On Sat, 11 Mar 2006 05:50:14 -0500, "Robert Aldwinckle"
<robald@techemail.com> wrote:

>(posted from msnews; no access to USENET)
>"Gerard Bok" <bok118@zonnet.nl> wrote in message
>news:44121157.987948@News.Individual.NET...
>> On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 14:28:30 -0800, "Jim Pickering"
>> <jim.pickering@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Gerard: It's hard for me to believe that you are the only user having
>>>similar problems. Does the mail provider have any support forums or
>>>technical assistance for you to go to?
>>
>> They reply that 0x800CCC0Fdoes not indicate any server site
>> problem but is probably caused by a single nasty email message.
>
>Have you tried using the IMAP.log (OE troubleshooting log for IMAP)
>to try to see what all that code might be representing?

Actually, I hadn't.
But now that I have checked both the email and the IMAP box: no
log file gets created at al !
There is also noting relevant in the event viewer.

>>>It truly sounds like a firewall
>>>problem but you say you have the appropriate port (143) opened but I wonder
>>>if something else is interfering such as an antivirus or antispam program?

Well, my stupidity was certainly interfering :-)
As Yitzak pointed out, it's no use opening port 143.
But even without any firewall the problems persist.

>> No. I can see (Ethereal) that the communication gets mixed up.
>> And in the seconds range, not in the minute or more that OE uses
>> for a time out.
>
>Can you tell from that the source of the "mix-up"?

Still puzzling on that one :-)
>
>E.g., any sign of Sam's scenario occurring?

Well, problems surely start with more than 5 mailboxes.
I also got word from the ISP involved: they did not raise the
number of simultaneous connections on that mail account.
But that shouldn't matter as XP Home is not able to make more
than 5 connections anyway, I think.
And problems also occur when there's only one single user active.

--
Kind regards,
Gerard Bok

Gerard Bok wrote:
>
> I also got word from the ISP involved: they did not raise the
> number of simultaneous connections on that mail account.
> But that shouldn't matter as XP Home is not able to make more
> than 5 connections anyway, I think.
> And problems also occur when there's only one single user active.
>
HI.

You are wrong.

The connection limit in Windows XP (both Home and Pro versions) with SP2,
refers to embryonic or half-open connections when the XP clients sends the first packet of the TCP handshake,
and is waiting for the first response from the server (or whatever device in the other side).

If the TCPIP stack on the XP computer reaches that limit, you will find a yellow Event ID 4226 that tells you.
So, if you don't see Event 4226, then this is not the issue.

You can read more info about this limit and workaround here:
SpeedGuide.net :: Windows XP SP2:
http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1497

Yizhar Hurwitz
http://yizhar.mvps.org

On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 18:48:30 +0200, Yizhar Hurwitz
<yizhar@mail.dot.com> wrote:

>Gerard Bok wrote:
>>
>> I also got word from the ISP involved: they did not raise the
>> number of simultaneous connections on that mail account.
>> But that shouldn't matter as XP Home is not able to make more
>> than 5 connections anyway, I think.
>> And problems also occur when there's only one single user active.

>You are wrong.

Could be :-)

>The connection limit in Windows XP (both Home and Pro versions) with SP2,
>refers to embryonic or half-open connections when the XP clients sends the first packet of the TCP handshake,
>and is waiting for the first response from the server (or whatever device in the other side).
>
>If the TCPIP stack on the XP computer reaches that limit, you will find a yellow Event ID 4226 that tells you.
>So, if you don't see Event 4226, then this is not the issue.
>
>You can read more info about this limit and workaround here:
>SpeedGuide.net :: Windows XP SP2:
>http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1497

I think this story is rather different from Q314882 which talks
about "Any file, print, named pipe, or mail slot session...."

Aren't we talking about mail slot sessions here ?

