployed 2 domains: domain1.com and domain2.com. Domain1.com has all the MX records pointing to an external mail server. Domain2.com has it's MX records pointing locally and uses the local hmailserver to handle all mail.

I can send and receive mail without any problems for both domains, except when I try to send mail from domain2.com to domain1.com and there is a very good explanation on why it fails.

In this case it's enough "don't create mail domain" domain2.com and all will work properly.

What is reason to create mail domain and disable it at once but keep relay through it? I don't uderstand.

Second example.

Also, as myself and Bogdan have mentioned when a domains mail is disabled it may be for administrative purposes, the best example I have is when we suspend a domain or client, this will also disable the mail with the same method as clicking the disable button within Plesk.

In this case mail domain will be disabled through native mail server option "Actvie" / "Disable". However relay through it will be impossible.
I believe it is proper behavior.

What do you think?

 

[PaulC]

sergius,

I did understand the explanation but I think that would overly complicate the situation. Not all clients are technically capable and it would confuse a lot of people.

I would vote for leaving the ME method as it is at the moment, if you require the mail to be disabled immediately after creating the domain it is a simple process at the moment.

Paul

 

[sergius]

Originally posted by PaulC
Not all clients are technically capable and it would confuse a lot of people.

Do the clients not understand they wish to have mail or not?

Originally posted by PaulC
if you require the mail to be disabled immediately after creating the domain it is a simple process at the moment.

Yep, Plesk does require mail yet BUT I suppose to allow create domain in Plesk without mail by default.

 

[PaulC]

Originally posted by sergius /i]
Do the clients not understand they wish to have mail or not?

You would imagine so, but alot of clients do not understand all of the options, we see many that password protect the root of the site and ask why it pops up asking for a username to view the site, most enable all options (asp, .net, php) for a plain HTML site.

I think adding too many options confuses them, complicates things, and adds to the need for more support.

Paul

 

[sergius]

It is clear. Plesk should provide intelligible interface.
In other hand Plesk should provide the best peformance.
These are opposite requirements.

For each domain name there is not much of a overhead if mail is not required.

For example, if a domain is set up and mail disabled with no mail names configured the overhead may be a few rows in a database table, or a file (in the case of ME). I don't think this would warrant a change of structure to free up such a small amount of data.

It is true if you have about ten domains but it is overhead if you have 100 domains and it is big overhead if you have 1000 domains.