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Eddie
Joined: 30 Jun 2009 Posts: 3
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:15 am Post subject: connection to host broken |
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I have just installed ASS using it with TB 4.0.28.3 and noticed the following problem.
I have about 10 accounts set up and if I try to check for all emails, I invariably get "Connection to host broken" and no emails are downloaded.
If I try to check individual accounts, it works though it is very slow. Are there any settings I need to change? Btw, I am using NOD 3.0.684.0 as AV. |
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vetaltm Author
Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 748
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:32 am Post subject: |
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By default the plug-in filters message headers before downloading new mail and suspends mail connections during this procedure. This can take a long time when a mailbox contains many new messages, longer than default 30 seconds timeout specified in TheBat preferences. To avoid breaking connections due to timeouts specify larger Server Timeout value on Transport tab for all accounts in TheBat. For example 6000 seconds is OK for most cases.
Also you can turn off checking spam by message headers in case if you don't need it, by disabling the checkbox "Block spam by message headers automatically..." on Accounts tab in plug-in settings. In this case all mail is downloaded to email client and filtered locally (with somewhat lower filtering quality). But the overall performance increases and any possible incompatibilities with antiviruses will be solved. |
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Eddie
Joined: 30 Jun 2009 Posts: 3
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:59 am Post subject: |
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thank you for the quick response - just wondering - do you really mean 6000 seconds? That more than 1 1/2 hours - do people really wait that long for an email? |
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vetaltm Author
Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 748
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 12:29 pm Post subject: |
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Eddie wrote: | thank you for the quick response - just wondering - do you really mean 6000 seconds? That more than 1 1/2 hours - do people really wait that long for an email? |
You can specify a less value, but it must be at least 5-10 minutes to avoid breaking mail connections during checking message headers.
The client side timeouts have a little sense with good network conditions, and in most cases there is no problem if a mail client have near infinite timeout. Because the mail servers have own timeouts, and also you can always control the process of downloading new mail and break the hanging connections manually. The client side timeouts are useful when you leave a mail client working for a long time, and in this case 1-2 hours timeout helps to avoid locking of downloading new mail due to network problems. |
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Eddie
Joined: 30 Jun 2009 Posts: 3
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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Ok, understood.
Is there any rule how long checking of individual emails should last as opposed to just downloading them? |
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vetaltm Author
Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 748
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:57 am Post subject: |
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Eddie wrote: | Is there any rule how long checking of individual emails should last as opposed to just downloading them? |
The speed of classifying a message depends on many factors and can vary from a few milliseconds up to several seconds in rare cases. This is because the plug-in uses several types of online databases: DNSBL, URIBL, SpamNet. Their response time depends on network conditions and loading of the servers at the time of checking a message. The plug-in doesn't use the online services in case if a message was classified as spam or ham with a high confidence using other, less time-consuming methods. |
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harvester
Joined: 10 Jul 2009 Posts: 4
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 4:29 am Post subject: Re: connection to host broken |
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I have the same problem after installing the AntispamSniper 3.2.1.1
Few days before it was OK. I tried to uncheck the control of the headers and it works like before. |
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vetaltm Author
Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 748
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 6:59 am Post subject: Re: connection to host broken |
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harvester wrote: | I have the same problem after installing the AntispamSniper 3.2.1.1
Few days before it was OK. I tried to uncheck the control of the headers and it works like before. |
Try to remove the plug-in from TheBat. If the problem persists, the reason is in TheBat account settings or in antivirus/firewall configuration. |
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harvester
Joined: 10 Jul 2009 Posts: 4
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:06 am Post subject: Re: connection to host broken |
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vetaltm wrote: |
Try to remove the plug-in from TheBat. If the problem persists, the reason is in TheBat account settings or in antivirus/firewall configuration. |
The version before didn't have the problem. If I uncheck the header checking it's ok. The accounts I have in Bat get emails through proxy that handles pop3/smtp protocols. I checked the accounts settings in the plugin itself and it copies the settigns from The bat, so I see no problem in settings.
I'll try to remove the plugin but I'm pretty sure it will work ok even without the plugin as it's ok now already. |
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vetaltm Author
Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 748
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:22 am Post subject: Re: connection to host broken |
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harvester wrote: |
The version before didn't have the problem.
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Version 3.2.1.1 contains no changes related to filtering message headers. You can try the previous versions to check this:
http://antispamsniper.com/dl/3.0/sniper-mui-3.2.0.6.exe
http://antispamsniper.com/dl/3.0/sniper-mui-3.2.0.1.exe
harvester wrote: |
If I uncheck the header checking it's ok. The accounts I have in Bat get emails through proxy that handles pop3/smtp protocols. I checked the accounts settings in the plugin itself and it copies the settigns from The bat, so I see no problem in settings.