--
Kind regards,
Gerard Bok

Gerard Bok writes:

> On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 18:48:30 +0200, Yizhar Hurwitz
> <yizhar@mail.dot.com> wrote:
>
>>Gerard Bok wrote:
>>>
>>> I also got word from the ISP involved: they did not raise the
>>> number of simultaneous connections on that mail account.
>>> But that shouldn't matter as XP Home is not able to make more
>>> than 5 connections anyway, I think.
>>> And problems also occur when there's only one single user active.
>
>>You are wrong.
>
> Could be :-)
>
>>The connection limit in Windows XP (both Home and Pro versions) with SP2,
>>refers to embryonic or half-open connections when the XP clients sends the first packet of the TCP handshake,
>>and is waiting for the first response from the server (or whatever device in the other side).
>>
>>If the TCPIP stack on the XP computer reaches that limit, you will find a yellow Event ID 4226 that tells you.
>>So, if you don't see Event 4226, then this is not the issue.
>>
>>You can read more info about this limit and workaround here:
>>SpeedGuide.net :: Windows XP SP2:
>>http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1497
>
> I think this story is rather different from Q314882 which talks
> about "Any file, print, named pipe, or mail slot session...."
>
> Aren't we talking about mail slot sessions here ?

Correct.

As I explained before, the IMAP server's default settings impose a limit of
5 connections from the same IP address. You have confirmed with your host
that the server's default settings have not been adjusted. So that's your
answer.

Poorly-written Microsoft bugware sometimes opens a separate connection for
each folder in the mailbox. With large mailboxes, Outhouse was observed
attempting to create hundreds of IMAP connections at the same time.

Creating a new IMAP connection, and logging in, is a relatively expensive
process. Passwords must be validated, and memory must be allocated for each
new IMAP login, to hold the related server process information and mailbox
data. Many systems place account and password information on a separate,
hardened server, which must be accessed for each login attempt. Server RAM
is a limited resource. When encryption is available, SSL
encryption/decryption is CPU intensive, and ain't cheap either.

So, to proactively prevent server-wide resource shortages due to a
denial-of-service attack from poorly-designed software, the number of
default incoming connections from the same IP address is limited to five.
So, you'll just have to wait until Microsoft hires some programmers who have
enough knowledge and experience to implement IMAP correctly. Of course,
robust implementation and support of free, non-proprietary, commodity
Internet standards is not likely to rank a priority for Microsoft.

To pass some time, while waiting for the pigs to fly overhead, you might
want to try to get an answer from their fan club why their virus
distribution system can't live without a separate IMAP connection for each
mailbox. What possible "innovation" demands such pig-headed behavior. I
can do everything Outhouse does, IMAP-wise, and I manage to do it all with a
single IMAP connection, no matter how many folders there are in the mailbox.
This is not rocket science. This is simply sloppy programming on
Microsoft's part.




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On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 12:33:42 -0600, Sam <sam@email-scan.com>
wrote:

>Gerard Bok writes:
>
>> On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 18:48:30 +0200, Yizhar Hurwitz
>> <yizhar@mail.dot.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Gerard Bok wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I also got word from the ISP involved: they did not raise the
>>>> number of simultaneous connections on that mail account.
>>>> But that shouldn't matter as XP Home is not able to make more
>>>> than 5 connections anyway, I think.
>>>> And problems also occur when there's only one single user active.
>>
>>>You are wrong.
>>
>> Could be :-)
>>
>>>The connection limit in Windows XP (both Home and Pro versions) with SP2,
>>>refers to embryonic or half-open connections when the XP clients sends the first packet of the TCP handshake,
>>>and is waiting for the first response from the server (or whatever device in the other side).
>>>
>>>If the TCPIP stack on the XP computer reaches that limit, you will find a yellow Event ID 4226 that tells you.
>>>So, if you don't see Event 4226, then this is not the issue.
>>>
>>>You can read more info about this limit and workaround here:
>>>SpeedGuide.net :: Windows XP SP2:
>>>http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1497
>>
>> I think this story is rather different from Q314882 which talks
>> about "Any file, print, named pipe, or mail slot session...."
>>
>> Aren't we talking about mail slot sessions here ?
>
>Correct.
>
>As I explained before, the IMAP server's default settings impose a limit of
>5 connections from the same IP address. You have confirmed with your host
>that the server's default settings have not been adjusted. So that's your
>answer.
>
>Poorly-written Microsoft bugware sometimes opens a separate connection for
>each folder in the mailbox.

