vacation message not working

[knorde]

Hi,

I have a problem. My english is not so good i hope you understand me :)

There are 2 options in da.

1. auto responder (works ok)
2. vacation message (don't work)

I have a customer they wil use option 2 (so they can set the date and time). But when we use option 2 we don't get reply's. (the sender). When we use option 1 we get always a reply.

I hope it is clear what i mean :)

Greets Kees.

[knorde]

...Nobody?

[nobaloney]

I've been able to repeat the problem and I need a bit more information from you:

What version of /etc/exim.conf are you using? If you don't know, please post the first five lines.

Thanks.

Jeff

[knorde]

######################################################################
# SpamBlocker.exim.conf.2.0-release #
# Runtime configuration file for DirectAdmin/Exim 4.24 and above #
######### IMPORTANT ########## IMPORTANT ########## IMPORTANT ########
# WARNING! Be sure to back up your previous exim.conf file before #

I hope this is ok :)

Gr. Kees.

[nobaloney]

It doesn't work in 2.0 (yours). It doesn't work in 3.0-beta (mine).

Let's ask DirectAdmin support.

John?

Jeff

[DirectAdmin Support]

Hello,

It's working for me, but I knew what I was checking for...

My guess, is either crond isn't working, or not enough time has passed after turning it on before testing.

Here's why:

The vacation message lives in:
/etc/virtual/domain.com/reply/name.msg
*but* before it's named that, it starts off it's life as
/etc/virtual/domain.com/reply/name.msg_off

dataskq will periodically check to see if the .msg_off should be renamed to .msg based on when it's set to begin.
When you first create the vaction message, a check is added to the task.queue for an instant check... which is actually up to 1 minute due to how the dataskq is run. Manually check to see if the msg_off is being renamed to just msg. If not, make sure the task.queue is running.
http://help.directadmin.com/item.php?id=107

Then there is a 6x daily cron that runs to check everyone's doamins for on/off status.

John

[nobaloney]

Sounds resonable to me.

I've never had a customer support issue on it, so I'm going to believe it really does work.

I wonder though ... if anyone sets their vacation message and then immediately tests it ... because it's not going to work. Has anyone seen customer support issues?

Is anyone testing?

Jeff

[harro]

Good day all,

I do have an issue in that it seems that vacation messages do not work for forwarders pointing to a pop3 account.

I set a vacation message for a client but only when an email is sent to the main account, is there a response. All the forwarders pointing to that account do not respond.

Is this a known issue and is there a way to get this to work? My client doesn't use the pop3 username in emails, only forwarders...

Thank you for thoughts or suggestions!

Harro

[DirectAdmin Support]

Hello,

I don't believe that case was considered when we wrote the exim.conf. It was only designed to reply to real accounts, not forwarders, or mail delivered to the main account via a forwarder.

I looked at the exim.conf.. my only guess is that the local_part is being chekced as the forwarder name for the msg.... so to test the theory, try creating:
cd /etc/virtual/domain.com/reply/
ln -s real.msg forwarder.msgto create a link to the forwarder non-existant msg file..

John

[harro]

Good morning John,

thank you for the suggestion! Sorry for the delay but I had some time-out issues over the past few days causing my post to ... well, time out.

The solution you suggest works, but only in combination with an addition to the vacation.conf file. Perhaps this also makes it easy to script for a future release of DA ;)

1) I copied the line in vacation.conf refering to the real pop3 account and substituted the forwarder name.

2) Then I linked the .msg file in /reply like you suggested.


I am surprised this has not been asked before. The ideal situation would be if when you add a vacation message to a pop3 account, the user's account is parsed for forwards pointing to that email address and automatically added to the vacation.conf and .msg files. I will post a feature request, for those boring rainy Sunday afternoons.

Kind regards,

Harro

[harro]

A small addition for those that want to use this construction:

After the date passes, the manually added line in vacation.conf are not removed, only the automatically added line. It seems, however that this does not pose any problems (since the validity date is in the config).


Lastly, Jeff Lasman suggested that this 'problem' could be solved by changing the order in which exim.conf processes incoming emails. If anyone has some bright thoughts on this, that would be great!

Bye,

Harro

[mmerlin]

The ideal situation would be if when you add a vacation message to a pop3 account, the user's account is parsed for forwards pointing to that email address and automatically added to the vacation.conf and .msg files.

I totally agree!

Please add this feature in to DA, thanks John & co! :-)

I found this thread trying to debug a complaining users non-working vacation message (he is using a forwarder as his public email address)

Now at least I know why vacation messages don't work for some users.

[nobaloney]

Please add this feature in to DA, thanks John & co! :-)
Please write up a succinct request, exactly what you'd like to see, and post it in the Feature Requests subforum.

Jeff

[opussupport]

should the implemtation of vacation messages as they are in this version be sending a vacation reply to every message sent or is it supposed to be tracking senders that have been replied to?



# SpamBlocker.exim.conf.2.1.1-release #
# 05-Jun-2007 #
# Runtime configuration file for DirectAdmin/Exim 4.24 and above #
# Requires exim.pl dated 20-Apr-2007 17:09 or later #

uservacation:
driver = accept
condition = ${lookup{$local_part} lsearch {/etc/virtual/${domain}/vacation.conf}{yes}{no}}
require_files = /etc/virtual/${domain}/reply/${local_part}.msg
transport = uservacation
unseen

[DirectAdmin Support]

Hello,

Check the transport, not the director, eg:
## vacation transport
uservacation:
driver = autoreply
file = /etc/virtual/${domain}/reply/${local_part}.msg
from = "${local_part}@${domain}"
log = /etc/virtual/${domain}/reply/${local_part}.log
no_return_message
subject = "${if def:h_Subject: {Autoreply: ${quote:${escape:$h_Subject:}}} {I am on vacation}}"
text = "\
------ ------\n\n\
This message was automatically generated by email software\n\
The delivery of your message has not been affected.\n\n\
------ ------\n\n"
to = "${sender_address}"
user = mail
#once re-added May 16, 2008:
once = /etc/virtual/${domain}/reply/${local_part}.once
once_file_size = 100K
once_repeat = 2dnote the "once" file and related info to track senders.

John

[opussupport]

Thanks John,

that's exactly what was missing from my config.

thomas