I'll try to remove the plugin but I'm pretty sure it will work ok even without the plugin as it's ok now already. |
What kind of proxy is used? The plug-in is unable to filter SOCKS 4/5 connections, so adding the accounts with proxy ports in plug-in manually can break the downloading via these connections. |
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harvester
Joined: 10 Jul 2009 Posts: 4
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:47 am Post subject: Re: connection to host broken |
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Sorry, is it the free version? That's the one I use. |
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harvester
Joined: 10 Jul 2009 Posts: 4
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 8:16 am Post subject: Re: connection to host broken |
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vetaltm wrote: |
What kind of proxy is used? The plug-in is unable to filter SOCKS 4/5 connections, so adding the accounts with proxy ports in plug-in manually can break the downloading via these connections. |
- Well it's hard to believe but the previous version (mis)behaves in the same way. Pity i don't know which version was there before installing the latest. is it possible that it was, let's say, more than 5 releases back and it didn't have the header function implemented?
- I don't know which proxy it is, but the account has username: user%server.com@smtp.server.com while the pop3 server is the IP of the proxy - BUT I have like 5 accounts in The Bat! and some are using proxy (to fetch internet emails) but some not, to fetch emails from our own postfix. Both kind of accounts behave similarly - they time out.
- There is a minor problem that I have for a longer time that probably doesn't have relation to all this, but i'll describe it anyway to create complete picture. Accounts using proxy and getting internet email are fetched immediately when Bat connects to pop3. Accounts with local postfix account take cca 25s to fetch the emails - it waits for no reason - ohter PCs with Outlook doesn't have this problem - so I assume it's something between The Bat! and postfix, but I sort of got used to it. The problem is, if the header checking now somehow, maybe with lastest version, slightly increased the fetching time, it went beyond the default 60s in The Bat account settings and connection break occured. According to the advice mentioned above, I've increased the timeout which resulted in successful connection of the long-time postfix account but didn't brake. Now the time of the fetching is somewhere about 2min. 30sec - no surprise it timed out.
- when I remove the antispamsniper plugin from The Bat, the postfix account is back on it's 20s, internet email via proxy is immediate.
- the same times/reactions i get with the plugin but without header check.
So I hope i'm not too coplicated |
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vetaltm Author
Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 748
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 8:52 am Post subject: Re: connection to host broken |
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harvester wrote: |
- Well it's hard to believe but the previous version (mis)behaves in the same way. Pity i don't know which version was there before installing the latest. is it possible that it was, let's say, more than 5 releases back and it didn't have the header function implemented?
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The plug-in is able to filter message headers since version 1.0. But if you had a very old release installed, the related behavior indeed can be different.
harvester wrote: |
- I don't know which proxy it is, but the account has username: user%server.com@smtp.server.com while the pop3 server is the IP of the proxy - BUT I have like 5 accounts in The Bat! and some are using proxy (to fetch internet emails) but some not, to fetch emails from our own postfix. Both kind of accounts behave similarly - they time out.
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This is a generic transparent mail proxy, it is fully supported.
harvester wrote: |
- There is a minor problem that I have for a longer time that probably doesn't have relation to all this, but i'll describe it anyway to create complete picture. Accounts using proxy and getting internet email are fetched immediately when Bat connects to pop3. Accounts with local postfix account take cca 25s to fetch the emails - it waits for no reason - ohter PCs with Outlook doesn't have this problem - so I assume it's something between The Bat! and postfix, but I sort of got used to it. The problem is, if the header checking now somehow, maybe with lastest version, slightly increased the fetching time, it went beyond the default 60s in The Bat account settings and connection break occured. According to the advice mentioned above, I've increased the timeout which resulted in successful connection of the long-time postfix account but didn't brake. Now the time of the fetching is somewhere about 2min. 30sec - no surprise it timed out.
- when I remove the antispamsniper plugin from The Bat, the postfix account is back on it's 20s, internet email via proxy is immediate.
- the same times/reactions i get with the plugin but without header check.
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The most time-consuming method used during filtering message headers is checking sender IP via DNSBL services. It can take a long time when a mailbox contains a lot of new messages. It is possible to turn off checking DNSBL to reduce the delays. In this case the plug-in uses only fast methods for blocking spam by headers: black rules, black list of addresses and black words for subjects. However blocking spam by sender IP is effective against a "hard" spam: messages with no text (containing only a picture or a document), phishing mails and viruses (the messages with infected attachments). Thereby if a several minutes delay is not a problem, it makes sense to keep DNSBL checking enabled.
Also try to remove all account items on Accounts tab in plug-in, and let the plug-in to add them back automatically during checking mail. The delays can occur when the account list contains the items with non-existent (expired) or invalid domain names. |
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