True. But in this case we cannot blame MS.

These 10 mailboxes are indeed 10 separate user accounts, each
with it's own set of access codes.

(I just answered the ISP's counter question "what do you mean by
subaddressing?" :-)
Any length to solve / avoid the problem :-)

--
Kind regards,
Gerard Bok

Gerard Bok wrote:
> I think this story is rather different from Q314882 which talks
> about "Any file, print, named pipe, or mail slot session...."
>
> Aren't we talking about mail slot sessions here ?

Nop.

Q314882 talks about inbound connections, but this discussion is about outbound sessions.
Q314882 talks about MS protocols (SMB), this is not the case here.

Yizhar Hurwitz
http://yizhar.mvps.org

"Gerard Bok" <bok118@zonnet.nl> wrote in message
news:44143212.14825924@News.Individual.NET...
> On Sat, 11 Mar 2006 05:50:14 -0500, "Robert Aldwinckle"
> <robald@techemail.com> wrote:

>>Have you tried using the IMAP.log (OE troubleshooting log for IMAP)
>>to try to see what all that code might be representing?
>
> Actually, I hadn't.
> But now that I have checked both the email and the IMAP box: no
> log file gets created at al !


That's a surprise. Unfortunately I don't have an IMAP account
so I'm only guessing that IMAP.log is the name of the troubleshooting
log file created when IMAP is checked in the Options, Maintenance tab.
I do know that SMTP.log is created (or added to) when Mail is checked
there. AFAIK all logs are created in the OE Message Store directory.
Is that where you are looking for them? Can you see other logs in that
same directory? E.g. if you activate troubleshooting logging for News
and do a POST or a Refresh in a newsgroup you should see a log
with the name of that newsgroup.


HTH

Robert
---

On Mon, 13 Mar 2006 01:35:57 -0500, "Robert Aldwinckle"
<robald@techemail.com> wrote:

>"Gerard Bok" <bok118@zonnet.nl> wrote in message
>news:44143212.14825924@News.Individual.NET...
>> On Sat, 11 Mar 2006 05:50:14 -0500, "Robert Aldwinckle"
>> <robald@techemail.com> wrote:
>
>>>Have you tried using the IMAP.log (OE troubleshooting log for IMAP)
>>>to try to see what all that code might be representing?
>>
>> Actually, I hadn't.
>> But now that I have checked both the email and the IMAP box: no
>> log file gets created at al !
>
>That's a surprise. Unfortunately I don't have an IMAP account
>so I'm only guessing that IMAP.log is the name of the troubleshooting
>log file created when IMAP is checked in the Options, Maintenance tab.

OK. IMAP log gets created; loads of them. They appear to be
rather effectively hidden though :-)

This session: attempt to get folders for an empty mailbox.
The server is up and and running and allowing sync to (some)
other mailboxes.

Microsoft Internet Messaging API 6.00.2900.2670
(xpsp_sp2_gdr.050504-1643)
IMAP Log started at 03/13/2006 12:43:00
IMAP: 12:43:00 [db] Bezig met het maken van een verbinding naar
mail.domain.nl op poort 143.
(attempting to connect to mail...)
IMAP: 12:43:00 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 0, asNew = 4, ae = 0
IMAP: 12:43:00 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 4, asNew = 5, ae = 2
IMAP: 12:43:00 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 5, ae = 4
IMAP: 12:43:00 [db] Verbinding met mail.domain.nl verbroken.
(connection with mail.domain.nl closed)
IMAP: 12:43:00 [db] OnNotify: asOld = 5, asNew = 0, ae = 5
IMAP: 12:43:00 [db] ERROR: "De server heeft de verbinding
onverwachts afgebroken. Mogelijke oorzaken
zijn problemen met de server, netwerkproblemen of te lange
inactiviteit.", hr=2148322319
(Error: The server unexpectedly closed the connection.
Possible causes are: problems with the server,
network problems or exceeded inactivity, hr=)

Translation from dutch added. domain.nl is a placeholder.

--
Kind regards,
Gerard Bok