POP3 Protocol Error

[gutich]

Hello! Sorry to write in English but I'm from Spain and I don't speak German, please forgive me   

From a couple of days ago I've started to get an error when checking for incoming mail. My Lotus Notes R5 client reports a POP3 Protocol Error when accessing the terra.es POP server. I turned on the debug option in notes.ini and this is the log I got:

26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: GetMessageCount
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: Connect: Host pop.terra.es,
Port 110, Use SSL: 0
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK POP3
PROXY server ready (7.2.052)
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: Connect: pop3 greeting -
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: Authenticate: User
(myuser), Pass xxx
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: CommandUSER:
(myuser)
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK
Password required
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: CommandPASS: xxx
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK 22
messages
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: CommandSTAT:
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK 22
278809
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK 22
278809
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: CommandSTAT: 22 278809
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: CommandQUIT:
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK POP3
server closing connection
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: RetrieveMessages
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: Connect: Host pop.terra.es,
Port 110, Use SSL: 0
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK POP3
PROXY server ready (7.2.052)
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: Connect: pop3 greeting -
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: Authenticate: User
(myuser), Pass xxx
26/02/2006 00:30:36   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: CommandUSER:
(myuser)
26/02/2006 00:30:37   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK
Password required
26/02/2006 00:30:37   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: CommandPASS: xxx
26/02/2006 00:30:37   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: -ERR
[LOGIN-DELAY] minimum time between mail checks violation
26/02/2006 00:30:37   [0D78:0002-0F4C] POP3Client: -ERR [LOGIN-DELAY] minimum time between mail checks violation: Error en el protocolo POP3

With the netstat command I see that several connections keep established, even hours after the Notes client was closed. It seems that each mail retrieving attempt generates 3 connections.

TCP    turia:1044             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1061             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1066             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1074             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1079             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1084             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1089             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1094             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:kpop             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1114             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1119             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1129             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1176             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1181             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1251             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED
TCP    turia:1261             10.host.terra.es:pop3  ESTABLISHED

Could you please help me to fix the problem? Is there any parameter which could be adjusted to avoid Notes initiating 3 connections with every mail check attempt? Please answer in English, thank you very much in advance.

[koehlerbv]

Hi gutich,

welcome and thank you for joining the AtNotes community.

Would you please so kind as to tell us the specific R5 version you are using?

I just checked on my box a 5.0.8 installation with netstat while retrieving POP3 mails - and there was only one connection established to my provider.

Greetings to Spain,
Bernhard

[gutich]

Hi Bernhard,

This is the version information:
"Lotus Notes Release 5.07a  May 14, 2001"

Thank you very much.

Kind regards,

Guti

[koehlerbv]

Hi Guti,

did you already checked you personal names.nsf with a full text search for multiple account documents for your pop account at terra.es?

I am only a developer with a few administration know-how, but I am sure that  members of AtNotes could and will help you 

Bernhard

PS: By the way - English is absolutely no problem to communicate within this forum. We've even Spanish speaking collegues here, but of course they are not the majority.

[hallo.dirk]

Hello Guti,

it seems to that your provider has limited the POP access rights.
They don’t accept 2 logins during a specific time.
My Swiss colleague reports me the same with his provider bluewin.ch.

I'm not sure if IBM has ever fixed it in Notes R5 but 5.07a has definitely this problem!
I don't know if Notes 6 or 7 have the same behaviour, maybe sitch over to IMAP....

[koehlerbv]

Hi Guti & Dirk,

it seems that the circumstances recognised by Guti are a specific 5.0.7a problem. I just made a check with 5.0.8 and a POP account receiving a 3 MB email (to have enough time to observe the conection). Here are the results which are showing only one connection:

Netstat:

Aktive Verbindungen

  Proto  Lokale Adresse         Remoteadresse          Status
  TCP    PCBKXP:1025            localhost:44334        HERGESTELLT
  TCP    PCBKXP:1027            localhost:1029         HERGESTELLT
  TCP    PCBKXP:1029            localhost:1027         HERGESTELLT
  TCP    PCBKXP:1035            localhost:44334        HERGESTELLT
  TCP    PCBKXP:1037            localhost:1040         HERGESTELLT
  TCP    PCBKXP:1040            localhost:1037         HERGESTELLT
  TCP    PCBKXP:1055            localhost:1056         HERGESTELLT
  TCP    PCBKXP:1056            localhost:1055         HERGESTELLT
  TCP    PCBKXP:44334           localhost:1025         HERGESTELLT
  TCP    PCBKXP:44334           localhost:1035         HERGESTELLT
  TCP    PCBKXP:1053            11-111-11-111.xxxxxxx.xdsl-line.inode.at:1533  HE
RGESTELLT
  TCP    PCBKXP:1106            pop1.mail.vip.ukl.yahoo.com:pop3  HERGESTELLT

C:\>

There is one sametime connection (from my R6 client to our server in Vienna) and the POP connection.

