Symptoms

Policy, Device, or client owner's notifications are not sent.The command in the action field of the notification field is correct. See the nsr_notification section of the NetWorker Command Reference Guide: https://www.dell.com/support/product-details/product/networker/overviewConfiguring NetWorker Policy notifications is covered in the following KB: NetWorker: How To Configure Policy Email Notifications The workflow may include an error message like: connect to SMTP host failed: No such file or directory Attempts to send an email from the command line may report an issue: Windows: C:\Users\Administrator.NETWORKER>echo "hello world" | smtpmail -h mailhost -s "test smtpmail" bkupadmin@dell.com 1 3 1088516 2 0 0 11112 8980 0 win-srvr01.networker.lan smtpmail NSR warning 11 %s: %s (%d) 3 0 48 communication failure receiving from SMTP server 0 63 An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. C:\Users\Administrator.NETWORKER>echo "hello world" | smtpmail -h mailhost -s "test smtpmail" -p 587 bkupadmin@dell.com connect to SMTP host failed: Unknown error Linux: No error was reported at the command line; however, the following errors may be observed in the /var/log/maillog. Jan 23 15:17:26 nsr postfix/smtp[206391]: 631E440C02AC: to=RECIPIENT_EMAIL>, relay=none, delay=6351, delays=6291/0.1/60/0, dsn=4.4.1, status=deferred (connect to MAIL_SERVER_NAME[MAIL_SERVER_IP]:SMTP_PORT: Connection timed out) Jan 23 15:21:26 nsr postfix/error[206631]: 70A8240C02A0: to=RECIPIENT_EMAIL>, relay=none, delay=15211, delays=15211/0.02/0/0.04, dsn=4.4.1, status=deferred (delivery temporarily suspended: connect to MAIL_SERVER_NAME[MAIL_SERVER_IP]:SMTP_PORT: Connection timed out) Symptoms are not limited to these examples, additional errors may be observed. The key theme is that some communication-related error is observed.

Cause

NetWorker uses operating system mail commands: mailx (Linux) and smtpmail (Windows) to send standard output vial email. There is little NetWorker functionality involved in sending email messages other than indicating what conditions should be met in order to send an email, For example: Backup completes or fails, a device is full, and so forth. This cause of emails not being sent or received could be due to lack of communication between the backup server and mail server.

Resolution

Identify that you are using the correct mail server for your domain by running the following command from your NetWorker server (replacing domain.com with your domain name): Linux: dig +short domain.com MX Windows: nslookup set q=mx domain.com NOTE: If you cannot query your mail server with this method, confirm the mail server address with your domain or mail admin. This could be indicative of a mail exchanger (MX) record issue. This requires an investigation by the domain or mail administrator. Changes to MX records can take up to 72 hours to propagate. Ensure that the NetWorker server can correctly resolve the mail server address. nslookup FULLY_QUALIFIED_DOMAIN_NAME nslookup SHORT_NAME nslookup IP_ADDRESS Any issues observed with name resolution must be resolved by the domain administrator. Check the NetWorker server's "hosts" file. If the mail server is entered in the hosts file, ensure that the correct IP address is specified. Linux: /etc/hostsWindows: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts Ensure that you can connect to the mail server's SMTP port (25) from the NetWorker server: nsrports -t MAIL_SERVER_ADDRESS -p 25 NOTE: Port 25 is the default SMTP port; however, ports 465 or 587 may be used. If port 25 fails to connect, consult with your mail administrator regarding what port is used by the mail server. If none of the SMTP ports connect, consult with your network or security administrator regarding the network communication. Linux Servers Only: A. On Linux systems, additional services such as postfix or sendmail may be installed to relay the messages from the server to the mail server. rpm -qa | grep "postfix\|sendmail" B. If these packages are installed, ensure that they are enabled and running: systemctl enable postfix ; systemctl start postfix systemctl enable sendmail ; systemctl start sendmail C. Confirm that the installed mail agents are running: systemctl status postfix systemctl status sendmail NOTE: These are only examples, the configuration of third party mail agents can differ from system to system. If other packages are installed, or any issues are observed regarding third party mail software, consult with the system administrator. It may be necessary to engage with the operating system vendor support. From an elevated prompt on the NetWorker server, test the mail commands. Linux: echo "this is a test email" | mail [-S smtp=smtp://your.mailserver.domain] -s "Test Email" recipient@example.domain Windows: echo "this is a test email" | smtpmail [-h your.mailserver.domain] -s "Test Email" recipient@example.domain NOTE: Specifying the mail server in the command is optional; It is typically not required. If emails are only received when specifying the mail server address, this suggests an issue resolving the mail server from the recipients email domain. This would require an investigation from the domain and mail admins. The mail commands used are non-NetWorker commands; see the mail and smtpmail manual pages for more information. Once the mail command is successful from command-line, you can set the notifications within NetWorker following: NetWorker: How To Configure Policy Email Notifications Logs: On Linux NetWorker servers, review the following log for insight on mail issues: /var/log/maillogGeneral mail log file if a message was sent and accepted for delivery. /var/spool/mqueueMessages stuck in the mqueue are not being sent or accepted from the server. If email messages are being sent and delivered, the mqueue should be empty. If the NetWorker server is Windows, the Exchange admin must review logs from the exchange side. Conclusion: Regardless of NetWorker server errors, the domain or mail admin must check the mail server logs for specific notification errors. Once the mail commands are successful from the NetWorker server's command line, enter your operating system mail command and options in the wanted notification field.

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