72529 - Fix errors in multiple SMTP servers feature, or remove it.

Status: VERIFIED WORKSFORME

(MailNews Core :: Networking: SMTP, defect)

Description

[Peter Trudelle]

The multiple SMTP server feature is maddening.  On the one hand, it has great
potential for folks who need it in order to use separate online identities
without rebooting (and who doesn't have separate work & personal accounts these
days?).  On the other hand, it generates far too many errors to be really usable
(it even warns about this in the UI), and can even lose messages. I have
recently been seeing 3-4 dialogs per message send, resulting in the message
window closing without having sent it or copied it to my sent folder. It should
either be fixed (if feasible) or removed.

Comment 1

[Scott MacGregor]

I'd be curious to see your useage scenario. 

I use multiple smtp servers to use webmail and for my internal work account. 
I've never seen extra dialogs. It just works for me. If i reply from an account 
it uses the right smtp server for that account. No extra dialogs. certainly not 
any lost mail.

how does your pattern differ?

can you describe in more detail the steps you take that lead to seeing 3-4 
dialgos? What are these dialogs and what are they saying?

Thanks for extra info Peter.

Comment 2

[Peter Trudelle]

Well, I've since given up on it (for the third time), and turned it off, but
here's how I was trying to use a mozilla build from this weekend:
I had 2 smtp servers, the default being judge.mcom.com, the 2nd
postoffice.pacbell.net.
I had set up both to use SSL 'never', but somewhere along the line, they both
switched to "if possible". I just realized that after filing the bug.
When trying to send mail from my netscape account, I'd get these dialogs:
A PSM dialog asking for a cert for judge to use.
A dialog asking for the password for the cert.
A dialog asking for my username and password.
A dialog asking me to login (I think to the IMAP server, for Sent copy).
An alert saying the login or send had failed.

It would go through these each time, and the message would then be entirely lost.
After changing the SSL prefs back to off, I didn't get the cert dialogs, but
still got the others and still lost the mail.
After deleting my 2nd SMTP server, I can send mail normally. Since this is
working for you, I'll try it again and either add details or close this bug. I
am motivated to use this feature.

Comment 3

[Scott MacGregor]

John, could your changes to smtp over the last couple of weeks have caused this?
 (in particular getting the cert dialogs suddenly for these accounts)

Comment 4

[John G. Myers]

The cert dialogs appear as a result of two changes.  One, SSL/SMTP was fixed and 
the default set to "If possible".  There was a week where opening up the SMTP 
server panel in the account manager would change the SSL pref from "Never" to 
"If possible" but that bug was subsequently fixed.  Two, bryner fixed SMTP so 
that it gave SSL the interface pointers it needed in order to put up dialog 
boxes.

Assuming Mozilla is supposed to be using judge, it is correctly asking for the 
cert.  This is because judge is configured to ask clients for certs.

Why the cert fails to authenticate the user is another issue.  There are three 
possibilities.  One, judge is misconfigured such that it cannot use the cert.  
Two, judge is legitmately rejecting the cert per its configured security policy 
(perhaps that cert doesn't match the one in the user's LDAP entry).  Three, 
there is a bug in Mozilla's handling of the EXTERNAL SASL mechanism.

To eliminate possibility 3, I would need an SMTP telemetry log.

The dialog asking for user and password was enabled by a recent fix of mine 
enabling SMTP authentication by default.  Again, Mozilla is correctly asking for 
the userid and password as judge is configured to ask for password 
authentication.  (Had the cert authentication been accepted by the server, 
Mozilla would not have asked for a userid/password).

Why the mail was lost, I don't know.  If the user said that removing the 
pacbell server changed the behavior of judge, I find that baffling.

Comment 5

[Peter Trudelle]

Changing the default shouldn't have changed behavior on existing accounts,
right? And as far as asking for userid, does it really need to ask when I am
already logged on to the IMAP server on the same host? I just tried this again,
eliminating one annoying cert dialog by changing PSM prefs from 'every time' to
'auto'. I eliminated the user/pwd dialog by specifying username in smtp prefs. 
Now it just asks for cert and smtp passwords, message send still fails, and it
still discards the message.  I'll try again next with smtp logging enabled.

Comment 6

[Peter Trudelle]

One piece of good news is that at least the last test did not result in the
message being discarded, although it was minimized so until I saw it on the
windows taskbar it might just as well have been discarded.  

Comment 7

[Peter Trudelle]

Attachment: SMTP log file for trying to send message(s)

Comment 8

[John G. Myers]

SMTP log file shows the server rejecting the AUTH EXTERNAL command, so there was 
probably something wrong with the cert.  It would be helpful to have the 
corresponding entries in the server's imap log file.

After cert auth failed, the client noticed that the server didn't support any 
other authentication mechanisms, so it failed for lack of ability to 
authenticate.

So there are two problems here.  One, there is a server misconfiguration or bug 
in that it is asking for a cert when the policy is to not require 
authentication.  (I presume it isn't a server policy to require cert 
authentication.)  Two, Mozilla isn't handling this error condition very well.

Comment 9

[John G. Myers]

Another bug in Mozilla is that we shouldn't ask for a password if we can't find 
an available mechanism to use it with.

Comment 10

[Peter Trudelle]

You were right about my cert.  After deleting it, and restoring from a fresh
export, I no longer get any extra dialogs or sending errors.  
So then, why does the UI in the Advanced SMTP Settings dialog box warn about errors?

Comment 11

[Ludovic Hirlimann]

I think the problem lies in the way prefrences are set.
I could not find a way to associate a mail accouint with a smtp server.
(this can be done in macosX's mail and in Eudora.).
I'de like to specify that the mac.com mail account should use smtp.mac.com,
and my other accounts use the default. prefs should have a default smtp server
and one could ovveride it when needed.

Comment 12

[Ninoschka Baca]

To associate a mail account with an smtp server open Account Settings, select
the first panel for the account (the right panel is titled Account Settings and
it displays the account name, email address, reply-to address etc...). In this
panel select the Advanced button. Now choose the desired smtp server.

Comment 13

[jay garcia]

Scenario:

If you have multiple smtp servers configured, one for home and one for office
and you transport your laptop to/from home/office. Now, the smtp server you have
configured as 'default is your local ISP's and the other is your company's smtp
behind a firewall on the local LAN. The default (local ISP) will not work from
behind the firewall at the company, is it supposed to automatically roll to the
non-default office smtp ?? If it's not designed that way then maybe it should be.

Comment 14

[scottputterman]

Is there still a bug with how we handle multiple smtp servers or is this now a
question about why our UI warns about using this feature?

Comment 15

[Peter Trudelle]

WFM!  Although I mentioned the error warning in the original report, that wasn't
the problem I intended to report, and should properly be the subject of another
bug.  I'd love to see Jay's scenario handled cleanly too, since it is my typical
usage case, but that's not what this bug report is about either.

Comment 16

[scottputterman]

marking WFM based on Peter's comments.

Comment 17

[Ninoschka Baca]

Verified Worksforme.

Bug# 52384: [RFE] Can't define multiple SMTP servers and quickly switch between
them - covers Jay's issue in comment# 13.