Here is the POP3 log from Notes:

26.02.2006 14:33:46   Index-Aktualisierungsvorgang gestartet
26.02.2006 14:33:52   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: GetMessageCount
26.02.2006 14:33:52   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: Connect: Host
pop.mail.yahoo.dk, Port 110, Use SSL: 0
26.02.2006 14:33:52   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK hello
from popgate(2.34.1)
26.02.2006 14:33:52   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: Connect: pop3 greeting -
26.02.2006 14:33:52   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: Authenticate: User
, Pass xxx
26.02.2006 14:33:52   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandUSER: <username>
26.02.2006 14:33:52   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK
password required.
26.02.2006 14:33:52   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandPASS: xxx
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK
maildrop ready, 1 message (4251568 octets) (4269405 1073741824)
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandSTAT:
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK 1
4251568
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK 1
4251568
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandSTAT: 1 4251568
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandQUIT:
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK server
signing off.
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: RetrieveMessages
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: Connect: Host
pop.mail.yahoo.dk, Port 110, Use SSL: 0
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK hello
from popgate(2.34.1)
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: Connect: pop3 greeting -
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: Authenticate: User
<username>, Pass xxx
26.02.2006 14:33:53   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandUSER: <username>
26.02.2006 14:33:54   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK
password required.
26.02.2006 14:33:54   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandPASS: xxx
26.02.2006 14:33:54   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK
maildrop ready, 1 message (4251568 octets) (4269405 1073741824)
26.02.2006 14:33:54   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: RetrieveMessages
26.02.2006 14:33:54   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandSTAT:
26.02.2006 14:33:54   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK 1
4251568
26.02.2006 14:33:54   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK 1
4251568
26.02.2006 14:33:54   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandSTAT: 1 4251568
26.02.2006 14:33:54   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: RetrieveMessage: 1
26.02.2006 14:33:54   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandUIDL: 1
26.02.2006 14:33:54   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK 1
84fce25e650907c9d6f0c616bd08a43d
26.02.2006 14:33:54   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandUIDL:
84fce25e650907c9d6f0c616bd08a43d
26.02.2006 14:33:55   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandRETR: 1
26.02.2006 14:33:58   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK 4306374
octets
26.02.2006 14:34:28   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandDELE: 1
26.02.2006 14:34:28   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK message
1 marked deleted
26.02.2006 14:34:28   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: CommandQUIT:
26.02.2006 14:34:28   [0CA8:0002-0CAC] POP3Client: ReceiveResponse: +OK server
signing off.

As we can see the POP client authentificated itself two times with the POP server: The first time to get the amount of messages waiting, the second time to receive the message(s) itself.

Bernhard

[gutich]

Hi, Bernhard and Dirk,

First of all thank you very, very much for your help. Sorry I said nothing yesterday but I have been away.

You are both right. My provider (Terra) is gradually limiting the POP access rights so that two consecutive logins are not allowed, because I have five email accounts with this provider and the error did happen with only one account at first, then (last Friday) with tree and today with all of the five accounts. They do not seem to have an IMAP server, by the way.

As Bernhard says, every time I check for incoming email, the Notes POP client authenticates itself twice with the POP server, and it is the second authentication attempt which makes the entire process fail (since the provider throws the error I mentioned).

I want Notes to keep being my email client, so I have thought about two possible ways to fix this problem: to install a POP3 proxy in my machine (which I would configure to introduce a delay between the two authentication attempts) or to upgrade to a newer version of Notes, say, 7.0. I would prefer this in the case this issue is addressed with 7.0.

Could you suggest me anything? Could you please test (in case you have a 7.0 installation) whether Notes keep doing the authentication twice?

Thanks again and kind regards from Madrid

Guti

[hallo.dirk]

Hello Guti,

is it possible for us to create also a e-mail account on your provider ?
I can offer you to test it with my Notes 7 client, but I don't know any German provider which use this security feature...

Maybe you can create a test account for me. If your're able, just PM me the logindata.

Dirk

[gutich]

Hi,

I installed Notes 7.0 and finally it worked fine     The log revealed that only one connection attempt is made with this version, so the problem is solved.

I'm posting this message to thank you for your help and to let you know the result, in case another colleague experiences the same problem with R5.

Kind regards from Madrid

Guti